Stop and Stare 001 Mangrove in Selangor, Malaysia

When I traveled mainly from my semi-rural area in Sungai Besar to Kuala Lumpur to basically window-shopping but mainly watching movies, I always go on my bike alone and since I'm the most comfortable on it, I couldn't help myself from looking around and see the scenery around me man-made or natural.

It's been years of me going from places to places and seeing the changes human being brought with them onto the surroundings to the betterment of their livelihood but not necessarily the flora and fauna living in it. That's why I decided to actually "stop and stare" at some of the natural splendors I always looked over when I rushed to my destination.

Granted I do not have the luxury to have access to the top of line DSLR camera that is not essential to snap the highest quality of images and I missed the chance when my two brothers were actually actively using these cameras themselves but I never really lost the instinct to look purposefully and see something worth being immortalized in the frame of a picture.

Please forgive me for my rambling but I just couldn't help myself from trying to craft poetry off of my one of my passions. In my possession with a capable camera is in my almost two years old Asus Zenfone 2 (spec: 13 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, dual-LED [dual tone] flash) and I could really only play with the modes that are available at my disposal.

These two sets of pictures revolving around two similar but distinct places that I encountered when I was on the road from Jeram to Shah Alam through a more mountainous scenery than usual and after a few times crossing past these two spots, I decided to forego my desire to get to my destination as soon as possible and stop my bike and took in what were in front of me.

The stark contrast between light and dark which can be seen in the first two pictures from the first spot and the first two from the second spot was the result of me playing the HDR mode or High Definition Range, choosing to focus the light on specific part of the scenery gave a number of interesting results that I chose to skip after spending a few minutes experimenting with the technology.

It was interestingly amusing for me to see people passing by as I stood at the side of the road trying to find that perfect snapshot, with the occasional glances they threw at me for doing something out of the ordinary for them. This was my way to appreciate the wonderful nature that is still available for us to enjoy and I hope those people would at least saw what I was admiring and appreciate them as well, even if for a moment.