Ranan Samanya Photography
fashion runways, portraits & personal branding, environment, and documentary photography
late night at Malioboro, Yogyakarta
When everything is closed, and street vendors go away, the sidewalk of Malioboro, Yogyakarta is a relatively clean, dry, though cold, alternative for the homeless.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens is known to have difficulty focusing in low light, such as in this situation. I had to do manual focus on the three frames that built this HDR. I could of course go closer or use my 70-200mm, but then I will loose the columns and the rather antiqued streetlight.
I hope you enjoy this one as you enjoy your weekend.
a different piece of Malioboro, Yogyakarta
Many of my decent frames seemed to come out of lucky snapshots. Like this one in Malioboro street, Yogyakarta. It was ten o’clock in the evening, and I was returning back to my hotel after walking back and forth from one end to the other end of this street, looking for interesting subjects.
What makes Malioboro unique is the dual function of the sides of the street. From morning until around eight o’clock in the evening shops and street vendors covered both sides of Maioboro. When the shops closed and street vendors packed their merchandise, street food sellers came replacing them, and with the food sellers came the street performers.
I walked passed these street performers without any intention to shoot. Somehow I turned my head back and saw them right through a ronde cart. If you haven’t tried ronde, it’s a hot ginger drink with glutinous balls served not in glasses but in bowls. I took three frames. Lucky they were standing under the powerful street light, so not much of a problem for my nifty-fifty lens. This came out the cleanest. What a luck!
Owntel – Yogyakarta’s rickshaw
It is hard to uniquely capture Yogyakarta when so many people have already done it beautifully. So when I visited this cultural city for a short 3 nights business trip last month, I didn’t prepare myself to have the chance to get a decent frame, until I finished processing this.
This picture, an HDR from 3 frames with my usual 2 stops variation between each frame, is the best I can come up with from the 400 something that I took. And it was not an expected frame. I was actually focusing on the historical buildings at the start of Malioboro, the most famous street in Yogyakarta. On the background is the Bank Negara Indonesia, BNI, built in 1923. I was deep in thought on how to capture it with my camera mounted on the tripod. Suddenly this rickshaw appeared and parked itself just in front of me. At first I was disappointed, but not for long. The side of the rickshaw was nicely painted. The word owntel, if I guessed it correctly, came as a variation of onthel, which, in Javanese, means to cycle (do let me know if there is another meaning of owntel).
To me, this frame depicts a little bit of Yogya’s hectic life — a mix between the old and modern era, with culture rich in them. Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Jonker Street’s maltose candy
Some call it ting-ting candy. Others will say ding-ding candy. Or malt candy. They all refer to this funny sweet made of maltose with sprinkles of ginger on top. And it has to be chiseled away from the main chunk. This process makes that ting-ting sound, or ding-ding, depends on the materials, the force, and what our ears catch. We may even hear a ding-dong. B-)
Jonker Street’s popsicle
A hot, humid and crowded Jonker Street, Malacca. While many will seek place to eat and buy souvenirs, I prefer to wet my throat and chill down my body temperature. After a few bottles of soft drinks and coconut juice, I spotted this unique popsicle seller.
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Jonker Street’s chicken rice balls
Once upon a time, people in Malacca were not as prosperous as they are now. In order to easily distribute the limited amount of rice to each family member equally, they divided the cooked rice in the form of balls. Another will tell a story about keeping the rice warm longer in this shape. Hence, in either way, the Malacca’s chicken rice balls, a compulsory culinary treat, well known to date.
There are three prominent chicken rice balls in Jonker Street; the most famous is Chung Wah. I personally prefer Hoe Kee, as Chung Wah’s taste of garlic is rather strong. Hoe Kee is also popular for the different ice mix, such as ice kachang and ice cendhol.
a rickshaw in Malacca
It was a quick shot. This old man was cycling his rickshaw under the hot afternoon sun in Jonker Street, Malacca. The street was not crowded. Later when reviewing the scene reminded me of New Orleans in the sixties (or maybe the seventies…?). Not so much of the rickshaw, but of the colours depicting age and more distinct the face of the old man. Well… your opinions may vary <grin>. I enhanced the colour using Nik’s HDR Effects Pro.
I hope you like it and thank you for stopping by.
temple of the king
Yes, we’re still at St. Paul’s church, Malacca. Just when I walked out of the complex, there sat this old guy singing songs I grew up with. Rod Stewart was one that his voice matched beautifully. But Rainbow’s temple of the king really hit me back to the olden days where good quality classic rock songs existed.
I loved the atmosphere. I like the colors and surroundings. And I enjoyed his songs. So I changed to my sharpest lens, the 70-200mm, and started shooting. After the seventh frame I realized I was shooting from a bad angle. So I moved to that ficus tree, half squatting, leaning my back hard against its root behind that guy with the green shirt (later a few others also moved their positions behind me). This frame below is my favorite, as it also show the tombstones at the background and I feel his posture was right.
It’s an HDR from the usual three frames each with 2 stops difference. I purposely didn’t eliminate the ghosting artifact from his movements; I thought it enriched the picture. But your points may vary… so why don’t you let me know? I’m sure I can learn something from your comments. B-)
one day in the year of the fox
when the bell began to ring
meant the time had cometh
for one to go
to the temple of the king….
daylight waits while the old man sings
heaven help me
then all could see by the shine in his eyes
and then like the rush of a thousand wings
it shines upon the one
and the day had just begun….
Ranan Samanya Photography 
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