Sleepless in the Ganu

Strangely enough, I decided to stay back here despite having a long weekend. But I decided that I would make the most of it. That of course would involve doing something that I wouldn’t normally do on a regular weekend.

I’ve always had the desire to somehow document how my surroundings are at night. Just to show the rest of the world how unique this town is. Once the sun goes down, another source of illumination takes over. It should be called the second city that never sleeps.

I was faced with a very interesting situation, as I trudged back to Kijal beach. Yes, it’s like my umpteenth trip to this place. But tonight I finally managed to do what I had planned in my head all this time. That was to take some long exposure shots of the shoreline. The situation was interesting because I had three sources of light. First, it was a pretty clear night and I had the moon in its fullest form. Then there was the stadium floodlights that light up the beach area. And finally, the reddish glow from the Intergrated Petroleum Complex in the background.


The Petronas' Kerteh Integrated Petroleum Complex (KIPC) breaks the eerie gloom of the Kerteh-Paka stretch. It also plays a major part in the light pollution that plagues the area.


Panorama of Kijal beach with the KIPC in the background as if the sun has just set. Things arent always as they seem around here. Shot was taken between 9.30pm and 10pm.


The beauty of photography is in capturing what the eye does not normally see. I was shooting in almost pitch black darkness. But what long exposures do is gather up light in a much larger quantity than the human eye does.


As a result of long exposures, the waves are transformed into smooth, ghostlike transitions lacing the shoreline.

More photos can be found here: http://www.pbase.com/mikench/kijalbeach


Enjoy....