Orangila's Guide to Photographing Kek Lok Si during Chinese New Year

Over the years, I have been making a habit to visit Kek Lok Si Temple during Chinese New Year. It feels like an annual pilgrimage to me and decide to share a thing or two of my journey and how I manage to take amazing shots of this jewel of Penang.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F9, ISO 4000, 1/25 sec

INTRODUCTION TO KEK LOK SI

Over a century ago, Kek Lok Si was a simple Buddhist temple built on the slopes of Air Itam (along Penang Hill) in Penang Island of Malaysia. Penang island sits on the Straits of Malacca and is located on the north west of Peninsula Malaysia, approximately 60km to the closest border of Thailand. It first started as a temple and over the decades, its expansion includes the iconic pagoda, parking lots, stalls for food and souvenir, Goddess of Mercy statue, quarters for staff and monks as well as Buddhist academies. Its expansion is vast and perpetual thanks to the support and contributions of Chinese communities, both local and abroad. It is a major tourist attraction and is definitely my most favourite among all the tourist hot spots in Penang. Starting from early 2000, effort was made to light up the vicinity of the temples with lights and lanterns. For weeks prior to and after first day of Chinese New Year, Kek Lok Si would be brightly lit and have drawn huge visitors. The temple is usually closed before dusk but is extended to midnight during this festive season. For more details and history about Kek Lok Si, you can refer to Wikipedia page. 

As you can imagine, surrounding neighbourhood during Chinese New Year is heavily congested and here are some tips which I can share with you.

THIS GUIDE IS MEANT FOR:
- Serious photographers who plan to go alone or with friends who are willing to spend hours on a location or two for the perfect shots. (definitely not meant for someone who travels with children or elderly)
- Someone who is healthy enough to walk and climb. Average adult who occasionally exercise or hike should not have any issue whatsoever. 

WHAT YOU NEED:
- Comfortable walking shoes (preferably sport shoes)
- Compact umbrella (in case it rains)
- Cash (for entrance/parking fees, food, snack, drinks, donation)
- Camera equipments (sturdy tripod, cable release, lenses, batteries, memory cards, camera body)
- Leave soon after you have an early dinner (remember that traffic is heavy and that the temple is closed at midnight)

HOW TO GET THERE:
I don't advice to take public transport or drive up to the temple. I was told by many that driving to the parking lot of Kek Lok Si, waiting for parking spot and getting out of the ordeal could take a total of 3 to 4 hours.

What I would recommend is to either drive (or catch UBER) and park at Jalan Kampung Pisang and walk up to the temple. It would take only around 15 minutes of casual walk up to Kek Lok Si temples and another 10 minute if you plan to climb up to Goddess of Mercy statue.

Here is the route I always take:

I always park at Jalan Kampung Pisang, somewhere along the road that intersects Jalan Rembah Ria. It is always bumper to bumper along Jalan Paya Terubong and Jalan Balik Pulau and that is where exactly where you want to be avoiding unless you plan to spend hours stuck on traffic. There are plenty of parking along Jalan Kampung Pisang, not to mention that it is free. Once you've loaded your camera equipments, travel along the highlighted route (refer to the map above). There are actually 2 shorter routes, one is via Lorong Rambutan 1 and the other is the stairs one would climb during the day when all the stalls that sell souvenir or t-shirts are located. But I won't recommend these 2 routes because the path isn't lit and isn't easy for someone who is unfamiliar with the routes.

BELOW ARE PHOTOS I HAVE TAKEN THROUGHOUT THE YEARS:

1) The Iconic Pagoda

Nikon D800 - Settings: F1.4, ISO 4000, 1/500 sec - Breath taking view from the foot of the hill.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F1.4, ISO 400, 1/800 sec - This is the arc that you will be get to once you reach Kek Lok Si along the route I suggested. You'd be coming in from the road on the right of the arc. Turning left on the road will lead you to Goddess of Mercy statue.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F1.4, ISO 4000, 1/1250 sec - This is a common shot taken by many. We have seen it all so regardless of how you take photos from this angle, it won't feel spectacular as we have seen it before.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F2.8, ISO 1000, 1/60 sec - Again this is a common angle. Everyone loves drone shots or photos with arial view photos of a landmark we are familiar with. Reason is simple, we prefer photos of objects/landmark from an angle we don't usually see.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F2.8, ISO 2000, 1/200 sec - This is a less common angel of the pagoda. Go to image.google.com and search for Kek Lok Si Temple or Kek Lok Si Pagoda and rarely see photo from this angle.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F2.8, ISO 4000, 1/80 sec - Here is another shot from a different perspective.

Nikon D3 - Settings: F22, ISO 200, 2 sec - This is a common shot, however, the angle of how you place the trails and lanterns is the trick. Composition of photography is important, this photo has 2 primary objects. First is the pagoda and second are the lanterns. Main key is to apply rule of third (or make it a perfect symmetrical shots which is a lot easier) and the cut off point of the photo.

2) Lanterns & Lights

Nikon D3 - Settings: F2.8, ISO 200, 1/8 sec - lanterns are light and sway easily with a breeze. I suggest to play around with shutter speed for different effects.

Nikon D3 - Settings: F2.8, ISO 1,000 , 1/20 sec - Cost of electricity to light up Kek Lok Si is mind boggling as we can image. As such, donation and general spending of souvenirs would cover costs of running the place and ensure that we get to enjoy the festival of lights in future Chinese New Years to come.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F2.8, ISO 4000, 1/100 sec - I have no choice but to take this photo without a tripod. Handheld photos on this condition is tricky. So I used large aperture to freeze the moment and have to take multiple shots to get the perfect shot. Also tricky if it is crowded as the photo will not turn out as well if there are passerby walking past me.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F5.6, ISO 1000, 1/5 sec - This shot was done using tripod and long exposure. I took multiple shots and picked my favourite.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F16, ISO 4000, 1/10 sec - I suggest to take photos of different exposure (Aperture size, ISO, shutter speed). One more way you can experiment is to use bracketing function on your DSLR. There is no general guidelines. Just mouth you camera on a tripod and take multiple shots of multiple exposures of the same angle and choose the best.

3) Long exposure

Nikon D3 - Settings: F5, ISO 200, 0.8 sec - One would think that you would need a long exposure like 3 or more seconds to achieve this effect. But sometimes, relatively short exposure will do. Again, you need to experiment and take multiple shots until you get the shot you want.

Nikon D3 - Settings: F9, ISO 200, 2 sec - I love this photo as I was lucky to capture this shot while the gentleman was waving.

4) Foreground - Middleground - Background

Nikon D800 - Settings: F8, ISO 4000, 1/30 sec - Photos of these are easily. You need a tripod and find an angle that fits the foreground, middle ground and background.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F8, ISO 4000, 1/50 sec - Another angle that is a feast for the eyes.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F22, ISO 4000, 2 sec - Most take photos with the city landscape behind the camera. But at the right angle, you can capture this photo with colourful  foreground with a background view of the city.

Nikon D800 - Settings: F9, ISO 4000, 1/13 sec - Finally, rather than taking photos of direct subjects, try experiment with shots from different angles that covers different static foreground.