Ranan Samanya Photography
fashion runways, portraits & personal branding, environment, and documentary photography
Dance of the Lesser Sand Plover
Two Lesser Sand Plovers (Charadrius mongolus) -or Cerek Pasir Mongolia in Indonesian- were just about to land on the rock in Segiling, Bintan. These are intertidal- and sand-flats birds, native in many parts of the world. For the geographic distribution, see Oiseaux.net.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS @200mm, f/5.6, 1/1000sec, ISO 400]
Saving a leatherback turtle nest
Today we found a leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nest. We saved 77 eggs around 1m deep under the sand, although there is a doubt whether these eggs are infertile or not. We brought the eggs to the community hatchery in Segiling, Bintan.
Pictured here is Irma, one of our scholarship students, who helped turtle survey, counting and making sure the eggs were properly put into the bucket before transfer.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS @176mm, f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 400]
Hawksbill’s first crawls
Here are the first crawls of a hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) into this cruel world. One of 75 hatchlings that we released last week with the villagers in Segiling, Bintan. This season they managed to save two nests and maintained the eggs in their own hatchery. The slightly protruding plate (distinct from the first image) will develop into the inter-prefrontal and frontal scales. On the background, a big percentage of infertile eggs with slightly dark brown color.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS @105mm, f/5.6, 1/6sec, ISO 800]
A mother’s care
Ibu Suting’s heart is broken. Her 4 years old son, Dani, was just been hit by a motorcycle while on another motorcycle with his dad. We can still see the swollen right forehead and bruises. Dani was lucky not to suffer from any fractures, but little is known about internal damage inside his head. Let’s just hope everything work well for them.
The use of high ISO here can’t be helped, as I don’t have a tripod with me and she wasn’t sitting still, in a wooden house typical for Segiling village in Bintan. This remote village has no power line connection to the national grid. People still use lampu petromaks (petromax lamps) as the main light source in the evening.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS @65mm, f/5.6, 1/6sec, ISO 3200]
Death after pipping
Pipping is a process by which a turtle hatchling breaks free from the egg shell. The process can take almost one day, as subsequent to pipping, hatchlings remain within the egg chamber to retract the remaining external undigested yolk through the umbilicus into the body cavity.
This characteristic of external yolk retention coupled with time
spent in the nest after hatching makes the hatchlings vulnerable to attack from insect larvae that may be nearby, and may cause death to the hatchlings.
Pictured above is an example of such condition in a hawksbill turtle.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS @88mm, f/5.6, 1/45sec, ISO 800]
Last call at Bandar Bentan Telani
Last ferry from Bintan Resorts ferry terminal is getting ready to go back to Singapore. Bintan Resorts is operating it’s own ferry service to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal in Singapore 5 times daily; 6 times every Friday and 7 times during weekends, holiday and peak periods!
I switched off autofocus and IS, and did a manual metering. The electronic level of 7D came in handy in leveling on my tripod with only 1 degree of error. The starburst effect is a result of using small aperture (should have tried even smaller ones!).
As usual, click on the image to get a higher resolution one.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS @99mm, f/9.5, 8sec, ISO 400]
Free time
Fishermen gathered and gossiping on their boats in the afternoon, while waiting to go to the sea again. Segiling Village, Bintan.
[Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS @200mm, f/4.0, 1/125sec, ISO 200]
Green turtle hatchling
This green turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchling is feeling the first taste of the ocean. All turtle hatchlings are “equipped” with a sense of direction towards the water and can immediately swim. Their first steps are also recorded in their memories; this enable them to return to the beach where they were hatched to lay down eggs… approximately 20 years later or more.
[Panasonic Lumix LX3 @24mm, f/4.0, 1/800sec, ISO 400]
Ranan Samanya Photography 
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