Mt Rinjani

September 6, 2013 by MikeVeitch

I had the chance to trek to the top of Mt Rinjani back in July in what proved to be a heck of a lot harder climb than I expected! The peak is at 3700+ metres (just over 12,000 ft) and takes quite some time to climb. We started on day one with about 8 hours worth of steep uphill walking until reaching the “base camp” where we pitched tents for the night in what I would describe as pretty damn cold conditions! (I am now a tropical resident as opposed to living in Canada so temperatures of less than 10C at night are damn cold!) We were going to head up to the summit at 2am but the person who was leading our tour decided that a 630am departure would be better, so that is what we did. We reached the summit after 3-4 hours of walking up quite steep and narrow slopes. The “scree slope” (loose volcanic sand) was quite loose and it seemed like you would drop back 1 foot for every 2 feet gained, very hard going in the conditions. The “lowered oxygen” was actually a lot more noticeable than I would have thought and I was definitely suffering a little bit that is for sure, keeping an eye out on everyone from the rear! Our group consisted of a bunch of folks who are from the highlands of Austria and Switzerland and assorted other mountain goats, so it didn’t seem to affect them nearly as much as it did me (although it may have had something to do with being old and not in the best of shape?!?) However, we did make it to the top of the summit and it was an amazing feat! We spent about 20 minutes or so taking photographs and discussing it while we were up there, the view from the top was fantastic as well. One of the photos below shows the crater lake that is at the bottom of the crater and the new volcano that is growing out of it. After the summit it was a jaunt back down the hill to base camp for lunch and then about a 2 hour climb down the very steep face of the crater to the lake where we set up camp for night number 2, and hung out in much warmer conditions and had a great dip in the fresh water hot springs! The hot springs are a great way to loosen up the tight muscles. The next day was a killer climb back up the crater and then a long 4 – 5 hour walk down the hill to the base of the mountain to a small cafe for some much needed beer! If you are in Indonesia for any amount of time then I would say this really is a fantastic 3 days out, but be warned, you need to be in shape and the “safety” of some of the climbs can be a bit dodgy with narrow trails and no guardrails whatsoever. Here are some photos of the trip:

Frogfish Portrait

September 2, 2013 by MikeVeitch

Back to the underwater images for a moment, I led a group of divers to Komodo on the luxurious Dive Damai Dua back in June and we had a great trip with perfect weather. I would say the favourite dive for most of the folks during the week occurred on day 2! This dive was of course the iconic Cannibal Rock located in Nusa Kode (Horseshoe Bay) at the southern end of Rinca Island. We did the dive twice (or was it 3 times?) and everyone had a great time shooting things from schooling fish to ladybug amphipods to any one of 4 different frogfish that we could find. Here is a portrait of this giant bluish-grey individual. I would like to thank the Kilgours and friends for joining me on this trip and of course the crew of the Dive Damai Dua.

The Smiles of Indonesia

September 1, 2013 by MikeVeitch

One thing that every visitor seems to notice right away when traveling around Indonesia is the friendly faces and quick smiles that are so prevalent among Indonesians. Recently, I have traveled to several different areas of Indonesia and of course found that the kids in far flung villages are always so happy to see tourists visiting their homes. Although seemingly shyer than most kids I have encountered in other areas of Indonesia, these kids in a village outside of Biak in Papua province eventually warmed up to the camera and loved to pose in groups for a few fun photos.

Surf Photography

June 20, 2013 by MikeVeitch

I started a new form of photography for me a few weeks ago while visiting some pretty famous surf spots off the south and west coasts of Sumatra. Taking advantage of being the only people in the area, along with a quick boat and 400mm worth of lens, I was able to enjoy shooting waves, surfers, and boogie boarders for the first time. The trick was to get the boat in the right place at the right time, not an easy task! But, the boat drivers did a great job resulting in a lot of good photo opportunities. The best way forward was simply putting the camera on Shutter priority and rapid burst to capture the quick movement of the surfers. I experimented a lot and took one heck of a lot of photos, but I think I certainly captured a few keepers. The experience also got me to thinking that I wanted to finally try surfing, so I have signed up for a one day class this coming weekend, hopefully you are never too old to try something new.

Here are a few photos to look at, thanks to Brett and Walt the two models!

Mountain Biking in Bali

June 16, 2013 by MikeVeitch

One of the activities I have been getting up to a lot in Bali these days is mountain biking. I bought a good full suspension bike around the beginning of March and have been trying to get out and do some riding quite often when I am in town. For those not too familiar with Bali, it’s actually a very mountainous sort of place with lots of hills and off road terrain. The sort of riding that we are doing is what could be described as Cross Country, no major single track downhill stuff (mostly we are too old for that) but rather some very interesting trails through the woods, rice fields, and some gnarly roads found throughout Bali. We have been riding in the areas of Bedugul, Kintamani, Ubud, Tabanan, and the small island of Serangan near Sanur. There are loads of tracks still to be ridden but we are slowly finding more and more fun rides to go on. We have a group of anywhere up to 10 people joining us on these rides which can take anywhere from about 2.5 hours to 5 or 6 hours. If you are interested in riding with us then let us know and hopefully can sort something out.

Here is a short video that shows one of the rides in Bedugul.

Bali Photo Workshop 25-30 October 2013

May 23, 2013 by MikeVeitch

Following the success of our underwater photo workshop in Lembeh this past April, we have decided to host another event in Bali during the best season of the year, October 25-30. This event will be another 5 day event with a maximum of 12 participants, everyone will get a chance to dive with each of the two photo instructors during this course. We will be discussing f-stops, shutter speeds, strobe angles, playing with light, composition, and of course workflow using Lightroom. This is going to be a really fun event with incredible photo opportunities so don’t miss out!

This class is filling up fast so please send us an email at info@underwatertribe.com for more information or check the Underwater Tribe website for more details: http://underwatertribe.com/Bali_workshop_2013.html

Octopus Shenanigans

May 12, 2013 by MikeVeitch

Octopus Shenanigans

One of my favourite inhabitants of the underwater world is the octopus. Non divers may think of octopus as just “octopus?!?!” an item they see photos of from time to time or else as some sort of culinary item (not recommended!) However, to the well informed people (by this I mean those of us who scuba dive 😉 ) octopus are one of the most sought after encounters to be had. These long legged mollusks are one of the most intelligent “non mammals” on the planet and an encounter with one is always a treat to any diver. Having the opportunity to sit and watch one of these wily critters is always fun, especially if the octopus in question is up to something (hunting, house building, general tomfoolery such as attacking cameras)

In Bali, one of the best places to encounter octopus is the dive site Puri Jati (also known as PJs) which is located on the north side of the island, not to too far from Lovina. The species which can be found here are some of the most sought after for underwater photographers: mimic, long arm, and coconut octopus, I won’t bother with the scientific names! Last week, I was in north Bali teaching an underwater photography class with a student who was learning both wide angle and macro photography techniques. However, as part of his class he wanted to have a day in between so he could practice techniques without me, no problem I thought, I will go diving! So I did, and am I ever happy I did that. I took a wander down to Puri Jati and jumped in for two dives, a total of close to 200 minutes with a max depth of about 10 metres (30 feet) in nice warm water. It turned out to be a very octopussy sort of day, with 7 different individuals of 3 different species with half of them being “players”. The best two encounters were with a small mimic octopus and a large coconut octopus who were dueling for my attention. The coconut had a great home that he was transporting around (coconut shell and clam shell) while the mimic was out for a jaunt and poking his tentacles into every crevice looking for a meal. I spent over an hour just watching and photographing these two individuals and came back with some fantastic photos. I have posted one here, but the others are a part of another project so can’t be posted quite yet.

May 1 Update

May 1, 2013 by MikeVeitch

I have been back in Indonesia now for 2 months since a prolonged 4 months in Canada (over winter even!) and wow, what a two months it has been!

Luca and Niko looking for Pygmy Seahorses

In March, I taught two private photo classes in Bali as well as a fun road trip around the island with the Underwater Tribe. In April the fun really began! After another trip around Bali with Simon and Sofie Pridmore for a magazine article, I made my way to the old haunts at NAD Lembeh Resort. Along with Matt Oldfield, we conducted a photo workshop for 12 students and had an amazing but busy week. I believe that everyone learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed their time with us, we will be conducting another workshop in Tulamben, Bali in late October. Of course we spent a few days of diving for ourselves before and after the class in order to get some photos to fill out our portfolios. I decided to dive only with the 10.5mm + 2X TC combination as it’s a great set up for octopus, my main target for the week, and it did prove challenging. I had to pass up a lot of great subjects that others with more “macro” setups got to shoot but that’s ok, I got the octopus photos I wanted in the end (no sneak peaks yet)! I am very much looking forward to heading up to NAD Lembeh again soon for more photo opps in Lembeh. It really is a great resort and is proving to be the resort of choice for serious photographers in Lembeh Strait. I was blown away by all of the changes in the last 3 years.

Shrimp on a Snake Eel

Photo Workshop Participants

Matt and I also spent a day at the Tasik Oki animal rehabilitation centre just outside of Bitung. The folks at Tasik Oki work with local officials and the police to rescue illegally held animals that are kept as pets throughout the North Sulawesi area, animals such as cassowary birds, orangutans, macaques, and gibbons just to name a few. Of course don’t forget the Sun Bears who are kept for their gall bladder production, what a horrible thing that is! The centre has two sun bears on location, adorable little bears who are now enjoying a much better life than previously but unfortunately won’t be able to go back to the wild. They have successfully seized many of these unique and endangered animals from very poor conditions and are able to care for them much better than those keeping them as pets. I know its tough to see photos of these animals behind bars but its better than what they had before, the staff at Tasik Oki truly do keep good care of their animals. If you have the chance to visit Tasik Oki then please do, also, if you have some spare income to offer as a donation then it’s always appreciated as it goes to the benefit of these animals.

Cassowary

Sun Bear! I had no idea they were so small

Not 36 hours after arriving back in Bali, I was off on another private photo class in Tulamben before having a few days in Sanur to finish a couple of deadlines. Now it’s the first of May and I started the day out with a 2.5 hour bike ride with my friend Graham, a great way to start the day! I will be heading out to north Bali in a couple of days for more photo instruction and then then who knows?! 2013 has started out as a busy year and also a good and bad one (for reasons I won’t get into here) but the rest of the year certainly looks like it will be busy and fruitful with a lot of exciting adventures coming up! Looking forward to it.

Lembeh Sunset

Final Day of the Underwater Tribe/NAD Lembeh Photo Workshop

April 20, 2013 by MikeVeitch

Day 5

We are now on the last day of the workshop and there is a bit of sadness in the air as several people are leaving tomorrow but the fact we still have a day of diving left means lots more photos! Highlights of todays dives are flambouyant cuttlefish, giant frogfish, a coconut octopus with a collection of shells, and pygmies galore. After lunch Matt presented a talk about developing photos in Lightroom, which followed on with his talk about the importing process from day 2. After the third dive of the day everyone gathered their best shots from the week and handed them in for the final slideshow. After a great dinner with a BBQ chicken and shrimp satay feast, we had another milestone dive cake, 500 dives for Dmitry!

After dinner all 12 students gathered upstairs along with the rest of the people at the resort to watch a great slideshow of images from everyone who participated. We had over 150 images submitted and the slideshow was very entertaining for everyone with some killer photos submitted. After a couple of concluding speeches from Matt, Mike, and Lael the beer came out along with some very interesting stories to top off the night.

We would like to thank all 12 participants of our photo workshop: Andreas, Peter, Koy, Kit, Roy, Jennifer, Dmitry, Eliana, Jovin, CC, Margaret, and Lael for joining us on this workshop. We are glad that everyone was able to learn a lot about underwater photography and we hope to see you all again soon!