Tag: Bali

The Balinese Dancer

The Balinese Dancer

I have a bad habit. I tend to keep useless things around me and don’t easily throw away anything that for other people may be considered as trash. I always think that probably someday the “useless” thing can be utilized. Perhaps, I still don’t know how to use it today but I may find it one day in future.

The habit caused my wife complained me a lot. It makes our home messy and full of “unnecessary” things.

I bring also the character into my hobby, photography. I learned about KILL THE BABIES concept which asks a photographer to throw away or delete “bad” photos. I delete some but I keep quite a lot, even though the photos are a bit out of focus or a little out of focus.

And, that makes me feel lucky to do that.

After I learned how to operate GIMP, a photo editing software, I found that the “bad” photos can be rectified  and made into “proper” photos. Even, it’s quite nice actually.

The above Balinese Dancer is among them, among photos that perhaps a professional photographer would immediately delete as soon as they took it. I kept it for almost 2 years and I think it’s now useful.

Dreamy View of Nusa Dua Beach

Dreamy View of Nusa Dua Beach

It took me few moments to take the above picture. Nusa Dua Beach, Bali is always one of the best beaches in the island, in the country, and probably in the world. It has white sand, blue water, and fabulous landscape.

The only problem was that I didn’t like to have an empty photo. Beaches are always nice to see but without an object, it will present too much empty feeling and may result on the sadness to appear.

Therefore, I decided to wait for a while until there was something appear to be included as an object.

I was quite lucky that there were few Balinese walking down to my direction. Slowly because it was still early in the morning and those guys might walk to a place where they worked.

After 10 minutes of waiting, I got the gift. One of the guys, wearing a traditional clothes of Bali entering the viewfinder and I pushed the shutter release button,.

I got what I wanted. The beautiful and dreamy view of a sunrise in Bali that was not too empty. The silhouette of the guy looked blended with the nice landscape.

The Accompanist : Don’t Watch Only The Dancers

The Accompanist : Don't Watch Only The Dancers

When you watch a musical performance or drama, it is common that your focus will be put more on the dancer or the cast. If you do this, then it’s understandable.

Probably because I am a photographer, or at least an advanced photography enthusiast, what I did was quite different. I still saw the dancer as they were the highlight of the performance, the core of the show but my eyes still scanned the stage from side to side.

It is a bit “bad” habit since my joining the word of capturing moment, unfortunately but I didn’t regret it. Even, I feel grateful.

Because, when everybody seemed stunned by the dynamic Bali dance, my eyes could not move from a bunch of people at one corner of stage. They wore traditional Balinese clothes completed with headbands.

They equipped with tarditional music instruments.

THE ACCOMPANISTS.

They caught my attention for few moments that I forgot, and never remembered the storyline of the show. They looked unique.

I took several shots with my Fujifilm Finepix HS 35EXR, just a bridge camera. And yeah, I was right because the photo looks good. It implemented my idea about Bali’s traditional musicians.

Therefore, I would suggest to everyone who visits any tourist attraction, please spare some time to scan the surrounding. Do not focus on the main show or the main character of a performance. You may fund something interesting and worth to remember from lesser characters or things that may not attract you at the first time.

Our intention to go there is to find something worth remembering right. It doesn’t matter it is famous or not as long as we like it and want to remember it, isn’t it? So, why should we spend a bit of our time to search not only what is presented to us. Try to seek more what is hidden or not shown.

Like I did with the Accompanists.

  • Location : Desa Kesiman, Bali
  • Year : 2016
  • Camera : Fujifilm Finepix HS 35EXR
  • F-Stop : f/5
  • Focal Length :  75 mm
  • Shutter Speed : 1/28 second
  • ISO : 1600
  • Editing : Picasa and Photoscape

[Dont Do This At Home] Stabbing Yourselves With Keris like A Must-See Show In Bali

[Dont Do This At Home] Stabbing Yourselves With Keris like A Must-See Show In Bali

First of all, DON’T DO THIS AT HOME. Do not ever try to do similar thing like shown in the above picture. It is dangerous. You will need a very special training and quite long time.

The above photo, taken in 2016 in Bali, was a picture of a man stabbing himself using a “KERIS’, a traditional curved blade in Java and Bali’s culture. It was not a plastic one but a real one made out from steel. It was a weapon commonly utilized  for war in the past era.

The man in the photo was not so desperate because of his broken heart. I was not sure if he was even already married or not, so the reason was never known until now why he was so dare to pierce himself with such dangerous tool.

The only thing I know was that it was just a part of a show commonly staged in the God Island, Bali. Tourists can find such show in many places around the most favorite tourist destination in Indonesia.

The name of the show was Barong and Keris Dance.

The guy and with his team mate just did a small part actually but it gained most attention of the audience. They just tried to stab themselves many times in front of hundreds of spectators. That’s it. Nothing else they did, they didn’t dance or spoke.

What made the audiences were overwhelmed was because nobody was harmed. There were not even slight wound in the body of the man, and his mates. The Keris never entered their body.

For Indonesian, such as show is quite common. In West Java, you may hear a name of ‘DEBUS’, an attraction with similar idea. However, the show should be very fascinating for foreigners. 9I am not sure if Captain America can do the same because he always avoided bullet or any weapaon, which I assume he was not bullet or weapon proof).

To have the immunity of weapon like the man is not easy. Some says it takes years to train and make a human body like a shield. Some other mentions, the show involves a “magic”.

I am not sure about that. I never practiced this action. I am just a photographer anyway.

  • Location : Kesiman Village, Bali, Indonesia
  • Year : 2016
  • Camera : Fujifilm Finepix HS 35EXR
  • F-stop ; f/4.5
  • Focal Length :  66 mm
  • Shutter Speed :  1/25 second
  • ISO :  1600
  • Editting : Picasa and Photoscape