The Flow Is Vigorous Yet Supple
I just love them long exposure photos of waterfalls, streams and sea, where the vigorous motion and flow of water is aggregated into a thick cloud of fine mist, ethereal and magical. Its been on my to do list to try it for a while now, but somehow or rather had not had the opportunity to do so. Although Kuala Lumpur is developing rapidly with its forest and woods diminishing in size by the day, the forest reserves/green belts are still very much intact and I could think of potentially suitable spots where I could do this. Some of these spots in fact are popular family picnic spots during weekends. Somehow or rather, it just didn’t materialize …
Until the recent holiday (school holidays for the kids) where we (re)visited Taiping a couple of days as part of a one week holiday itinerary. At the foot of the Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut) are some beautiful streams with nice rock formations which flow into the Sungei Larut (Larut River). With limited time and being new to the place, I stayed within the easy access stretches of the streams and scouted for suitable locations to photograph. As an early bird, I had the place all to myself for a good part of the morning until visitors started arriving later in the morning. It was invigorating waddling in the cool clear babbling streams. Fun, but need to exercise care, mind and avoid them mossy slimy rocks and deep stretches. One careless misstep and my gear (I only took with me what I needed for the shoot and left the rest/bag by the bank) would either be history or cost me a bomb to put right.
Here are some photos from the fun shoot. I have processed them in a manner to emphasize the flow, nature’s energy , life’s force. Looking at the now, I am reminded of the proverbial quote by the famous and wise ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
The Beauty Of Nature’s Energy, Life’s Force
Ethereal
All photos Fuji X-E2 with XF 23mm & XF 14mm.
Ken and Agnes Photoworks 
I think I like that first shot the best because it does not seem to be as slow a shutter speed and, therefore, is not as misty. There are still strands of water that can be distinguished within the flow.
thanks for your comment, emilio.
you are right, the first photo was shot at a faster shutter speed. With the light level at the time, i did not want to go any lower with my camera/lens + 3-stop ND filter combination and risk whitewashing the image. Fortunately, it turned out rather well. I like the shot too, for me, the still strands depict the water’s motion and its raw energy.
Great photos!
thank you, hien.
btw, how did you get on with gimp? using it now?