I’m doing a new project for a website and one of the shots I need to do is the usual Petronas Twin Towers shot. I’ve noticed lately that the sun has been setting quite late nowadays and it only gets dark close to 8pm.
I’ve also noticed that if it doesn’t rain, sun has been casting a nice warm glow as gets low in the horizon. This is something rare in the Klang Valley. Our sky is so polluted that we don’t usually get the golden light in the evenings. But it has been happening lately and I’ve been wanting to get my camera out and shoot some photos.
So on the day that I was going to shoot the KLCC, I drove to KL early to avoid the jam. I parked my car in the open air car park at 5.30pm. I figured the light was best around 7pm so I should get ready by 6.45pm. I took a walk around the shopping mall to past the time, went up to Kinokuniya to look for Joe McNally’s latest book, The Moment It Clicks, but they were out of stock. I checked the price and it costs an exhorbitant RM219. I figured it was cheaper to buy online RM100++.
Checked my watch, it was 6 something, felt a little hungry so I went to 1901 and grabbed a hotdog. Soon after that I thought I should get going and standy at the spot for the picture. I stepped outside the building and the sky was dark! Then it started to drizzle! I thought this is just my luck.. The sky remained dark and gloomy, it was already 7pm. I’d already set up my tripod, put my 20mm lens on, and sat down on the curb while getting tiny drops of rain falling on me.
At 7pm the sun started to shine on the towers, there was a little bit of golden light but unfortunately the sky was still grey and gloomy, I shot a few frames anyway:
At around 7.25pm, something special happened. The sun was almost going down, the KLCC lights turned on, and the sky was still cloudy. I started to shoot frame after frame, bracketing 0.3 to 0.7 of a stop. I couldn’t really see what was happening to the light as I was busy shooting and focusing on the exposures. I continued shooting for 10 minutes or so. I was quite happy with what I got:
I didn’t manage to get the warm golden light shot, but I got something totally different but nice. It’s amazing how the light transforms all of a sudden and surprises you. I felt something special when I was there. The towers are such magnificent structures, they come alive like magic when the lights are turned on. And I was lucky to get a nice sky in the background.
This was one instant when photography totally amazed me. The light changed so fast, in 10 minutes it went from boring gloomy, overcast and grey, to magical and beautiful. While I was there, I started thinking about shooting the “golden hour” in western countries. I was thinking how lucky the western photographers were because the sun sets very slowly in those countries, they actually got a full hour of magnificent light to shoot! Here in KL, we only get a few minutes!
So imagine when they come here and find out that they planned a whole hour of shooting but only get 10 minutes, how sad they will be. And how happy I will be if I was shooting in their country!! Cheerio!
Jeffrey Lee
Hi Jimin, I was driving along Jln Ampang and saw a guy setting up his tripod and dslr at the Public Bank junction in front of KLCC. From the looks of your pic, I think it was you I saw. Beautiful pic…
Mar 29, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
jiminlai
Yeah, it could’ve been me, I was wearing short pants, was the guy you saw wearing shorts..?
Mar 30, 2009 @ 2:50 am
Jeffrey Lee
Can’t really recall, but I think so. You were setting up your gears at the traffic light triangle platform just in the middle of the intersection of junction at Jln Ampang, in front of Public Bank right? I was driving along that stretch after work.
Was browsing through you pictures here, must say that the pictures look really nice…am contemplating joining your workshop on photography in April to learn more. I’m a newbie in photography, just got myself a Canon 40D to learn. Not too happy with the results currently…so a workshop might help me
Mar 30, 2009 @ 10:19 am
Ashley
Hi Jimin, I think the second photo is awesome!
Apr 01, 2009 @ 12:21 am
Jason O
Stunning shot! Was the streetlamp on purpose? Anyways I saw the Chinese version of “The Moment it Clicks” while I was at Shanghai. Forgot how much it costs, but it was damn cheap. I didn’t buy the book though, as I already spent a huge amount that day…
Apr 02, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
jiminlai
Hi Jason, as a pro, everything I do is on purpose.
Apr 02, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
Jason O
Thanks for the hint;)
Apr 03, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
shuttertalk
Hi Jimin , U was at KLCC to shot this pictures yesterday, just way u sd u only free to drink with me after 8pm, haha. But that time i was busy, sorry didn’t meet up with u. I love the second picture.
Apr 11, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
Jason O
Bought “The Hot Shoe Diaries” at Kino’s at Singapore for $60 while I was there. Great deal of knowledge from a small book;)
Apr 17, 2009 @ 12:09 am
Hanaa
Hi Jimin, love the photo. Yes, the lights make it magical, I agree. And I especially love those short moments, when something changes, and the feelings change and we get a “ooowah….”
And the way you described it was how I have felt sometimes. Thanks! (I’m no photographer, don’t know about speeds or hardware, but love your work! Keep it up and I look forward to more sharing from you.)
May 25, 2009 @ 2:32 pm