I finally visited Sabah in East Malaysia when I was home for summer. In a nutshell, words cannot describe how beautiful that state is. In this first part I'll be posting just photos of Mount Kinabalu. Mount Kinabalu is the highest peak in South East Asia at 4098m above sea level. If you're visiting Sabah you have to stop at Kundasang to catch a glimpse of it. Kundasang is a really small and sleepy town that is completely filled with farms. I don't think I came across a single traffic light while I was there.

All the photos in this series are shot as HDR's. Here's one taken during sunrise.



One more at night. 5 minute exposure.



This next one was shot while driving toward the Mesilau Trail where people begin hiking up Mount Kinabalu.



Farms on the hillside of Kundasang with Mt. Kinabalu in the background.





A photo of me and my parents when we visited a dairy farm near the bottom of the mountain.



The cow that wouldn't let us through.

Last night me, Lucio and Carla made our way to Chino Hills just to try getting some images of the Leonids meteor shower. Our original destination, Chino Hills State Park was closed on weekdays due to budget cuts. So we just drove around and found a nice hill that overlooked the Inland Empire. Obviously we couldn't do anything about the light pollution unless we were to drive an hour toward the desert. So we just settled for less since it was a Monday night.

We were out from 11.30pm until 2am and saw about a dozen meteors. Only three or four were really big and bright. Shooting the pictures required more luck than anything else since Murphy's law dictates that you will have the camera pointed in the opposite direction when a meteor streaks across the sky! Out of 180 photos, only two had a streak in them. I'm glad the light pollution gave the sky a purplish tint like it was around dusk instead of a black sky if I were to go out into the desert. Due to the light pollution, exposure times were limited to 30 seconds tops.

I also discovered that the meteors come in different colors! Never knew that. The green tail in this photo is caused by oxygen burning up in the atmosphere whereas the head is caused by metals like sodium and potassium in the meteor burning up.

I also shot this picture which I find really pleasing. This is a 7 minute exposure that brought out detail in the landscape and washed out the dark sky.



Lesson learnt: To shoot meteors you need luck, lots of warm clothing and good company! =)

I'm back again after a busy time getting things up and running again in LA. I have still not finished editing alot of photos I shot in Malaysia. These are some other nice ones from Redang Island.




I thought this tractor seemed so out of place on a beach. Its used to transport scuba diving equipment from the hotel to the boat.





During that trip it was also my first time going jungle trekking in the island itself. You can cut across to another hotel if you complete the hour plus trek to the other side. Nothing much on the other side though...

Click to enlarge.

My tropical island cravings of three years have finally been satisfied! I missed the fine white sand coupled with the blue sea (not altered in any way in these photos, just used a polarizing filter). This place is called Pulau Redang and its one of the more popular tourist destinations in Malaysia. Besides the beaches, the sea itself is teeming with life. If you look at the photo below the dark blotches beneath the sea are coral reefs.



This is my favourite photo so far during daytime. I don't know who those three girls are but I like the colors!



I'm still 'HDRing' the sunset and sunrise photos. Those will come soon!