The Balinese Kintamani dog was finally recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the international federation of national kennel clubs on 20 February 2019. It’s the first Indonesian breed to get international recognition.
The Kintamani dog can now join international competitions and dog shows, and Kintamani birth documents can use the official FCI logo.
The dogs are well-balanced with a rectangular body, a wedge-shaped head, pricked ear and a sickle tail with a double coat, harsh outer coat of medium length on the body and shorter on its face. They are watchful, intelligent, alert, gentle, loyal and easy to train.
During the 1960s, President Sukarno, Indonesia’s first President, made Jakarta beautiful and built some new buildings for the Asian Games IV. The project included several statues. The most notable is in the middle of the Bundaran Roundabout in Jakarta, the Selamat Datang Monument called Tugu Selamat Datang. It’s the Welcome Monument.
The original design was by Henk Ngantung, the Vice Governor of Jakarta. He wanted to call it “Indonesian people greet their future”. The sculptor was Edhi Sunarso. Work started on 17 August 1961, Independence Day.
Thirty meters above the ground the two bronze statues are a man and a woman, five metres tall from head to foot, with outstretched arms. She has a bouquet in her left hand. They stand on a pedestal and welcomed visitors to the Asian Games and now Jakarta.
This glorious roundabout is called Bundaran Hotel Indonesia (Hotel Indonesia Roundabout) after Hotel Indonesia, Indonesia’s first 5 star hotel, now The Kempinski.
It’s positioned in the cenre of Jakarta on the intersection of Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jalan Imam Bonjol, Jalan Sutan Syahrir and Jalan Kebon Kacang.
The pond, fountains and lighting were renovated in 2002. It’s a favourite place for demonstrations. On Sunday mornings Car-Free Day the place is thronged with joggers, cyclists, strollers and vendors.
Many, perhaps most, visitors to Sydney (and even some who live here) don’t know about the art installation in Angel Place in the heart of Sydney. It comprises 120 empty birdcages suspended in the air. It’s called Forgotten Songs and was designed by Michael Thomas Hill. As you stand underneath, speakers in the birdcages play recordings of the songs of 50 bird species that once lived in central Sydney, before they left when the city was developed. At night, the birdsong changes to the nighttime sounds of night birds. The names of the birds are engraved on the ground under the cages. The artwork was created in 2009 and is a dramatic and pleasing contrast to the normal city soundscape.
The Mint in Macquarie Street, Sydney was once the south wing of the Rum Hospital. The hospital was Governor of New South Wales Lachlan Macquarie’s first public works project. The Government refused him the finances to build it, so he did a deal with merchants Alexander Riley and Garnham Blaxcell, and a colonial surgeon D’Arcy Wentworth. In exchange for a monopoly on the importation of 45,000 gallons of rum to the colony of Australia, these contractors built the hospital, which was finished in 1816 and became known as the ‘Rum Hospital’. The hospital’s south wing is now The Mint.
If you love animals – and birds – this is the trip for you. Go to Phillip Island and see the great penguin parade at nightfall. There are a few interesting stops on the way.
First, we drive out of Melbourne to the suburb of St Kilda, where the sand-coloured Palais Theatre stands. It is Melbourne’s leading entertainment venue. Bob Hope, Joan Sutherland, Tom Jones, the Rolling Stones and many others have performed there. It is the largest seated theatre in Australia with a capacity of nearly 3,000 people. The original building of 1919 was a cinema, but it burned down in 1926 and was rebuilt.
Next to it is Luna Park’s Scenic Railway (1912), which is the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in the world. The Scenic Railway’s scaffolding is made up of 322 posts.
The first stop is Brighton, 11 km south-east of Melbourne, named after Brighton in England. We stop at Dendy Street Beach with its 82 colourful beach boxes. Bathing boxes in Brighton existed as far back as 1862. By 1929 there were between 100 and 200 of them. They were basically changing rooms for Victorians, originally near the sea, but later moved back. They were also moved along the coast several times. The present ones were placed there in 1934.
They are the same as they were over a hundred years ago. Alterations are forbidden. They retain their Victorian architecture, timber frames, weatherboard sidings, and corrugated iron roofs, and have no electricity or running water.
Only residents paying local council rates can buy them. Look out for the red and white striped bathing box 76B. Nick a grandfather of ten, and his wife Ivanka, bought it for $337,000 in April 2018. They are undoubtedly an investment and a good place for a fashion shoot.
The second stop is an hour away, where we have lunch, Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park in Pearcedale.
It’s 10 hectares of bushland, inspired by the work of Gerald Durrell, the British naturalist and author, and dedicated to the conservation of endangered species.
Buy a couple of bags of animal food and feed the kangaroos and wallabies.
Listen to a keeper giving a presentation – these take place every half an hour. We saw one on the adorable 1 year old baby koala born in the sanctuary.
The highlight is the wildlife show at 2.20 pm, where an experienced keeper describes the behaviour of cockatoos, dingoes, barn owls, tawny frogmouths and others. She has the animals and birds with her and clearly there is an incredible bond between them.
The park won the Victorian Tourism Award in Ecotourism.
We travel on to Woolamai (Surf) Beach, the longest and most exposed beach on Phillip Island with its golden sand, before motoring on to Cowes for dinner.
Cowes has a vibe, lots of restaurants and shops and a lovely north-facing beach.
Then on to Nobbies Lookout for a spectacular stroll along the boardwalks with staggering views over the headland. You may well see penguins in their burrows.
Then the highlight: The Penguin Parade at Phillip Island. There are thousands of Little Penguins, who come out of the sea at dusk, full of fish in their bellies, to waddle back to their nests in the dunes and feed their young. They are the smallest of the 17 penguin species and the only penguin that lives permanently in Australia. No photography is allowed.
We travelled with Go West Toursin a comfortable (small – 24 people max) coach and friendly lady driver guide, Yazmin, pictured here. Highly recommended. They have a very efficient booking system on line.
After you have ridden the trams of Melbourne, a wonderful, cosmopolitan city and once the richest in the world, there are 3 trips you must do. You have to drive along the Great Ocean Road (550 km), south west of Melbourne, to see the Twelve Apostles at sunset, go over to Phillip Island and drool at the nightly Penguin Parade and thirdly taste Victoria’s finest wines and exquisite gourmet foods in Yarra Valley.
The Great Ocean Road is one of the most incredible stretches of land in the world and not to be missed. The tour is a long day but worth every minute (and cent) and one that gets better and better as the day goes on and ends in a great climax. There are a number of stops along the way, which give great photo opportunities and a welcome chance to stretch the legs.
At Aireys Inlet keep an eye out on the right for the theatrical, iconic, 3D Pole House, 40m above sea level, with 360 degree unobstructed views of the Southern Ocean, originally designed by architect Frank Dixon as a holiday home for his family in the 70s.
The Great Ocean Road was built between 1918 and 1932 by 3,000 veterans returning from the First World War (1914-1918). They were in desperate need of a job. The Memorial Arch is a tribute to them. The arch was put up in 1939 and has been replaced several times. The present arch is the fourth. One was destroyed in the Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983.
The next stop, about an hour and a half in, is Angelsea, which has a nice coffee shop and river alongside the main road. Then 124 km to Lorne for lunch.
Lorne was given the name in 1871 after the Marquess of Lorne from Argyleshire in Scotland (full name John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll) on his marriage to Princess Louise, one of Queen Victoria’s daughters. This was the first time a legitimate daughter of the sovereign had married a subject of the Crown since 1515. He was the fourth, and at 33 years the youngest, Governor General of Canada.
In 1891 Rudyard Kipling visited the area and was inspired to write the poem Flowers, which includes the lines,
Buy my hot-wood clematis,
Buy a frond of fern,
Gathered where the Erskine leaps
Down the road to Lorne.
The Erskine River starts at Lorne.
There’s a wide range of restaurants for lunch on the main drag called Mountjoy Parade. Look out for the beautifully proportioned St. Cuthbert’s Anglican-Uniting Church on the hill. It was built in 1892 and is a National Trust of Australia property. Unfortunately it was closed when we were there. Will just have to go back.
Now the fun really begins with Kennett River, a small hamlet, on a beautiful river, full of wildfowl, where you will almost certainly spot koalas in the gum trees.
There are 1,800 of them in the area, so the chance of seeing one is very high, sometimes with their babies. It’s one of the best places in Australia to see them in the wild.
Now a drive through the Otway Ranges. It’s a rainforest of over thirty million years and a National Park. Put your nose out the window and you can smell the Eucalyptus trees.
We stop at the picturesque Loch Ard Gorge, an inlet of translucent, blue water, between two yellow-glowing cliffs and tufts of green. The two rocks are called Tom and Eva after the two survivors of a shipwreck in 1878. A large clipper named Loch Ard left England on the 90 day journey to Melbourne when, one day from arriving, it struck an outer reef and was shipwrecked on nearby Muttonbird Island. Only two of the fifty-four passengers survived, one was 15 year old Tom Pearce and the other a 17 year old Irish girl called Eva Carmichael. Both were washed ashore. Tom walked for miles and got help and saved her life. She returned to England but Tom stayed on in Australia.
There are 3 walks here. The Razorback has two viewing areas of the indescribably beautiful offshore stacks.
Five minutes away are the magnificent Gibson Steps, which lead to the fabulous beach. Originally, it is thought they were cut by the Kirrae Whurrong, a local tribe.
In 1869 Hugh Gibson built nearby Glenample Homestead and regularly used the steps to get supplies from the beach. It was also used by fishermen. The steps are named after him. He gave shelter to Tom and Eva after the shipwreck.
Two minutes away are the highlight of the trip, the rugged, limestone stacks, the Twelve Apostles. In fact there are eight! There were only ever nine, the ninth having collapsed dramatically in July 2005.
Erosion created the apostles. Extreme weather conditions, wind and sea, gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which became arches, which in turn collapsed, leaving 50 metre high rock stacks.
Which is the best tour company to go with? I think it’s Go West Tours. Why? Simply because they stop at the places I mentioned and don’t rush there and back. They have comfortable (small – 24 people max) coaches and friendly driver guides, like Stefan, pictured here, keen to go that extra mile. If they charge a bit more , it’s well worth it.
Muay Thai or Thai boxing is a combat sport of Thailand that uses stand-up striking and various clinching techniques.
In Western boxing, the two fighters are separated when they clinch; in Muay Thai, they are not. It is often in the clinch where knee and elbow techniques are used.
It is known as the “art of eight limbs” as it is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins. as opposed to “two points” (fists) in boxing and “four points” (hands and feet) used in other more regulated combat sports, such as kickboxing and savate.
Muay Thai started to become widespread internationally in the 20th century. It became enterainment in Thai restaurants, such as the Busabong in London.
The history of Muay Thai can be traced to the middle of the 18th century. During the battles between the Burmese of the Konbaung Dynasty and Siam, the famous fighter Nai Khanomtom was captured in 1767. The Burmese knew of his expertise in hand-to-hand combat and gave him a chance to fight for his freedom. Nai Khanomtom knocked out ten consecutive Burmese opponents. Impressed by his skill, the Burmese freed and allowed him to return to Siam.
He was acknowledged as a hero, and his fighting style became known as Siamese-Style boxing, later known as Muay Thai. Muay Thai soon became recognized as a national sport. Spectators went to watch. Contests gradually became part of local festivals and celebrations, especially those at temples.
The previously bare-fisted fighters started wearing lengths of hemp rope around their hands and forearms. A practitioner of Muay Thai is known as a Nak Muay. Western practitioners are called Nak Muay Farang, meaning “foreign boxer”.
King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) ascended to the throne in 1868 and introduced a golden age for Muay Thai. The king had a personal interest in the sport.
Most professional Thai boxers come from the lower economic backgrounds, and the fight money (after the other parties get their cut) is their sole means of support and their families.
Due to the rigorous training (some Thai boxers fight almost every other week) professional boxers in Thailand have relatively short careers. Many retire from competition and teach the next generation of Thai fighters.
Rama V (Chulalongkorn) (1868-1910) is one of the most revered of Thailand’s kings. Every 23 October, the anniversary of the king’s death, is a public holiday.
In Chonburi, 100 kilometres east of Bangkok, about an hour and a half’s drive from Bangkok, near Pattaya, a Buffalo Racing Festival is held on that day.
The Buffalo Racing Festival takes place at the ceremony fields in front of the Chonburi City Municipality Office. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of buffalos and people and brighly painted kids.
2018 was the 147th year, when the province expresses gratitude to the buffalos, who have been working unpaid for farmers throughout the year.
The day starts at about 9 am in the morning with a parade through the town.
King Chulalongkorn was only 15 when his father died, so a regent was appointed until he was 20 and crowned king on 16 November 1873. He reigned for forty-two years. During his minority, he went on three study tours in 1871 and 1872 to Malaya, Singapore, Java, Burma and India with some of his brothers and half-brothers. He studied several legal codes and was impressed by the French Code Napoleon.
Chulalongkorn was a modernising monarch, whose first act was to abolish the custom of prostration before the royal presence and replace it with a bow of the head.
He strengthened the monarchy, centralised the bureaucracy under his own control, and created a modern army, an army that would later overthrow the absolute monarchy in 1932.
He bought modern rifles and built an impressive barracks beside the Royal Palace, which later became the Ministry of Defence. Chulalongkorn also created a police force.
Saraswati Day takes place on the last day of the 210 day calendar and is devoted to the goddess of learning, Saraswati, who is the wife of Brahma, the god of creation. She lives on the tip of the human tongue and on written letters of poems inscribed on palm leaf manuscripts, the lontar, and on the petals of lotus blossoms.
Her day is a public holiday in Bali. Offerings are made to books, which are covered with an ornate piece of cloth. There are no school classes but there are special ceremonies in the schools. Students pray at the shrines in the school. No letters may be crossed out or any writing deleted. Reading is forbidden.
Indonesian Satė is listed as Number 14 of the World’s 50 Best Foods according to the CNN Travel’s readers’ poll of July 2017.
Professor Murdijati Gardjito of Gadja Madha University, Yogyakarta, has recently discovered that Indonesia has 252 varieties, which stretch over the whole archipelago, except in Lampung, a province in South Sumatra, and Mandar, a group of 17 kingdoms in West Sulawesi. The origins of 175 are known.
Yogyakarta has the most varieties at 21, then Semarang, also in Java, with 12, followed by Pekalongan in North Java and Bali, both with 11 varieties.
Satė Lilit.
Usually it involves grilled meat, but some places use mushrooms, squid and tofu. In some parts they fry the ingredients and in Aceh they are boiled.
We serve two kinds in Murni’s Warung. The first is the classic version: skewers of grilled chicken, beef, fish or pork served over glowing charcoal with our home made peanut sauce and the other is Satė Lilit, Balinese-style, chicken or fish.
Last Friday night in London, 5 October 2018, Sotheby’s auctioneer slammed down his gavel and uttered the famous trio of words, ‘Going, Going, Gone’ and as soon as the monosyllabic last word ‘Gone’ had passed his lips, it had indeed gone. The auctioneer had just coaxed the final bidder to offer a record-breaking £1.04m for Banksy’s most celebrated piece Girl with Balloon.
Before a stunned audience an alarm sounded inside the picture frame and the canvas passed through a hidden shredder, nestling inside the frame, neatly cutting the picture in shreds. The biggest prank in art history, apparently perpetrated by Banksy himself, raises interesting philosophical and legal questions.
What is Art? How does it acquire value? Who does it belong to? Is Girl with Balloon now worthless or is it perhaps even more valuable after the world-wide publicity it has acquired? One expert has suggested the value has increased by at least 50%. If it is valueless, does the buyer still have to pay? Are Sotheby’s liable? Is Banksy liable? The true identity of the Bristol-born artist is unknown.
Last month we came across what we believe is a Banksy in the Sorbonne area of Paris. It appeared on the wall just a couple of weeks before we saw it.
Emping are crispy, crunchy, irresistible Indonesian chips, made of tasty melinjo nuts, which are, in fact, seeds. The snacky crackers have a very slight bitter taste and once you start you can’t stop! Best served with a pinch of salt and a glass of white or red at Murni’s Houses – a must-have after a day’s sightseeing.
It’s getting on for 10 years since UNESCO recognized batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 2 October 2009. Today, on National Batik Day, the kids in Bali’s schools are wearing batik to celebrate.
Batik forms a large, eye-dazzling part of modern Indonesian fashion. It’s great that you can wear your culture on your shoulders! Talented fashion designers are creating amazing new patterns.
A very popular traditional style is from north coastal Java, called the Pasisir style. The main centres are Cirebon, Pekalongan and Lasem, all heavily influenced by the Chinese. They are port towns and therefore absorbed outside influences. Pasisir means ‘beach’ – they are beach people and their batiks are free, colourful and flamboyant.
Cirebon is unusual. It is one of the few places where men, and not women, practise batik. The textiles have a masculine feel. Bold forms, open spaces and lack of detail. Chinese influence is clear in the best-known textiles made in Cirebon called mega mendung. These batiks of curving, undulating rain clouds are reminiscent of Chinese paintings and were originally used to decorate the royal bedchamber.
Rain clouds suggest fertility and life. The better ones have many, at least four, and maybe even seven, shades of the same colour. Colours merge from dark blue to blue to light blue to white. It can take several months to make one of these textiles since the clouds must be waxed and dyed many times to achieve the variations in colour. It is an extremely popular style.
All buildings must be brought to life and purified before they can be occupied in a ceremony called melaspas.
The wood, stone and thatch, cut down and killed for the construction, are, as it were, reincarnated.
All parts are symbolically unified; posts and beams are ‘married’.
Melaspas – Bringing Buildings to Life in Bali requires many offerings and there are animal sacrifices. If a ceremony is not carried out the house lacks luminosity. Evil forces can enter and cause sickness. The ceremony is nearly identical to the ritual required to bring a sacred wooden mask to life.
In A House in Bali (1947) Colin McPhee recounts his conversation with the priest prior to his own house ceremony:
You need the great ritual, he began, the highest one, and it will take many offerings, and a month to prepare. For this you will slaughter one young bull, one goose, one goat, one dog with a three-coloured hide, one duck with similar markings, one young male pig, one chicken with feathers growing the wrong way, five hens of different colours, and twenty-five ducks. You will also need six hundred duck eggs, six hundred bananas, and five thousand Chinese cash. The offerings prepared in advance will include two roast pigs, ten roast chickens, ten roast ducks, five baskets of rice, flowers and cakes, and five skeins of thread in five colours.
Not quite as elaborate as that but a full day nevertheless and the new building at Murni’s Houses, complete with swimming pool, elevator and gallery was brought to life. It is recommended that someone sleeps in the building the same night, and that was done too.
The new building with its luxury rooms facing the mountains of Bali is ready to take guests now.
It’s Cool to be a Jesuit – St Anthonys Church, Yogyakarta, Java
Pope Francis is a Jesuit and he’s cool. He’s the first Jesuit pope since St Ignatius of Loyola and six other students from the University of Paris formed the Society of Jesus in 1534 nearly 500 years ago .
Pope Paul III allowed them to become priests in 1537 and three years later he granted them the right to become their own order.
Then and now members of the Society of Jesus take three vows: poverty, chastity and obedience – and obedience to the Pope. So Pope Francis has vowed to obey himself. Isn’t that cool?
Ignatius dispatched his priests throughout Catholic Europe to set up schools, colleges and seminaries. By his death in 1556, the Jesuits had founded 74 colleges on three continents.
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) expanded the Church’s presence in Asia, mostly in the Portuguese Empire. He was the first Christian missionary in Japan, Borneo and the Moluccas.
The Jesuits in Indonesia have developed a distinct identity. In general, they are keen on high-quality education and being close to local and national elites. There is a highly-regarded Jesuit university in Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
The numbers were expanding so Father Xaverius Strates arranged for a new large church to be built in the Dutch colonial style surrounded by trees. The Church of St Anthony of Padua, better known as St Anthonys or Kota Baru Church, was finished on 26 September 1926. It can seat at least 2,000 people. Six new priests were ordained at St Anthonys in July 2017.
St Anthonys is firmly on the tourist list for religious sites in Yogyakarta, along with mosques, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, 9th century Borobudur, and the most beautiful Hindu temple in the world, 10th century Prambanan.
Biblical paintings decorate the inside walls in the local style. Behind the altar under the gaze of a religious statue sits an impressive Indonesia gamelan orchestra. Outside the area has interesting old buildings and friendly people. There’s also one of Sanata Dharma University’s campuses.
Bali has many unique traditions and one of the most colourful is Melasti, three days before the Balinese New Year, known as Nyepi. On this day, beginning in the morning, Balinese Hindus parade in Balinese dress down to the beaches, major rivers, holy springs and lakes. One such beach is called Masceti.
Melasti is a religious ritual to cleanse and purify temple objects and recharge the spiritual power within them. So, you see monstrous Barongs and tall Rangda statues, various god like masks and colourful umbrellas. High priests surrounded by worshippers on the ground say prayers, facing the ocean.
The Balinese believe that the ocean’s waters have powerful healing properties and provide protection. Sand protects houses from black magic.
Many years ago people travelled on foot, but now they go by car and motorbike and large trucks carry the sacred objects plus gamelan instruments plus people.
Bali is The Top Destination in Asia – the Number 1 Travelers’ Choice by Trip Advisor 2018 – and the Number 4 Destination in the World after Paris, London and Rome.
Trip Advisor say “The artistic capital of Ubud is the perfect place to see a cultural dance performance, take a batik or silver-smithing workshop, or invigorate your mind and body in a yoga class.”
There’s actually a lot more than that. For example we arrange the following for our guests: photography tours, helicopter tours, chocolate factory tours, cooking classes, Indonesian or Balinese language lessons, white water rafting, elephant safari park trip with a ride on an elephant, Bali Swing, Jungle Buggies, bicycle drive through the villages, climbing a volcano at sunrise, rice paddy trek, bird walks, herbal walk through rice paddies, tarot reading, Balinese dance classes, batik painting classes, making Balinese offerings, snorkeling or scuba diving or a boat trip to a deserted island.
Murni’s Houses, my boutique hotel in Ubud, hosted a gaggle (is that the right word?) of excitable photographers from Austria, Australia and England last week, drawn by the prospect of huge, scary, colourful demons of Bali awaiting them on the streets in various stages of creation.
The ogoh-ogoh are inventive and frightening. There is always a black, hooded, faceless angel of death. There are usually dragon-like figures and mythical creatures. In the early days the artists were inspired by Balinese folklore but latterly Hollywood characters have come to the fore, some sporting Mohawk hairstyles.
The ogoh-ogoh are symbols of demonic spirits, made from wood and bamboo, covered with papier-mâché and Styrofoam, and painted with garish colours. They can reach 10 feet (3 metres) high and the same wide.
In the evening of Balinese New Year’s Eve, these huge grotesque statues, with lights aglow, accompanied by loud gamelan music, are paraded by their makers on wide bamboo platforms around the village. They are remarkably life like.
After the parade they are usually burned at the village crossroads, but recently, as they are really works of art, some have been kept for display in community halls, temples, hotels, and private houses, admired as works of art. The ‘tradition’ became popular in the 1980s.
I read this 130 page 10-step guide from ebook cover to ebook cover. Over the last few years I’ve read everything I could get my hands on – and there’s quite a lot to get your hands on – concerning Lightroom. I can easily say that this latest ebook, The Photographer’s Workflow by Gavin Gough is the best, in my opinion, by far. He writes in a very personal style; you have the feeling that he’s right there with you, telling you all he knows, as simply as possible, not holding anything back, and eager to pass on his knowledge.
He’s actually a wonderful photographer and teacher. Not just that, his background as a Systems Analyst, well versed in computers, enables him to explain just enough of the technical side that is necessary to know what you’re doing and why and fortunately not get bogged down with unnecessary detail.
Lightroom is a masterful program and Gavin goes through each step in the process extremely comprehensively and clearly. He leaves no stone unturned. It’s so easy to take hundreds, even thousands, of photographs a week, actually a day, even an hour, that we quickly become overwhelmed. It’s vital to have a well thought-out logical system that can be applied to every photograph from beginning to end. That’s what this book is about, and it’s not just the theory. Gavin generously explains his own personal workflow, honed over a decade of taking photographs for the likes of Lonely Planet and Getty Images, and gives us his own presets for each step, so that we can do exactly as he does. Whether we can take as good photographs at the outset is, of course, another matter. As he says, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
In addition to the text, there are clear video tutorials and photographic examples. The ebook is more or less divided into two parts – the first part deals with data management, the vital need to back up everything, and why, the naming of files and folders, Lightroom’s system of flags, ratings and labels, and colour management. He recommends software that helps – some of which is free. And he explains how to configure Lightroom so that it gives the best service. He describes his own gear and what he takes on an assignment – with a lot of helpful tips, such as carrying superglue and elastic hair bands. He even advises on which way up to pack your camera.
Then he gets into what to do with the images once they have been taken, importing them into Lightroom, easing the chore of metadata, explaining smart collections (which I’ve never really understood properly and am looking forward to putting into practice), and, to me the best part, actually developing the images. Gavin has some very helpful – and wise – advice concerning lens corrections, perspective corrections and cropping before explaining the controls for exposure, white balance, contrast, hue, saturation, luminance, vignettes, tone curves, sharpening and noise reduction. He kindly provides presets for all of these, as well as several brush presets. Brush presets are used when you just want to alter part of the image and not the whole.
Finally, there is a chapter on exporting the image – which could be to a hard disk, CD, DVD, blog, Facebook, email, or web site. He explains what the appropriate image size and resolution should be.
I have no doubt that whether you are starting out with Lightroom or an experienced professional you will find this ebook highly useful. I wish it had been available when I started out myself using Lightroom. You will enjoy the really clear explanations and diagrams. At less than the price of a pub lunch, a mere US$30, it’s an incredible bargain. And who could not warm to a man who writes, The time has come to get into the nitty gritty of data management, you lucky sausage.
To buy the ebook The Photographer’s Workflow by Gavin Gough and be reading it in under a minute: Click here to visit Gavin Gough.
The Balinese Kintamani dog was finally recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the international federation of national kennel clubs on 20 February 2019. It’s the first Indonesian breed to get international recognition.
