I'm right back from Malaysia and the trip was a blast. Of course, I have gazillions of pictures that will take forever to sort and edit.
But one special evening is already done as the editing was the thing I was looking forward like crazy: It's the day spent in a longhouse of the Iban tribe deep in the rain forest of Borneo.
It was the highlight of the trip I looked forward most even while being a bit terrified for my skills are still far from state-of-the art.
You might have read about my frustration with the softbox...I just ordered another one--an expensive Lastolite using express shipping at Amazon. It's crazy but I didn't want to screw this up.
And so I arrived with a funny blue package on my backpack. :)
I took a lot pictures around the village and also some daytime portraits, if you're interested in them, have a look at my "real time" gallery of Malaysia pictures as I really don't know when the final ones will be done.
The interesting part however was the evening. After some nice rice wine and the official welcoming part. Fortunately we were the only strangers at that time and it wasn't some stupid show to rip off the stupid tourists. I started to unfold my stuff which caused pretty much amusement, especially when my fill card snapped open, I had the whole attention. :)
At first, nobody wanted to pose. They were shy and maybe have seen the pictures from point and shoot cameras. ;) So our guide Abu had to volunteer first. My gf held the light and a Iban the fill card.
Even while I'm not entirely happy with the result (the Iban didn't speak English so my directing was limited), the review of the picture did its magic and I had my volunteers. :) Furtheron Abu took care of the fill card and the lighting went better with every frame.
The results (same pics on flickr) vary from good to not so great however I'm still proud of them. The circumstances weren't easy and I'm still a greenhorn concerning photography in general and strobing in particular.
I showed them the pictures on my notebook afterwards. They were so fascinated, that I also showed them pictures from Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Berlin. :)
The people were really a blast. I had hoped that the evening will be like that but I really didn't expect it. We were laughting, drinking, photographing...even while we didn't understand a word. I'll definitely take my softbox and fill card to every trip now.
