Results of the Asia Without Borders Photo Competition 2008 are now out. Attended the open judging session of the competition recently, I must say that I was quite disappointed with a few of the photos that made it to the final round. There were four categories in the competition - Wild Places, Humanity, Man’s Imprint and The Land.
In Man’s Imprint category, one of the photos that got through the final judging stage was a picture of a coffeeshop, probably in singapore. The shot was taken at night, after closing hours with a dim lit area which expose empty tables and chairs. Now don’t get me wrong, it was quite an alright picture for competition, but it just got me wonder of out of the many entries, isnt there any better ones? What was the preliminary judging round or rounds based upon?
On another presentation, the image of a heavily photoshop or edited photo was shown. Now, this got me really wonder how did this photo got to the final round? Shouldn’t the preliminary judges be able to tell that a photo is being over-edited? This isn’t fair to those who tried to preserve their photo to its most purest form. If I remember correctly, one of the competition rules under photo manipulation is that a picture is limited to tonal and colour corrections. That particular photo I was referring to definitely gone through some tonal and colour enhancements!
But at the end of it, the photos picked by the judges are true winners. I just hope that the future competition will see a better preliminary round of judging.
Located in Gerik and covering 15,200 hectares, Temenggor Lake is the largest man-made lake in Perak. The tranquil beauty surrounding the lake is complemented by the diversity of its flora and fauna. This enchanting atmosphere is home of the “orang asli” with their unique traditional lifestyle of totally depending upon the jungles and surrounding lake.
3 Day, 2 Nights Temenggor Lake Excursion
Inclusive: boat ride • rafflesia sighting • visit Orang asli village • 2 nights accomodation • meals (2 dinners, 2 lunchs, 2 breakfast) • nature guide.
| |
| Itinerary at a glance |
| Day 1 |
Morning - Start at Banding Jetty - boat ride to Pulau Tikus. Visit orang asli village after lunch. Tea and dinner. |
|
|
| Day 2 |
Breakfast. Boat ride for sightseeing (Temenggor dam, limestone island), caving (optional) and trek to elephants’ playground. Boat ride for rafflesia sighting after lunch. Dinner & night safari (night boat ride) |
|
|
| Day 3 |
Breakfast. Check-out and boat ride to Banding Jetty. |
Please note that the accomodation at Pulau Tikus is basic and electricity is generator operated from 7pm to 12 midnight. Common\detached shower and toilet.
Estimated price range: S$180 - S$250
(depending on the number of people) |
|
| How to get there? |
| • |
Use the North-South Highway and head towards Ipoh. |
| • |
Go past Ipoh towards Kuala Kangsar. |
| • |
Exit at the Kuala Kangsar interchange and follow the road sign towards Gerik. |
| • |
Go through Gerik town, when you reach a round-about, take the turn towards Kota Bharu and Pulau Banding. |
| • |
You will reach a T-junction, turn right towards Kota Bharu on the East-West Highway. |
| • |
You will reach a bridge that crosses Temenggor Lake to Banding Island. Cross the first bridge. |
| • |
After passing by a Petronas petrol station, you will reach another bridge. DO NOT cross this bridge. |
| • |
There is a small road on the left just before the bridge, take that turn to Banding Island public jetty. (Jeti Awam Pulau Banding) |
