Rodney Campbell's Blog

We headed north up into the mountains for a day to see one of Bali’s famous volcano mountains (Mount Batur) and lake (Lake Batur) from Penelokan village in Kintamani.

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

My children were fascinated by this Kintamani fisherwoman cleaning and preparing these fish 🙂

Kintamani Fisherwoman

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 98 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5, ISO 720

Look!

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 100 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 250

A stitched panorama encompassing just over a 180 degree view using 8 vertical frames taken with the 24-120/4 at 24mm taken from the viewing terrace of the breakfast spot at Penelokan village on the rim of the huge Batur caldera showing the land sweeping away out to Mt Batur volcano and it’s “recent” lava flows with Lake Batur at the bottom of the crater

Kintamani Crater View

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 24 mm, 1/80 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Another stitched panorama from 12 vertical frames taken with the 24-120/4 at 48mm

Volcano View

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 48 mm, 1/60 sec at f/9, ISO 100

Lake in the Mist

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 66 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 100

The entrance to the Maya Ubud Resort in Bali is very grand – when arriving at night as we did it’s lined with small accent lights as the road snakes it’s way through lush manicured gardens towards the main lobby building and once there we have a pool with lights and candles that we walk across to reach the lobby

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

I was a little late for this one – as the sun had already risen and the sky was getting a bit too bright

Maya Entrance at Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 0.6 sec at f/16, ISO 100

I took a wander with the tripod and camera just before dinner on our first full day at Ubud and captured this long exposure at twilight

Maya Entrance at Twilight

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 61.00 sec at f/11, ISO 100

This one is from a little further up the driveway also at twilight

Twilight Entrance

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 92 sec at f/11, ISO 100

They say Ubud is the cultural heart of Bali, it’s certainly a hive of activity. Each of the times we ventured into the centre of Ubud we found it absolutely jam packed with tourists and locals with stalls sprawling out into the streets.

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

One of the first things that strikes you about the streets in Bali is how absolutely packed they are with scooters – I believe there are as many scooters in Bali as people, and the streets are thick with scooters with anywhere from one to five people crammed on them weaving through and around the cars and pedestrians. To a westerners eyes it looks chaotic and very unsafe :)… Riding here appears to be a pretty loose and crazy affair and I’m absolutely surprised there aren’t more incidents (especially with how close all these vehicles (cars and scooters) drive to each other and the random directions they all appear to head in) – I guess the saving grace is that the traffic here moves pretty slowly (everywhere) because of the gridlock of people, bikes and cars at every intersection and choke point.

Four

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 24 mm, 1/30 sec at f/10, ISO 100

Looking Back

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 55 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 500

On the main road which heads into town

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 120 mm, 1/200 sec at f/4, ISO 125

Peak Hour in Ubud

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 120 mm, 1/500 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Late afternoon on the little road leading out of town towards where we stayed

NIKON D600 + 24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0 @ 120 mm, 1/200 sec at f/4, ISO 250

After a relatively long flight we’d arrived in Bali and once we were out of the airport it was a long hour and a half drive to our first stay in the cultural heart of Bali – Ubud. We arrived very late (nearly midnight) and very tired but my family was looking forward to our first ever trip to Bali.

I got up early the next morning to rece the place we were staying in (the beautiful Maya Ubud Resort and Spa) and to take some images in the early morning light. There wasn’t much of a sunrise (there actually hasn’t been many to speak of during our stay so far – it’s mostly been overcast and raining in the mornings) but the light was good.

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

We were staying in Villas at the Maya and I have to say this place is absolutely spectacular (both visibly and also in the impecable service, facilities, entertainment and food) – I can highly recommend the stay here. The resort and it’s beautifully manicured gardens and grounds is built along the top of a ridgeline – a long ribbon with valleys on both sides with a river snaking along the eastern side and terraced rice fields (and the Ubud village) to the west.

Maya Villa

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1.60 sec at f/11, ISO 100

The view from the end of the ridge at the Maya (the end of the path leading away in the previous image) looking down into the valley at the River Cafe and the day Spa and the lush tropical forest which was the grounds of the Maya resort

What Lies Below

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1.60 sec at f/11, ISO 100

The girls enjoying their first early morning rise at Maya

Maya Morning

NIKON D600 + 35.0 mm f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/60 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Sadly Rock wins 🙁 – D600 definitely looses…

Nikon D600+16-35/4 VS Rock… Fight!!!

iPhone 5 + @ 4.13 mm, 1/20 sec at f/2.4, ISO 250

I’m holidaying with my family in Bali Indonesia as I write this. We are about half way through our stay and of course with a country as beautiful as this I definitely wanted to photograph our trip so I brought my gear – my Nikon D600, a selection of lenses, tripod, filters and other gear.

I’d arranged with my family and booked two dedicated days in the middle of our trip with a private photography guide (Yande Ardana) to pick me up at ungodly hours and take me out shooting photographically inspired locations of my choice at the best times (e.g. sunrises at Maynar beach & Ulan Danu Temple, sunsets at Tanah Lot, Batubolong & Uluwatu Temple and various other locations inbetween like the famous rice terraces of Tegallalang and Jatiluwih).

My day had come and I was picked up just before 4:30AM for my first morning out to shoot sunrise at Maynar – it was raining like crazy on the drive out – it certainly wasn’t looking good – perhaps foreboding what was to come. However magically the rain had completely stopped by the time we’d arrived and we could see some stars towards the east and it appeared the clouds and storm was moving over and behind us.

The shoot went well and I’m hopeful for some nice images from the morning however after the sun had risen and I was moving about for some last shots I slipped and fell backwards. I expect it was either me or the camera which was about to get hurt and I guess instinct took over and my arms flew back to break my fall. Unfortunately the D600 with the attached 16-35 lens with my usual Lee kit + Heliopan CPL attached at the front along with my wireless remote trigger in the hotshoe all on my tripod which was thankfully packed up short crashed onto the rocks.

The lens tore right off the body of the camera taking the whole lens mount and some of the camera internals with it, the wireless trigger snapped out of the hotshoe and amazingly there is just a corner chip in the Lee ND grad. I’m not sure how none of the glass looks smashed – in fact the lens and 105mm CPL “look” ok (I can’t test it here) – of course the lens still has the camera body mount still firmly attached to it and I can’t seem to remove it. The inside of the D600 is decidedly unhappy with bits and electronics dangling – some part of the mirror mechanism is dangling but the prism and mirror itself “look” wholeish.

So unfortunately the photographic portion of my time in Bali has come to an ignominious end – I am however quite hopeful that I have a number of great images from the first half of our trip here and will process and post over the coming days and weeks…