Monday, September 6, 2010

Reptile in glass

On August 31st, 2010, i had some couple hours to kill after a meeting.
I remembered one of my forgotten obsession... taking photos of reptiles.
These animals are very similar in their shape with their prehistoric counterparts, the dinosaurs.
That's what picque my interest to exploring their faces.
Its been a while since I walked past the reptile pet store in Pakuwon Trade Center (PTC), and I remembered they have quite a collection there.
If you are fond of animals and been once took a walk to PTC's pets district, you'll never miss RatSnake Reptiles shop there.
So I park my car in the basement and walk toward the store.

I knew I'll be needing a long lense for this purpose since I wanted to look closely at their expressions. So I brought my 100mm macro lense and mount it in my camera, not forgetting my heavy-as-hell-but-sturdy tripod.

Alas, when I got there, it seems that that day was not my luck afterall, because only then I found out that the shop's owner has been late on paying their electricity bills, so they got blacked out (I found out after asking the employers why the hell didnt they turn on the lights...)

It didnt turn my interest off however, so i set up my equipment anyway. I've never took shots of anything behind glass cage before so please mind the reflections and other distractions caused by the glass cage. Of hundreds shots I took, here are some that's still enjoyable...


type I - branch lover

"why look at me?" look

type II - romantic type

" is your tail stinky or are you just farted? "

type III - strong looking dudes

"together we stand ...alone i slumped "

 " the proud one "

" napping... zzzz... "

type III - serious dude

type IV - gigantic sized & lazy type


Reptiles are very slow moving animal. They are lazy and sleepy because of their cold blooded nature, so I have no difficulties focusing on their heads. I used flash-mounted single lighting only for these shots hence you can notice the dark background. 
I think I need to go back when the store is well-lit and try take some more shots to make better photos of them. Check out this page often if you're interested. :)
  
 

LEGAL NOTICE
 ALL REPTILES BELONG TO RATSNAKE REPTILES COLLECTION
I THANK THEM FOR THIS WONDERFUL CHANCES & DEDICATED THESE IMAGES FOR THEM
THESE IMAGES ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE SOLD OR TRADED FOR WHATEVER REASON, THEY ARE PURELY FOR PERSONAL PURPOSE
NO PART OF THE IMAGES POSTED HERE ARE ALLOWED TO BE COMMERCIALLY USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION 
IF YOU NEED HI-RES IMAGES PLEASE LEAVE COMMENT ON THIS PAGE

Sunday, September 5, 2010

SURVEYING BROMO AREA




 A view 100 metres from Tengger market (not mount Bromo obviously)


Today,
woke up too late at 0430
washed face
got dressed
prepared breakfast
and started my car

i took the route Surabaya - Gempol - Porong - Pandaan - Purwodadi - Nongkojajar - Tosari
arrived in Bromo at 0800
sun's already up and running
but anyway, i took some pictures so as not to waste the chances of being there
while i took some pictures, a tour guide approached me and offered his service
he took me to a house-for-rent which provide 2 beds, in-room lavatory & water heater
(the current rate was IDR 250,000 /nite /room and IDR 800,000/nite for whole house rent with the maximum of 8 persons. more than 8 is allowed with additional charges up to 20 people)
after that we went to the Wonokitri (the entrance post to mount Bromo)
he convinced me to take a ride with his motorcycle to the Penanjakan for a cheap IDR 50,000
so we went to the Penanjakan, stopping in some view points along the way
the air is cool and fresh, very nice weather
Enjoy the snapshots...



For those of you who want to get to Bromo and dont yet know how to get there or what route to take, here's a map to help you out :


good luck !!!