Borneo Bootcamp 2015: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
The Borneo Bootcamp was recently concluded with an exceptional group of macro photographers from 5 different continents. It is an honor to have met this insanely passionate group of macro photographers who refused to stop to rest (except for beer) throughout the 5 days. Everyone got truly excited at almost every bug, arachnid, amphibian, reptile and avian that we saw (and of course, many other invertebrates). Thank you for the overflowing enthusiasm and I hope to shoot with you all again in the future! I did not shoot much, but am expecting an avalanche of photos from everyone else in the coming weeks!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants for their overwhelming enthusiasm, and all my friends who tirelessly helped out during the bootcamp. Thanks to Chris the Water IC, Siew Li the Food IC, Andrew the Light Trap IC, Joanna the behind the scenes photography IC, Sea Wei the Toilet IC (?!?) and Dennis for handling most of the liaison with the park staff. Special thanks also to Jeff for assisting with arrangement of logistics!
Here’s a brief journal of the bootcamp. Each entry will be updated when I receive more photos from the participants. I have also set up a Borneo Bootcamp Flickr group for photos from all participants of the bootcamp.
All ready at Senai Airport
We were exceptionally early and had lots of time to mull about.
Still early
More time means more photos!
Touched down!
The Johor group alighting from the plane.
Arrival at Tawau Airport
Posing around while waiting to collect our luggage.
Marching to the supermarket
Stocking up on groceries for the 5 days ahead!
The Water Team
Well, not much of groceries but we made sure water was stocked up well.
Impromptu meeting?
Making sure our loot was sufficient.
Arrival at Tawau Hills
Our driver, Mr Rosle, is one of Malaysia’s top body builders. Maybe we could get him to lift all our water to the cabins…
Checking in!
Unloading our luggage and supplies in preparation for check in.
Our water supply
Would this be enough???
Siew Li & Joanna
Always ready for a picture!
Bombilai Jungle Lodge
Allocating rooms, where the bootcamp would be held for the next 5 days!
Gear session
Preliminary fine-tuning for everyone’s lighting in preparation for the night’s first shoot.
No time to waste!!
Some participants couldn’t wait and started their bug hunting around the cabins.
Dinner’s served!
Dinner was late, but we found that it was prepared by just one lady! Thanks Dewi!
Lesson 1: Composition, Lighting
First lesson was held in front of the cabins. Lengthy but essential to get everyone started on the same foot.
Zzzz…
While everyone else was following the lecture, Andrew was spotted in lala-land, he had seen my presentations before and was just waiting to set up the light trap. He had also just returned from a long trip to China the night before, making back to back flights!
Hng??
Haven’t figured out what she was doing. Perhaps only Chris would know.
Fishing spider (Nilus sp.)
Ben found this relatively large fishing spider before the bridge. It was pretty docile and easy to shoot.
Fishing spider (Nilus sp.)
Tried getting the rest to take shots of the eye arrangements as well.
Monkey grasshopper (Erianthus sp.)
Nothing spectacular but just documenting whatever I saw. 🙂
Giant shield bug nymph (Tessaratomidae)
Andy found this shield bug nymph at the bottom of the bridge and had everyone excited and queuing up!
Giant shield bug (Tessaratomidae)
An adult shield bug was then spotted behind the cabins, and we found it to be laying eggs! She had beautiful textures on her dorsal body with green metallic pits!
Giant shield bug (Tessaratomidae)
Anterior view
Giant shield bug (Tessaratomidae)
Close up on her eggs
Jumping spider (Epeus sp.)
On a neighboring tree, a pair of jumping spiders (Epeus sp.) was spotted. This is the male.
Jumping spider (Epeus sp.)
The female is less striking in colour.
Jumping spider (Epeus sp.)
Close up on the male, as it had a gently sloping “mohawk”.
Jumping spider (Epeus sp.)
Waited a bit to get it to look directly into the lens!
Jumping spider (Epeus sp.)
This view shows the mohawk clearly.
Unknown pupa
Not sure what pupa this is, but the additional hair made me wonder if it was parasitised.
Unknown pupa
Dorsal view of the odd pupa.
Masked hunter assassin bug (Reduviidae)
On the tree trunks, we found the masked hunter, an assassin bug that piles debris upon itself to conceal its shape.
Masked hunter assassin bug (Reduviidae)
The masked hunter is usually hidden from sight and difficult to spot when it stays still.
Mantis moulting (Hierodula sp.)
Timothy found this moulting mantis in front of the Magdalene Chalet. Oddly, this is the first time I’m seeing a mantis moulting!
Mantis moulting (Hierodula sp.)
A wider view with Raynox removed. We wanted to wait for the wings to pump out but it took really long and we gave up.
Stick insect (Haaniella sp.)
One of the chunky looking stick insects in the trail. Yes we finally ushered everyone into the trail!
Stick insect (Haaniella sp.)
Lateral view. A nymph as wings were not developed.
Stick insect (Haaniella sp.)
Close up on the face, always fun to shoot!
Centipede (Scolopendra) ©2015 Tom Astle
Portrait of a centipede by Tom – note the venom opening on the black fang
Huntsman spider (Heteropoda sp.)
Ben and Andrew spotted this huntsman spider high above, but nobody could reach it. I climbed a little to get a record shot of the face, but nobody else wanted to try.
Lynx spider (Hamadruas sp.)
A lovely new batch of spiderlings crowding around their mother.
Lynx spiderlings (Hamadruas sp.)
Mother lynx got spooked and went to hide behind.
Lynx spiderlings (Hamadruas sp.)
Closing up on one spiderling. Not like the mother??
Lynx spiderlings (Hamadruas sp.)
Closing in on a cluster of them.
Trilobite beetle larva (Platerodrilus sp.)
The trilobite was a regular near the entrance of the trail, just a record shot.
Rove beetle (Staphylinidae) © Seawei Ying
Seawei spotted what could be a rove beetle on his bag!
Grasshopper (Caelifera) ©2015 Tud Yinn
Cham shot this fascinating grasshopper with an overhanging pronotum.
Weevils (Curculionidae)
Some weevils were feeling up to it tonight!
Weevils (Curculionidae)
The leaf was huge, so it was difficult to get an ideal angle of both in focus.
Weevils (Curculionidae)
Another weevil mating pair spotted just 1 meter away!
First Night Shoot
Although the plan for the first night shoot was to enter the first trail, hardly anybody entered the trail til hours later. Everyone else was distracted along the way and ended up shooting around the cabin! I roamed around and only took a few record shots while making sure everyone had something to shoot and practise on.
While shooting the weevils, the sky opened up and it was pouring. As it was already way past midnight, I decided to call it a night. HOWEVER… it seemed that most of the rest did not get enough and continued shooting til well past 2am. I’m looking forward to update this post with their shots!
The complete album for the first night shoot can be viewed here.
Borneo Bootcamp 2015: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
