This time around I go back to where I fell in love with photography, macro! It has been 12 years since I started and photography has become my passion. So as I walk through my journey, I walk down that road again, to the start and become more and more in Love.

God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible. ~ William Booth

Art happens all the time, everywhere. All we have to do is to keep our minds open. ~ Jacek Tylicki

Beauty is at once the ultimate principle and the highest aim of art ~ Goethe

While our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all. –  Ray Bradbury

I am using Canon EOS 7D with EF 50mm F/1.2L and EF 135mm F/2L, all using available light.

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. – Albert Einstein

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. – Khalil Gibran

So since I didn’t get the chance to shoot with the strobes I choose to use the modeling light from the 2 strobes with continuous light, 2 20″ soft box and a snoot aimed to the hair from the side and the soft boxes are side to side. For this studio photo I am using the 7D with EF 50mm F/1.2L with opening up the aperture to 1.2. Well, under the circumstances, this is all I’ve got.

Beauty. The power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. – Ambrose Bierce

I traveled here by motorbike, my trusty Yamaha Scorpio and my friend Pouwel who also ride another Yamaha, Vixion. Started from Jogjakarta, took us one day to reach the Park and it was a fun and memorable ride together. From the main gate to the camping ground and the watch tower Bekol is about 15 kilometers and passed through gorgeous landscape and scenery not to mention wild animals, the road was my favorite kind, broken asphalt mixed with rocks and mud. I was having the best time of my life. After Bekol, you can continue to Bama Beach, beautiful hidden place with mangrove forest and calm waters but the road was deteriorated, bigger rocks and covered with tall grass, but I hope it was fixed now.

Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that. – Lewis Carroll

If you guys want to know how to capture lightning, I’ve shared some tip on my previous post

If there is victory in overcoming the enemy, there is a greater victory when a man overcomes himself – José de San Martín

Yesterday I saw an opportunity to photograph sunset so I went up hill north of Bandung. It was raining a bit and the sky was all grey, but I decided to wait until the rain stops because I saw and predict that the sun will shine as the western sky was clear. And man I was right, after the rain stopped, the sun shows its face behind the disappearing western cloud and it was mother nature in action, I saw rainbows, amazing clouds and colors, it was the golden hour, everything was gold.

Even after the sunset the lights and colors was still amazing in the sky and it didn’t stop there as I saw thunderous cloud forming in the Northern Sky and it was lightning and thunder. Amazed by the view and I am grateful for being there to watch nature in action, I photograph everything in 50mm.

Here’s a tip for photographing lightning.
The Gear

• Camera (off course), in this case I am using Canon EOS 7D
• Wide Angle Lens to capture wide area from where you stand (I only use a couple of time)
• Medium Telephoto 50 to 135 or 200mm to isolate an area of interest (I use a lot of this in landscape)
• A cable release or remote release to take photograph without touching your camera for sharpness
• Tripod, you know what it’s for..

The How To

• Set your Camera on the tripod or if u didn’t bring any, just put it in a firm place
• plug in the cable release or set the remote ready
• use bulb mode
• set your ISO to 100 and as time goes and if its get darker, just pump the ISO up gradually
• set you F to 6.3 to 16 (sometimes i used F/4 depending on the situation)
• Frame it, see where the lightning make an appearance and aim there
• Bulb it!! and wait until the lightning strikes and release the shutter. mind you that it shouldn’t be more than 30 second because there will be too much light, but if the sky gets darker through the night than it’s okay or pump the ISO up.
• Happy hunting.

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. – Rachel Carson