Andy Yip Photography

Due to the massive amount of image produced, also because i found it too hard to choose and display only a few photos, i have decided to break up the second day into different parts. In this post i will display mainly the flower photos taken in the botanical garden in Mt Tamborine.

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The first activity of the second day was astrophotography at Mt Tamborine. This brought back memories of the old days where i was taking heaps of star fields and star trails photos on a film camera. I stopped taking this type of photos ever since i have switched to digital. Taken astronomical photography with DSLR is an entire different story, at least for star trails. Back in the days of film, i used to take star trails with a single exposure of 20 minutes or more.  Now with digital, an exposure of such duration will most likely result in a lot of noise. Tried that with my D200. The image below was actually stacked by around 32 images, each exposed for 30 secs with f2.8 aperture and ISO400. The resulting image looks much clearer and seems to have avoided most light pollution too. Unfortunately, the setup on that day wasn’t perfect for star trails. It was severely covered with clouds and there wasn’t any foreground to make a nice landscape too. Anyhow, it would be a good experience for the next shot.

The next day ( mentally it is the next day after a night of sleep, although it is still the same “day” ) we got up at around 6.30am. Without having breakfast, we headed straight to the botanical garden in Mt Tamborine. This time of the year, botanical garden is a perfect place for shooting flowers and probably insect. I will only post those flower photos in this post since there are so many.

A closer look of the flower.

An even closer look so we can see the pollens.

Upon arrival at Mt Tamborine National Park, we went straight to the Curtis Fall. I was really looking forward to taking photos of Curtis Fall. It has been almost 4 years since the last time i took photos of waterfall in the national park at Coffs Harbour. Unlike the other waterfalls at Springbrook and Lamingtons National Park, where you have to walk at least an hour, getting to Curtis Fall is much easier – only 15 minutes walk. The downside is that Curtis Fall is quite small compare with the others.

Tried shooting the Curtis Fall from a different angle. I think we can stay there for a whole day.

Also tried some black and white photos. I always like black and white photos of the bush cause it makes the trees really stand out.

After taking photos of the Curtis Fall, we went for some lunch then check in at the park. We sort of hanging around the park looking for photo opportunities. Luckily, there were quite a lot of birds around the park.

Caught this duck landing on the pond. The photos turned out to be better than i thought, consider it was at least an hour after sunset and i was using iso 12800. Thanks to the high ISO performance, i was able to still use a fairly fast shutter to capture the moment the duck landed

I also find a lot of opportunities for insect macro photos.

A moth i found inside our room.

Here’s something that will definitely be found in a national park – mosquitoes. For some reason, they don’t  response very well. That gives us plenty of time for macro.

For some reasons, Australia seems to have a lot of flies. It gets a bit annoying when there are flies around you when you eat. But at least, it’s not difficult for me to find flies for photos.

More flowers…

Epiphyllum, is famous for how its bloom only last for a single night. Thanks to Leo and William who gave me this Epiphyllum so i have the opportunities to take photos of this Epiphyllum.

One thing about taking photos of flower is that you can take it anywhere. This is one that found in my backyard.

This is the second time i went to Brunei. Unlike the first trip to Brunei back in 2007, instead of staying for a few days, i am only there couple of hours waiting for my transit flight back to HK. At the airport, there are quite a few tours for transit passengers. Rather than waiting at the boarding room, we decided to join the tour and explore the city again.

The first stop is a park in Brunei’s capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan. Opposite the park, across the river is the Kampong Ayer, the largest and the most famous water village in Southeast Asia.

Water taxi is the main transport between Kampong Ayer and the city.

The next stop is the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, located right in the heart of Bandar Seri Begawan.

The third stop, before we head back to the airport, is the Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. Although not as spectacular as the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, it is the largest Mosque in Brunei.

Just added some flower photos taken..hmm.. around 5 years ago, at the Mt Coot Tha Botanical Garden.

This is the second time i took sunset photos at Cleveland Point. Sunset is no doubt one of the favourite for most photographer, thanks to the beautiful colour soon after the sun is set. I am in no exception. The only thing i found with sunset (or sunrise) is that the photos can really be quite repetitive. Luckily, unlike the first time at Cleveland Point, this time i went at high tide (I didn’t really check the tides before going =P) and makes it quite different from last time.

Some cute crabs i found while taken sunset at Cleveland Point