What's in your heart?

I went for an outing yesterday, organised by Photographic Society of Kluang. It was actually Hibiscus flower shooting outing… but as usual… my heart always wander for something else…

I noticed a little yellow flower with very beautiful anther (male reproductive cells that contains pollen)! Fell in love immediately! Too bad I don’t know the name of the flower.

Would like to dedicate this photo to my fellow photog friend Jacky as lately he complained about my long forgotten blog and my Tamron 90mm macro lens that suffers in my dry cabinet! I hope I do the lens justice Jack!

Note: Sorry if the flower look very yellow… that’s the real colour of the flower.

The world needs more green plants…

At last I decided to use my Tamron 90mm 2.8 macro lens rather than left it underutilized for months in the dry cabinet. After some struggling despite merely 4 hours sleep, I woke up at 7am to catch a glimpse of dragon fruit’s flower ‘The Queen of the Night’ before it withers under sunlight.

So after 1 hour of backache, numb leg and face, I only managed to get 1 presentable photo out of 70+ (not to mention only a small part of head is sharp ). Photo was slightly cropped and sharpened. I really respect those who managed to get perfect macro photograph in terms of sharpness and composition. Without a flash light, it is extremely hard to get a sharp photo with great DOF especially when your subject keep moving non-stop! Occasionally I need to stand tall and take a deep breath before i continue…

This photo was taken in Zenxin Organic Park, situated beside Jalan Batu Pahat, just a short distance away from Air Hitam tol exit (right turn). For those who are interested, admission is free from 9am to 9pm with free tour guide until 6pm. They have nice viewing platform, halal restaurant, farm mart & botanical center, function hall and bicycle for rental, fish catching activity and lots of interesting things for you to discover. Oh by the way, the restaurant close on Tuesday although the park opens everyday. Best place for a walk in the evening.

but a hatred pest…

The eggs belong to Apple Snail (Pomacea sp.) from the family of Ampullariidae. The local called it Siput Gondang and its population consider a threat to rice production.
Some apple snails are consider as delicacy and some as aquarium pets. Those eggs are common sight on vegetation along freshwater area like lake or water irrigation system. Now you know where to get your own supply, just beware of the nasty parasites and nematodes that lurks in apple snails if you intent to consume it…