Sunset? Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Another old image took on the wonderful Perhentian Islands in Malaysia, on the Gulf of Siam.
We went more times in Malaysia, and in few years we saw a big and strong tranformation of that beautiful Country.
It was a rural nation, with few big cities, and strong traditions. Polite people that loved talks with foreigner.
It was also a country where laicism was very diffused, specially in the Malaysian community, and in the Chinese one.
In few years we saw Kuala Lumpur transformed in a copy of Hong Kong or Singapore with hundreds of skyscrapers, we saw the beautiful Chinatown tranfsormed in an open-air Mall. Governement built gigantic structures as the new International Airport, the F1 race track, golf fields, resorts and hotels, highways, elevated light rail...but we saw also a big change in the Northern Provinces where the radical Islam changed the way of life of the people.
Unfortunally it was the Governement that decide to use the radical Islam to "built" the spirit of the Country.
Malaysia people is: 1% European and Arabs; 9% Indian (Tamil); 15% Indigenous (Orang Asli and others); 25% Chinese; 50% Malaysian.
Indian and Chinese have historically played an important role in trade and business, and the Malaysian have the political control of the Country, but they are only an half of the people.
There isn't a real mix of races, and the different communities live separate.
Radical Islam it has been used by the majority party, the United Malays National Organization to reinforce the economic standing and policies of the Malay ethnic group and to enhance national consensus.
So not few States of the Federation introduced the Sharia in the last years.
We saw strong trasformation in few years in the Kelantan State, where dancing, alcohol were banned and men and women were segregated in supermarket checkout queues, let alone swimming pools.
The complete black chador that we never saw in Malaysia during our first travel, began very diffused during the second one, just one year later!
The small bar, the only one that there was on the Perhentian Islands where destroyed and the alcoholic drinks banned in all the guesthouses. (but not in the only one Resort of top class, that was property of the Berjaya Co. a big National Malaysian Hotels group!!!).

*scanned image*

tityop, arnabchat, feather, ChrisJ, aloyho, leonorkuhn, AmiBe, capthaddock, PLD_images, simonekarl, Gix, starbug, joseelias, bnallama, Quentin, alejandroguzman, igorw, Ramy has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

greg64g (11193) 2005-10-27 3:59

Hi Paolo

There is a great mood, colors on sky are very amazing. this a new paint. I like it a lot.
cheers
greg

tityop (6225) 2005-10-27 4:03

Bonjour Paolo,
Une image simple mais efficace.
J'aime ce ciel avec ce gros nuage illuminé par le soleil.
le palmier apporte un coté dynamique a la composition.
Trsè bien fait!!
Amicalement Thierry

bantonbuju (48856) 2005-10-27 4:05

ciao paolo, i like this interesting composition, and the colours are really nice, you our little "colours devil" :-))
nice work,
have a nice day, jerzy

fabio_ts (13674) 2005-10-27 4:26

Bella composizione Paolo, potrebbe fare da sfondo a qualche manifesto pubblicitario.. grande cura nel "taglio" ..complimenti e buona giornata, Fabio.

arnabchat (7058) 2005-10-27 4:56

wonderful colors! silhouette of the palm tree looks really nice on the colorful bg.

feather (50560) 2005-10-27 5:00

This image is beautiful. The colours are stunning and the way you have composed the palm trees diagonnally across the frame is fantastic. You have eliminated the scanning noise as far as I can tell, with the resultant blur that only enhances the overall image
Well done
Kath

alon (1281) 2005-10-27 5:04

Hi Paolo,
What a wonderful photo!
The composition is great. I like the way you positioned the shadows of the palms in the colored sky. Stunning colors and light.
Cheers,
Alon

rbcy1974 (20746) 2005-10-27 6:27

Hi Paolo,
Very nice POV, I like how the palm tree seems to scratch the sky, the colurs ont he sky are magical as usual,
Regards
Daniel

huynt (5077) 2005-10-27 7:22

Ciao Paolo
What great shot with the excellent colors. Wonderful composition. Bravo . Huy

ChrisJ (70521) 2005-10-27 7:29

Bonjourno Paolo

Wonderful graphism, color & silhouettes of the palm trees. Bellisimo!

aloyho (6109) 2005-10-27 7:29

Hi Paolo,
A really dramatic shot with this exploding colours in the sky. The silhouettes work beautifully and the composition is perfect. The effect of the clouds is stunning and you can still preserve this wonderful colours despite the age. Excellent shot and a good observation of what is happening in Malaysia. Regards.

leonorkuhn (14379) 2005-10-27 8:27

Ciao Paolo,
Nice image, the palm trees silhouettes against the colorful sky. I like also the interesting note.
Bravo!
Leonor

AmiBe (6042) 2005-10-27 9:52

Ciao Paolo,
nice to include this palmtree in front of this splendid sky.
Good POV and very interesting note about Malysia.
Well done

Mishe (3513) 2005-10-27 9:58

Wow Paolo!
Extraordinary picture.
Bravo and molto grazie.
All the best,
Mishe.

capthaddock (28640) 2005-10-27 10:23

Hi Paolo - interesting note and image, the dark tones seem to represent the changes taking place there, so ridiculuous, they are poking themselves in the eye using politiced religion.

PLD_images (7143) 2005-10-27 11:25

buongiorno Paolo, come siete?

Most of the time photos with palm trees in them have the ocean in the frame. Very original to have the sky instead. Good variety of colors and hues. Soft tones and well framed.

simonekarl (404) 2005-10-27 12:44

Ciao Paolo,
A very interesting note, by the time I finished it I forgot was your photograph was! : )
.........Oh yes!
Beautiful composition, and amazing colours. It was a good choice to place the palm the way you did. Also congratulations a near perfect scan. : )
Bravo.

dolin (15647) 2005-10-27 15:52

Hi Paolo.
Very good idea of framing and angle.
This sky is very beautiful and I like these colors tones.
Good idea of exposure, the contrast with these silhouettes is perfect.
Nice shot
Fred

gaby (19793) 2005-10-27 17:01

Paolo bonsoir - en ce moment, tu nous offres vraiment des couleurs incroyables et splendides - merci pour cette belle compo et ces tons !!!!
Bonne soirée
Gaby

Amirsun (2114) 2005-10-27 18:12

Hi Paolo!
Very nice shot with great composition and excellent point of view. I like the great silhouette of tree. Tanks for posting this old image.
Regards
Amir

Fixfocus (9377) 2005-10-27 21:36

Hi Paolo,
A great shot,I like the simplicity and the graphism here a lot.Good angle and perspective,the contrasting colors are really nice.
Greetings,
hermann

Graal (59126) 2005-10-28 1:45

Hi paulo,
beautiful view and composition. I like the silhuette of tree on the colour background. Good idea on photo. Well done.
Rgs, Aleksander

jinju (14265) 2005-10-28 3:31

What a nice and simple comp! The colors in the sky, the palms. This would make a kick ass promotional poster for Malaysia.

Gix (3559) 2005-10-28 4:05

Buondì Paolo,
ho letto la nota e gli altri commenti, e mi sembra che nessuno abbia notato il titolo, direttamente collegato alla nota. Anzi, credo che tu prima abbia scritto la nota, pensato al titolo e poi scelta la foto nel tuo archivio sterminato!
Purtroppo hai ragione, e credo che lo 'sport' di globalizzare tutto e tutti in nome di cse che non c'entrano, sia piuttosto la regola che l'eccezione. Ho visto una cosa simile nell'Est Europa, dove ero stato negli anni '80.
Ottima scelta dell'immagine, taglio e colori drammatici come era necessario.
Nell'insieme, un ottimo articolo, e credo (ma non ho visto di persona) che il dramma vada ben al di là dei semplici aspetti turistici...
Giorgio

starbug (6924) 2005-10-28 5:25

It's painted again, Paolo, very original composition of the tilted palm tree, wonderful colours...
And a great note- I was in malaysia only once, but I also noticed things you're writing about, things that surprised me....
greetings
A.

recepyuksel (17786) 2005-10-28 11:58

Great simple composition.
Very nice and creative cadrage.
congrats Paola

naxius (16679) 2005-10-29 4:29

Very good Paolo.
I like the POV, very well chosen.
Great colors and light too.
Alex

joseelias (367) 2005-10-31 8:59

Unfortunately radicalism is a very easy weapon for some groups to achieve power. It’s too easy to put fear and hate in people and blame others to hide own faults…

Very nice image. The composition is very well thought by placing the palm trees in front of that original sky tones.

bnallama (3755) 2005-11-01 14:41 [Comment]

Show Comment +

Quentin (5278) 2005-11-01 18:28

Salut Paolo
Your picture is very beautiful for a scanned image! This sky
is really nice and fit very well with this palm tree. Well done. I posted a similar image few month ago!
Regards
Quentin

eco (84) 2005-11-02 3:19

Hi Paolo

I like this coloring
perfect composition, fantastic sharpness and idea
nice frame,
topping colors
best regards, rafal

alejandroguzman (4672) 2005-11-04 11:45

What a beautiful picture Paolo.
great composition, amazin colors and contrasts.

hugs
alejandro

partha (13677) 2005-11-05 12:06

Simple but Elegent.
>>>>>>>>>>>>Bravo......-)

veronika (6022) 2006-04-23 11:39

Just amazing POV, colours, composition, and very good note written!
congrats Paolo!
Vero