Ranan Samanya Photography
fashion runways, portraits & personal branding, environment, and documentary photography
wo ist Gott?
Last week I was embroiled in a light facebook chat about various religions, the Crusades, and God. At one point one of my friends who is living in Germany asked, almost shouted, “Wo ist Gott?”, where was God during the Crusades, and why would He let the war continued for around 300 years? Honestly, although that time I picked a few verses from the Bible, I don’t really know the answer.
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devils’ dance
All black costumes (except for the batik sarongs). Big red eyes. And hints of red elsewhere: on the costumes and head covers. Those big white ropes? Those are their main weapons. And be very careful, for they possess dark magic. These are the devils of Reog Ponorogo, a traditional East Javanese dance from the regent of Ponorogo.
higher resolution images here:
a crappy macro of a crab claw
I am bored with the usual stuff. So I set up my 50mm f/1.8 II nifty-fifty with a Nikkor +1 close-up filter and a Cokin +2 close-up filter. Yes, you have guessed it right: I took the Nikkor filter from my father’s drawer, he was using it with a Nikkormat body loooong time ago. And Cokin was my favorite (and cheap) creative filter system back in the early eighties.
And then here’s another reason I love my old Cullmann tripod so much (I bet many -if not all- of you who have seen me carrying the tripod have not seen this feature in action): I removed the main pole out of the tripod, and sticked it in again upside down from below for macro position. Ain’t that cool! I’m lucky the nifty-fifty is as light as a feather, otherwise my tripod’s ballhead will not be able to withstand the weight.
Setting up the flash was a bit tricky, as mounting it on the camera was my only option. I ended up taking a piece from my daughter’s old cardboard house to aid the bounce.
Here’s the final product. I failed to remove that small portion of shadow, and even adding a side paper reflector didn’t help much and in fact it was reducing the texture details of the claw, so I just let that shadow be part of the frame. Manual focus, manual mode, manual flash setting.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and have a good evening!
Temiang village
Just a short note:
Another look to Temiang village, Tajur Biru island, on a cloudy morning. The sea, however, was calm and clean. This is also a place where dolphins pass by. And I was very lucky to watch 4 of them swimming peacefully crossing this narrow channel the other morning. The color and calmness of the sea and the breeze of the wind, has always arouse the urge to jump into the water. I have not done this, but I certainly will. One day.
Balloons galore
Here’s a family day event that, unlike previous years, was organized entirely by one division where 99% of the staff are all male engineers, technicians, and operators of a Power Plant, Transmission Lines, and Water Treatment Plant. First impression: balloons everywhere: in the air, on the ground, and in the pool! A perfect choice for all the kids, for they all love them. At the end of the day, however, it became apparent that the parents were also crazy on balloons. Take a peek and thank you for dropping by.
reaching out – beyond sea nomads kids education support
What started as a small project to give education support to the sea nomads children has, eventually, expanded to include all the primary years children in one almost isolated Tajur Biru island, 100km south of Bintan Resorts. After one and a half months of planning, yesterday the Humanity Forum with 14 volunteers visited the island through a very calm sea and nice weather. In between the zillion of things that were brought and donated (like 830 pcs of exercise books, stationaries, musical instruments, and fruits) for the 150 students were the happy faces of the volunteers. For them, it’s OK with the four o’clock morning call and lifting of goods, …as long as the kids are happy.
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Wedding page added
Greetings all,
If you are looking for joy and Okta’s wedding pictures, they are on this newly created wedding pages. Future weddings will also be posted in that page, and not here in the normal posts. The page is also listed on the right column, above the recent posting list.
Thank you for dropping by, and hope you have fun.
Joy and Okta – the wedding teaser
Just a quick note to let you know what I’m working on right now – sorting out 669 frames from Joy and Okta’s wedding ceremony and reception a few hours ago. Watch this space somewhere next week.
Oh, BTW, the pictures below were all taken using the nifty fifty Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens that only costs USD 81. The first one with a +1 Nikon close-up filter attachment that my father used to use… more than 20 years ago. Manual bounced flash was used.
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