From 2001 : "The Oldman Selling Doves at Pasir Puteh Market"

These images were made at one of the busiest Saturday market in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan in December 2001. It was a chance encounter while out making pictures at the market and meeting up with some old friends. My mother had spoken about this gentleman and his birds on numerous occasions, she's even bought a couple of singing ketitirs from him in the past.

This occasion was a significant one to me purely for the fact that it's about an oldman adamant about pursuing a dying tradition that I have always been fascinated with but have never entertained. There are two types of birdlovers, one falls under the conservationist category and the other those who likes to care for the birds and train them. Most of the second category birders are found in the East, much less in the West who are more keen with keeping the birds for companionship. Those for the East acquire, care, and train their charge from wee fledglings. While those from the West acquire their companion from pet stores or bird fairs of Europe.

The fact that I myself almost have not met this old man had I not decided to hang around the market that Saturday was also significant to me. What chance might there be for my son to discover this once favorite past time?

The oldman breeds and trains about 5000 ketitirs (spotted and zebra doves) singing birds at his home, they cost between a few dollars to a few thousands each depending on bloodlines. Those from famous prize winning parentage can fetch upwards of ten thousand each ... prized possession to those who seriously indulge in this past time and actively compete.

The oldman has been at it since as long as he can remember ... now with grown up children he finds all the more reason to continue with this passion. His market days are normally filled up by chance meeting like this or running up and down the state entertaining his clients and friends and showing off his latest prized birds.

We parted company after a couple of hours and a few rolls of Neopan ... he did try to convince me of the joy of keeping birds at the same time trying to sell me a pair of singing ketitirs and a MYR$500 beautifully handmade birdcage that comes with it. Had it not been for the trip back to the Netherlands, I would have accepted his invitation to visit his home to meet his other prized songsters. Having heard the songs from my mom's $2.50/pair ketitirs on the porch ... I can't truly imagine how his $15,000 birds must've sound like ... pretty close to heavenly no doubt ... why else would anybody do this for a lifetime.

Sirdal drive made back in early summer of 2017

Sirdal area is the closest scenic mountain area to where we live. It takes about 2 hrs drive from the city to the cabin area around Sinnes. For many years this has been a very popular mountain retreat area for locals and vacationers alike.

There are several ski lifts in the area and are very popular in the winter time, skiing is practically just outside your cabin door ... if you can burrow yourself out of the snow.

There are also numerous trail systems connecting various self catering DNT cabins in wee neck of the mountains and woods through varying landscape and difficulty.

From Sirdal, once can access Setesdal-Hovden (trekking in the summer. cross country skiing in winter), Lysebotn-Kjerag and Tonstad. Hunting, fishing in the various moorland, lakes and valleys are main attractions to licensed hunters and fishermen alike.

The drive to Sirdal : Motland to just before Tjorholm.

The return drive from Sirdal 1 : Tjorholm to just past Blafjell.

The return drive from Sirdal 2 : Blafjell to just after Motland.

The return from Sirdal 3 : Motland to just before Oltedal.

Since winter is crowded and fully packed, our choice has always been to go to Sirdal in the Spring, Summer and Fall. Cross country skiing is still possible in Spring over the mountainous regions, trekking in the summer and by Fall berry picking, Milkyway and Aurora chasing activities will have been possible. Small game hunters typically come around in late September and October when the season starts.

Testing a cheap 2-axis Gimbal from Gearbest

The 2-axis gimbal was originally purchased for use with my X380, 480 and M690 drones. I had a total of 5 of these cheap gimbals, they performed reasonably well for the price. I managed to somehow fried the board of two of the gimbals.

Since I havent flown the X380 since last autumn, I decided to re use the gimbal in another way. Why not attached it to a selfie stick and use it in that way. Though it's only 2-axis, it'll at least see some kind of utilisation instead of being relegated to the kit shelf for another year.

The 2-axis gimbal board assembled on a couple of carbon pieces attached to a selfie stick ... VOILA!

It performed a-okay for a cheap 2-axis gimbal, coupled with the 1.5m selfie stick it could go places once I get the hang of it. Undoubtedly it wont match to the DJI Ronin S, buts it fine for the intended use. The carbon selfie stick was around NOK250 (Banggood), the gimbal was around NOK160 (Gearbest). Here the camera used was the Thieye capable of 1080p120 videos.

The trial footages:

Long selfie stick, a bit flimsy to maneuver dt length of the stick:

A tad more stable handling user a shorter selfie stick (same stick just not fully extended):

Buy Buy Buy

So they had a pre Chrismas sale the other day on several items that had been on the back of my mind for a while now. With prices slashed from 20 to 30% before the year end, I decided to grab a few of them. Some I may not need immediately but they are definitely worth picking up due the reduction in cost.

The items that made the bag so to say were :

1) Samyang AF85/1.4
I actually wanted the Sigma which is double the price, but the new Samyang AF looks mighty sweet with an additional 20% price reduction. This lens has already proven it's mettle in this year's only Milkyway outing 2018 and the Comet 46P/Wirtanen chase. And it's very light ... did I mention f/1.4?

2) Panasonic LX100
Every year I seemed to pick up another tech loaded PnS that I can carry around on hikes or even play backup role to my full DSLR kit. This 4K 25fps capable camera was also on a discount. It has a maximum 60sec min shutter speed and a f/1.7 aperture, as well as internal timelapse capable PnS. Would be interesting to see it perform on the Star Adventurer star tracker at 60secs looking into the Milkyway when the season comes around again. And the 4K video obviously.

3) DJI Ronin S.
This was a purchase for the future ... it was on a 30% discount 6 months after it's introduction middle of this year. I've been making footage with the Canon 6D, Sony A7S on a fixed tripod thus far and has been meaning to make a more dynamic footage for a while now. With this gimbal it would be a definite possibility. The Ronin-S coupled with the recently available Blackmagic Pocket Cine Camera 4K would be epic, I will leave the Cine camera for the future for the timebeing. A Sony A7R is also within the attractive price band now that Sony A7R Mk 3 is all the rage at 3xthe current price of the A7R, meanwhile the BMPCC is only 1.5xA7R!!!

I figure if I quit FB next year (a distant objective) I'll have more time to pursue the items that were on my list of pursuits but have been left on the back burner for quite sometime now. These two pursuits : chase the night sky to the max and making more dynamic footages of the outdoors (night and/or day). Hopefully these will be getting the due attention they deserve come 2019 onwards. OFF with Zuckerberg!

Winter Morning

New builds for Winter 2018/2019

Nwe builds for winter 2018

Diatone 630 : Betaflight F4 FC, Sprog 2206
Cross 330 : Betaflight F4 FC, Emax 2205
Uruav 330 : Betaflight F4 FC, Sprog 2207
Shark 330 :
Alfa 7in :


All are 300+ configurations.

Chasing December night sky

The West Coast is plagued my milder climate with the Gulf Stream by it's shores. Moderate winters with very rare occurences of extreme temperatures and prolonged snow covered days. With that however you put up with cloudy days and sometimes prolonged wet days.

Decembers are sometimes delightful on the coast. Cool clear nights have plenty to offer for the night stalker. You've got aurora to chase (during an event), familiar winter constellations, fanciful atmospheric conditions with the fog and cold fronts, meteor showers and this year we've got Comet 46P/Wirtanen (5 year orbit).