Bali Photography Workshop – David Metcalf Day Tour – Part 2

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Alan Stock

Continuing my Bali day tour workshop with David Metcalf Photography.

Our next stop was the family compound of an old guy who raises fighting cocks – the sport is popular in Bali, although technically illegal it still attracts many followers. This man is one of the models that the tour uses, paying him to pose for photographs and giving the photographers time to experiment and practice. He changed into his traditional Balinese clothes for our photo session.

Our group leader Suki specialises in dramatic portraits and gave us some tips. Just watching how he took photos himself was a good learning experience. Adjusting the background, the angle of the shot and directing the man to pose differently all helped to create good shots under the shade of a cover. Then we were let loose ourselves taking turns to photograph the rooster man.

Rooster man then moved inside to a small room with a single light source from the open window. Suki positioned him to get the perfect light and then we went in individually to practice the composition and settings to get a good shot. There was no camera wizardry needed, the light was so good in there that it made it instantly dramatic. Covering the window half-way with cloth also helped. The results were pretty amazing and rooster man patiently waited whilst we snapped away for ages.

Next we were driven down the narrow roads to the family home of the usual group leader Nyman, into a nice garden where his wife served us some delicious lunch with some dishes I’d never experienced. Then a local village girl came out for photographs and to perform a traditional dance for us. Her costume and makeup was amazing and she put on the makeup herself! We experimented with different locations in the garden to shoot her and Suki used a reflector to help with the lighting in darker places. We had more freedom this time to experiment with posing and composition, I moved her to some shadier areas to stop the background being so distracting.

Then she performed her dance for us and she was amazing.The distinctive hand motions and body movement in this dance are brilliant to watch, combined with the intense facial expressions and powerful eyes which are part of the dance. We snapped away and I found the conditions challenging, though getting low helped and using continuous focus and face recognition really helped to catch an in-focus shot whilst she was moving so quickly.

Our last stop was a waterfall in the rice fields. We descended many steps into a steep gully, entering a wood. At the end of a stream was this nice waterfall. There were a few other tourists and some Balinese couples. Waterfalls are popular with the locals for a trip out and there are often little stalls to buy food and drink along the path. Here we played around with the tripods and I experimented with long exposures. Suki went for a swim and I got him to pose for me in front of the waterfall and I’m pretty happy with the results.

It was the end of a long day but it had been brilliant. The locations and models we visited were excellent and it was great to get off the beaten track and see some of the real Bali. Our driver and group leader were also really friendly and helpful. It really inspired me to improve and continue mastering my camera settings too. Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective to get inspiration! If you’re in Bali and want to go on the tour, you can find more information here

Here’s a gallery of some other photos from this part of the day.

Jomsom to Thini Ghaon

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Alan Stock

A yak and mule train haul wood up the valley near Jomsom

Day Location: Jomsom, Nepal

03/01/13

We had a good sleep and we were feeling a bit better, looks like we had been suffering from altitude sickness after all. We decided as we still had a few days before Sophie would need to go back, that we would do some exploring of the Jomsom area. On the advice from the hotel lady, we set off after breakfast across the river, towards a village to the south up on a hill, visible from our hotel.

Bridge over the river at Jomsom

A passing mule train

We soon realized we were on the wrong path when it terminated at a house, forcing us to climb a wall into some terraced fields. It was very windy and bitterly cold with it – but as soon as the wind dropped it was scorching forcing us to add and remove layers like Russian dolls! The path in the fields led us up into the village. It was very Tibetan with narrow streets, whitewashed buildings stood with flat roofs and flagpoles with colourful prayer flags stuck out of the roofs. Firewood was stacked on every wall and roof. Cows and yaks were tethered and chickens pecked around. The place seemed almost deserted with padlocked doors everywhere. Either we were about to be ambushed or the start of the zombie apocalypse. But then we did see a few locals who said hello and pointed us in the right direction. Sophie tried to make friends with a horse at the top of the village, the temple was closed there but the views across the mighty valley were impressive.

The deserted village

Stacks of firewood on walls and roofs

Sophie’s favourite horse

A scraggly baby yak pummeled by the wind

These interesting ladders can be found in this area, carved from one piece of wood

We descended past skeletal orchards along the stone trail. A penis carved into a slab of concrete on the path confirmed that genital humour crosses all culture boundaries! We were half-way up the hillside and the trail led on to a steep drop topped by a stone shrine. The wind here was strong enough that we had to brace against it to avoid being pushed off the edge of the path!

Everybody can appreciate penis art

At the bottom of the drop was a rushing river, the side valley leading to the impressive triangular Himalaya above. Windswept pine trees covered the rocky landscape. We descended the hairpins into the valley being buffeted violently by the wind. At the bottom a yak and mule train passed us by, herded by men with sticks and making yipping sounds. They said hello and asked us where we were going. Friendly people up here.

We crossed the river and climbed the path on the other side, leading us to a desolate sandy and rocky landscape. In ten minutes we emerged into another side valley with crazy bulbous rock formations made of what looked like sandstone. It was like another alien world (and I thought we had seen everything up here!). We were aiming to reach a lake and followed a track in what seemed like the right direction from the map. It turned out to head down into the valley which we didn’t need, but we did get to see the weird rock formations up close.

The strange undulating rock formations in the valley

Sophie in her hole

The path continues around the edge to the next village

We backtracked to the main trail and followed it along the edge of the side valley to a crossing point. There was snow on some of the grass up here, and the terrain was a mixture of pine trees on the hillside and rocks. Across the side valley was another small village, some ladies there washing clothes at an outdoor tap pointed us in the right direction, but we couldn’t find the trail. Backtracking again led us to another dead end, so we went back to the village and tried again. The trail maps drawn on signs were just lines with named dots for the villages, giving nothing away about the terrain. It was already around 2pm and we needed to head back soon to reach Jomsom before dark, so we checked ahead in case it was up the trail. Sure enough, in ten minutes we reached the lake.

The lake was fenced off to stop the animals contaminating it, and the strong wind blew swirling, pretty patterns of ripples on the surface. From here we could see a newly revealed, very craggy peak in the distance on our side. Satisfied and starving (none of the villages had amenities for trekkers, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast), we retraced our steps. Past the weird rock formations Sophie didn’t fancy climbing the steep hill to the village so judging from the map I figured we could do a shortcut down to the river in the main valley, and follow a path alongside to Jomsom. Although the drawn trail maps showed a path around where we were, we couldn’t find anything, so I led us over a rock field and over little streams heading down to the main river where I hoped we’d pick up the path. We came across some large square stone cairns placed in the rock field, some with writing on them. I later learned my suspicions were correct, they are burial cairns. Why this spot was significant I don’t know.

You can see the square cairns in the middle there

Writing on a burial cairn, presumably the person’s name

At the end of the rock field we entered some marshland and a young tree plantation. There was still no sign of the main path and the sun was going down. I was worried I’d got us into a mess but minutes later I found the edge of the river and we hit the main path. It clearly wasn’t a proper trail any more, the bridge leading to it was no longer there. We had been lucky. We followed it through the plantation, step-stoned over a side river and finally came to the edge of Jomsom, crossing a long suspension bridge over the main river. Before the road were some dead cars. Everything of use was gone, now they were just rusting away in the harsh environment. We walked into the town and found a restaurant catching the last of the sunshine and ate a much needed meal. Noodle soup never tasted so good!

Sophie crosses the rock field

The plantation we walked through

The rippling cliffs beside Jomsom

Sophie on a mighty suspension bridge

I bought some apple brandy, a specialty of the region. Back at the hotel I tried it with some yak cheese. The cheese was great, I polished off two plates of it, but the brandy was nasty. We had a chilled out evening and got an early night, anticipating a grueling bus ride the next day, we were aiming to get as far to Pokhara as possible.

Back in Jomsom

Muktinath

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 123 – Location: Muktinath; Nepal

02/01/13

I had a terrible night’s sleep, tossing and turning, I had a bad headache and felt sick, light headed and weak. In the morning I realized I was probably suffering from altitude sickness, the symptoms fit and in the jeep we’d climbed almost 1000 meters in just a few hours. It might also account for Sophie’s continuing heart problems. We decided to see how we got on and head back down today if possible – the best remedy for altitude sickness is to descend before the symptoms get worse.

After an early breakfast we ventured forth through Muktinath village, it reminded me of a Wild West town with a wide barren high street and balconied buildings lining it. Souvenir stalls, especially of homemade stripey scarves, or fossils, were being set up all along it. We walked to the edge of town to admire the views into the crater below. There were only a few other tourists around.

Sophie in Muktinath’s main street

Engraved stones in the main street

Next we walked to the other side of town and through Muktinath temple gate, where some babas (holy men) were sitting wanting money for blessings or photos. Then we climbed a long flight of steps towards the white temple walls wiggling along the rocky hillside. Prayer flags were strewn like spider webs on the rock face behind, some attached to seemingly inaccessible rock clusters.

A big prayer wheel by the main entrance

We could really feel the altitude affecting our oxygen, after five steps we would already feel knackered and we kept stopping for rests on the way up. At the top we passed through the wall gate into the temple complex. It was quite large, possibly 300 meters square – a collection of buildings, a copse of trees and a barren section of small scree-like rocks. We explored the temple buildings, and saw homes inside the complex – a few women were going about their daily chores. Presumably the families who take care of the temple. We walked along the scree section which turned out to be full of little stone towers made by visitors for good luck. Me and Sophie made our own too.

Mount Al-Soph

The building in the corner of the complex had a nice Tibetan style temple room, filled with colourful carvings on the roof and pillars. Unfortunately photography is banned inside. Out in the courtyard was a circular reflective dish, like a satellite dish. We’d seen these around the area, this one had a kettle on a holder suspended in the dish’s center, confirming that they are used to focus the sun’s rays to heat water or cook food. Ingenious energy saving idea, the sun is so bright up here and they are using it. Solar panels are also used in some of the hotels, like much of Nepal. I put my hand in the heat field and sure enough it was very warm.

We continued wandering through the rocky part past some traditional stone shrines, and into the copse, where the main temple building is hidden. Clusters of different sized bells were hanging in a mishmash on a stand. A pool by the temple was filled with blocks of smashed ice, guess they want to keep it clear. The inner courtyard of the temple was lined with bells as well, had bell clusters hanging around. I haven’t seen the bell clusters before and I wonder what the significance is?

Outside the temple, surrounding it on three sides, were rows of gargoyle head fountains. Long icicles hung from railings where the water had struck. I walked through the copse to get some shots of the prayer flags strewn on the hillside.

Check out his icicle beard

We wandered back to the temple complex entrance past a tower and some old locals sitting on their roof in the sun. They were friendly and we noticed how incredibly weathered and wrinkly their skin was. One of the women had her breasts practically hanging out, modesty isn’t such a big thing in this culture! Didn’t really do it for me I’m afraid, I prefer them a few years younger!

Back in Muktinath village we stopped for lunch in a rasta restaurant (yes, they are everywhere in this part of the world!), and watched some of the local kids from the balcony, a little girl was spying on us and gave us a wave. I gave my big zoom lens a go, now it had been repaired. Seemed to be working fine.

Me waiting for lunch

The wee girl who was checking us out

This girl was collecting water from the public tap

Weaving handicrafts on the street

Weaving rig

We discovered there was a jeep leaving at 4pm back to Jomsom so we walked to the jeep stop. There were a lot of people waiting, locals and trekkers. We bought a rather expensive ticket and piled into a jeep. We bumped our way for a few hours back to Jomsom. Sophie got stuck next to an annoying local man who wouldn’t give her any space and kept nudging her to try and get her to move (we were jammed in like sardines, so much that one girl was bending over sat on her husband’s knee). Us and the other locals kept telling him to stop but he just thought it was funny, though he did relent a little bit. We passed on the opposite side to the “crater” as on the way up, giving us great views of the huge rippling cliffs below, and we passed more of the villages which looked like they came out of a time machine. Again photography was nearly impossible due to the bumpy ride, tiny windows and clouds of dust.

On the valley floor we stormed over the rock field that me and Sophie had crossed, in only twenty minutes, fording rivers and bouncing around all over the place. We arrived in Jomsom as the sun was going down and walked back to the hotel we’d left our stuff at. My altitude sickness had been improving during the day and I was feeling a lot better now. We had a relaxed evening reading and enjoying the tasty restaurant food. I tried to buy a torch from their attached shop, only to find that literally none of their torches worked. They all looked about 20 years old and many were rusted inside. The cheeky woman tried to make me pay for the batteries separately but I pointed out I only needed them for the torch! We turned in early, tired after our restless night up in Muktinath, but we were feeling a bit better.

Bridge at Jomsom’s entrance

Mules hanging out, smoking, burning bins, as mules do…

A yak chilling in the street. These things are big!

Sunset over Jomsom’s valley

Alan Stock Photography

My travelling (mis)adventures. It's ok to cry.

Tag Archives: Traditional

Bali Photography Workshop – David Metcalf Day Tour – Part 2

Jomsom to Thini Ghaon

Day Location: Jomsom, Nepal

Muktinath

Day 123 – Location: Muktinath; Nepal