Photo expert in Seminyak Bali

Tonight dinner was ravioli (35,000rp) at Yut’s on Rum Jungle Rd in Legian. A friend who is a photographer came along and we chatted about the art. Listening to someone who knows his stuff makes me scared to open my mouth, let alone show him a photo.

He doesn’t want to be named, but was the guy who told me the #1 rule…never show a bad photo. Talking about cameras he told me he had a selection of fine Nikon cameras and lenses that were stolen from his house a while back, although he does still have 1 Nikon plus a Hasselblad, which he showed me. These cameras are firmly in the film era, and the word ‘digital’ feels almost cheap, when used in comparing cameras. He told me never to use a zoom lens, but use a 28mm wide angle, a 35mm and another short tele lens for good results. A great nugget of information he shared on capturing good photos was 1) Decide what it is you are looking for, 2) Position yourself and wait for it to materialize 3) Be fast enough to capture it when it does.

While writing this a loud voice hollered in my direction out of the darkness. At first I thought it was a drunk person. The loud animated madman slowly voiced what sounded like “Uuuck yooouuu.” Was someone coming to get me? Now I realize its the temple priest from around the corner using his microphone. Balinese prayers can be extremely descriptive, when a priest gets into it and this was the first time any of it sounded like English.

My friend showed me a selection of black and white prints and suggested I come over to critique his work, showing a few of my photos. That will be fun to do sometime, nothing like going back to school.