Nadly Aizat: Solo Trip to Penang (Part 2 : Street Shooting)

This entry is the continuation of the previous one, where I wrote about my journey to Penang Hill recently.

The initial plan was to go to Kek Lok Si temple which is situated near the Penang Hill. But since the time was running out so I had it cancelled and decided to go straight to the town via Rapid Penang. I hopped off the bus at KOMTAR and went inside to pray Zohor and Asar. Since it was still in public holidays, not many shops were opened.

I planned to walk alongside the Penang Road, dropping by the famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear for lunch (although it was a little bit late), and then walking through Lebuh Chulia, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and finally heading to Esplanade, before walking back to the jetty to go back to Butterworth.

Nasi Kandar Line Clear.

Situated at Penang Road, I don't know why this restaurant (or should I call it a food stalls) is famous across the country. Maybe because its food are tasty, or because I got a lot on a single plate for a reasonable price. The time I came here, there are a lot of people eating here and we have to line up to get our food. The reason why I call it a food stalls is simply because there was a series of stalls in the open area between the building premises.

The signboard of the restaurant.

Waiting for my turn to be served.

A long queue of people.

Less than RM10 for a supersize fried chicken and a drink. Not bad aye?

Street Shooting.

Now to the best part of the trip. This was the first time where I'm practising to shoot within a very close distance. For your information, I used an ultra wide angle lens which is Samyang 14mm f/2.8 UMC. Since this is a manual focus lens, I have to use the hyperfocal distance technique in order to get a sharp image. In my case, I used f/8 most of the time as the images taken are sharp at this aperture and set the focusing distance at 1 meter. According to the DOF table, if the focusing distance is set at 1 meter, the DOF will extend from 0.5 meter to infinity, which is quite comfortable distance of me from the subject.

Talking about style, it depends on the situation. As a newbie in street shooting, I tend to shoot from my chest level (as I put on the strap on my neck) and did the "hit and run" as to avoid the subject from acknowledging me shooting them. But there are also a situation where I didn't hesitant to shoot the subject while he knows it. The trick is simple, where you need to "blend in" within the scenario. Simply makes them know your presence, and maybe a smile will do the job smoothly. Or in an "expensive" way, go buy their product (if they are hawkers) to gain their trust. But personally I believe that Penangites are not so stingy and they are willingly to pose in front of the camera when we shoot em' as they knew that we are tourists and lotsa tourist scurrying around the island.

A guy went across the road.

I bought samosas from this man.

There's an old women, alone waiting for the bus to come.

Dam Aji.

No customer this afternoon, so better to sleep.

Go This Way.

Enjoying the sea breeze at Esplanade.

We want to eat as well.

Historical Buildings And Places.

I am so interested with historical places. Plus the aesthetic aspects of the architecture. But I don't know why, during this trip I don't time to visit these places (as I mentioned before about Kek Lok Si temple). I was actually planning to visit the clan house of Fatt Tze at Lebuh Leight, but unfortunately it was closed so I can only take the picture from outside.

View from outside of Fatt Tza Mansion.

All the way from Lebuh Chulia to Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, there are so many colonial houses which I believe to be preserved as parts of the Penang's heritage.

Row of trishaws parked at the roadside.

The beginning of Lebuh Chulia, starting from the junction with Penang Road.

Love Lane. I didn't know why, but there are so many Europeans staying or lingering around here.

Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

Finally, I reached this road after a long walk alongside Lebuh Chulia. As its name, there is a huge mosque at the roadside named Masjid Kapitan Keling. I stopped there for about half an hour before leaving for the next stop.

View of the mosque from the main gate.

There is also another main attraction alongside this road ; Kuan Yin Ting Temple. Judging from the outside, I reckon that it is a very old temple. Personally, I could have few great pictures if I went inside the temple but to be honest, I dare not to go inside any of the non-Muslim worship places. So I took the pictures from outside. The open area in front of the temple was crowded with the worshipers, tourists, and also a group of pigeons. I cannot stay for long there because I couldn't stand the smoke coming from the piles of joss sticks there that keep my eyes peeled.

Esplanade and Going Back to Butterworth.

Finally I reached the Esplanade. That was a very fine evening and a lot of people come to walk around the seashore enjoying the sea breeze. I didn't spend much time there, just enough to recover from the tiredness of walking.