[Photo Post] Her Majesty
My then room-mate Murad had just come back from a short trip, and he was pretty damn excited. He knew I was a travel and photography buff, so he couldn't wait to show me the shots. He was going through his camera roll on his laptop, and I could see why. Their trip to Gunung Ledang (Mount Ophir) was truly scenic from the moment they hit the roads outside the city. But when finally he showed my the shot of the waterfall, I was stunned. He tried to move the slideshow along but I wouldn't let him. For the next few minutes, I just kept watching the shot, and my mind already knew that I have to be there. Soon. My thirst for traveling and love for photography both had to be drenched in those waters.
So a few weeks a later when me and some pals set out for our unforgettable road trip across Malaysia, I had to put Gunung Ledang as our first stop.
As we entered the park area, I was a bit concerned to be fair. My buddies also started looking at me questioningly, 'where the hell did you bring us?'. Quite rightfully so, because the place looked miserable. It was dirty, highly overcrowded and noisy. Unlike most of the tourist spots I've been in Malaysia, this place seemed utterly out of any apparent maintenance. But I believed the place had more to offer. The water cascaded down from above, forming several pools for the visitors to enjoy. The lower pools were all pretty crowded and filthy. With the image I've seen on my roommate's PC in the back of my mind, I pushed my buddies upwards along these congested lower pools.
As we climber higher, the number of people, and the amount of litter along with it, started to drop dramatically. Soon we started enjoying the surrounding forest, the rocks beneath our feet, the jagged rudimentary steps. Undisturbed nature embraced us through all our senses. Our path led us slightly away from the water stream, and the presence of it remained with us only through the constant rhythm of the water flow, somewhere on the other side of the wall of green. After some time, we emerged from a clearing of trees into the wet rocky bank of the water, and the scene I've been waiting for was right there in front of my eyes.
As we waded into the water of this nearly unpopulated upper pool, our eyes were transfixed on the gorgeous arrangement of rocks, greens and milky white water right ahead. All I could do for several minutes was simply sit on a rock and watch. SubhanAllah! I'm not gonna try and describe the place any further, because I won't be able to. It takes writers of great abilities to put words to that kind of beauty. After a few minutes, I started to make arrangements to take the shots I wanted to take ever since I saw those photos of this place. My gear was nothing to be excited about. I had my uncles good ol' D40 with me, and I had borrowed a pretty decent tripod from another senior bro from the university. I set down the tripod on the soft sand bed beneath the knee deep water. So on borrowed gear and borrowed time with limited expertise, I started shooting.
Keeping in mind the limitations of my gear and abilities, I wasn't really expecting any masterpiece. But nonetheless when I started editing the shots later on, I was pretty delighted with my results.
Do I dream of going back there again? Do you need to ask?
So a few weeks a later when me and some pals set out for our unforgettable road trip across Malaysia, I had to put Gunung Ledang as our first stop.
As we entered the park area, I was a bit concerned to be fair. My buddies also started looking at me questioningly, 'where the hell did you bring us?'. Quite rightfully so, because the place looked miserable. It was dirty, highly overcrowded and noisy. Unlike most of the tourist spots I've been in Malaysia, this place seemed utterly out of any apparent maintenance. But I believed the place had more to offer. The water cascaded down from above, forming several pools for the visitors to enjoy. The lower pools were all pretty crowded and filthy. With the image I've seen on my roommate's PC in the back of my mind, I pushed my buddies upwards along these congested lower pools.
As we climber higher, the number of people, and the amount of litter along with it, started to drop dramatically. Soon we started enjoying the surrounding forest, the rocks beneath our feet, the jagged rudimentary steps. Undisturbed nature embraced us through all our senses. Our path led us slightly away from the water stream, and the presence of it remained with us only through the constant rhythm of the water flow, somewhere on the other side of the wall of green. After some time, we emerged from a clearing of trees into the wet rocky bank of the water, and the scene I've been waiting for was right there in front of my eyes.
As we waded into the water of this nearly unpopulated upper pool, our eyes were transfixed on the gorgeous arrangement of rocks, greens and milky white water right ahead. All I could do for several minutes was simply sit on a rock and watch. SubhanAllah! I'm not gonna try and describe the place any further, because I won't be able to. It takes writers of great abilities to put words to that kind of beauty. After a few minutes, I started to make arrangements to take the shots I wanted to take ever since I saw those photos of this place. My gear was nothing to be excited about. I had my uncles good ol' D40 with me, and I had borrowed a pretty decent tripod from another senior bro from the university. I set down the tripod on the soft sand bed beneath the knee deep water. So on borrowed gear and borrowed time with limited expertise, I started shooting.
Keeping in mind the limitations of my gear and abilities, I wasn't really expecting any masterpiece. But nonetheless when I started editing the shots later on, I was pretty delighted with my results.
Do I dream of going back there again? Do you need to ask?
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