Marty Mellway Photography

2 sec   ƒ/3.5   ISO 400  17 mm This photograph is taken in a Balinese Hindu temple at night during a festival. The illumination of the backs of the people sitting in the foreground was caused by them lighting incense.  A little light goes a long way in a long exposure. One thing I like about this photograph which I didn't notice the first few times is the statue of a god on the right hand side which is looking down over all the praying Balinese. It is truly an amazing thing to witness. The sounds of bells, and the deep voice of the priests chanting prayers. The smell of incense and fresh flowers. This same scene might have been taking place over a thousand years ago. Photography tips: Of course with a long exposure you always want to use a tripod and a self-timer/remote. Best way to avoid people looking at you while you photograph something like this is to sit down and interact a littl...

I've finally finished the short film I've been working on. Its a film about travelling through Bali, Indonesia. Bali is an incredible place that despite the huge tourism industry has retained much of its ancient customs, beliefs and rituals. I hope that Bali will change slowly if at all. I hope that some of the magic of this place can be seen through this video, it is for me a poor substitute for the real thing. The Island of the Gods from Marty Mellway on Vimeo .

One of the best parts of Bali has to be the amazing traditional arts. They have amazing carvers and painters, a unique orchestra(the Gamelan), and a thriving culture of dances and theatre. Last night we attended a dance and musical performance that was by far the best I have seen yet in Bali. This dance school toured in the west in the 1950's and had a huge impact. The dance style is flawless and the musical theory mystifying. The tuning of the Gamelan orchestra is quite different from music in the west.  The Gamelan  features a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, kendang (drums), gongs, bamboo flutes, and bowed strings. My descriptions of the these dances don't do them any justice so I will let the photos speak for me. Also I took a lot of video of both the orchestra and the dances, so when I have a chance to work on it and make something than you will really see how incredible and unique these art forms are. 

Last week was the annual festival of Galungan. The Balinese believe that Galungan is the time when their ancestral spirits visit the earth. We went to one of the many village temples to see the ceremonies and rituals. Kuningan is the last day of the Galungan Festival which celebrates the victory of good over evil. During the festival we also went to Pura Tirtha Empul, a holy water temple which is of great imprtance during this festival. The temple was built around a fresh water spring in 926 A.D. It is said that Indra, a god, Stabbed the ground to create this spring to cure his army of the poison left by the evil king Mayadenawa. After we left Tirtha Empul we went to Gunung Kawi, A beautiful temple down in a ravine full of terraced rice patties. Gunung Kawi is where the Kacak dance in the film Baraka took place. The complex comprises 10 rock-cut candi (shrines) carved into the cliff face. Gunung Kawi really feels ancient. Something almost primal about the way the rock is...

Our first week back in Bali has been great. It took us only two days to fully adjust to the 12 hour time change. After arriving in Denpasar and staying near the bus station for a couple nights we took a local minibus up into the mountains of central Bali. The minibuses are large vans that take specific routes and will pick people up anywhere along the way. Much cheaper and more fun the the tourist mini buses. We arrived in the town of Candi Kuning after a quick two hour ride which took us first through the flat agricultural region of central Bali and then up into the mountains. From Candi Kuning (pronounced Chandi Kuning) we did a day hike into the Jungle towards a temple on a ridge on the far side of the Volcanic lake(Danau Bratan). The Jungle was pretty dense and the trail got smaller and more grown in the further we went. We saw many different species of tropical birds and insects as well as some kind of squirrel and a few macaks. The macaks in the high mountain regions of Bali ...

On the worn stone board walk by the Bali Sea a group of about 10 children fly their kites in the strong wind as their elders relax in the shade of their precarious bamboo shacks. My mind is confused by the sound of chickens, goats and the crashing waves of the sea mixed together. I guess growing up in Canada we tend not to associate farm animals with a tropical sea side. We get the usual look of confusion from the locals as we walk by, but it quickly turns into a smile when we say “hello, apa kabar” (“ hello, how are you”). “Baik baik” (“good, good”) they yell. “Hey, where you go?” asks the old man after we pass. It’s always the first question that pops into their head, not sure why. Maybe it’s the only English they know. “Jalan Jalan” (“taking a walk”) I yell over my shoulder. “Oh jalan jalaaannn” they laugh. The cool breeze blowing in from the sea is a nice change from the hot backstreets of Singaraja we took to get to the sea side. As we continue along the path we notice a large ...

After a few days in Jakarta it was time to move on. JP had found a job in Jakarta so his journey ended there, for now. We flew down to Bali, continuing our search for work. We have been in Bali now for maybe about a week. A couple days in Kuta (a boring beach town near the airport, popular for drinking and clubbing), 5 days in Ubud and today we arrived in the beach town of Lovina. On the second day in Ubud we did some cycling through the countryside and visited a few temples and sacred sites. On the third day we did a 10KM walk through some of the major archaeological sites around Ubud. We walked out of Ubud towards the village of Sala. Most of the way was down hill deep into ravines and then the strenuous climb up the other side. Arriving in Sala was a nice change, nice and flat! Rice Paddies as far as we could see. We passed through some of the important local temples and saw some of the different style of ancient Balinese architecture. Not far from Sala we went to the Ant...

In search of culture we left the beaches of Lovina and headed on foot into the mountains to the south . We didn’t have to go far to leave the touristy little town of Lovina behind. We quickly realized that this part of Bali didn’t see that many tourists on foot, maybe they would spot the occasional foreigner flying by on a motor bike. The small one lane road headed straight into the foot hills which wasn’t much of an incline. After about an hour we came to the top of a ridge and had a beautiful view of the mountains on the coast to the west. We met a woman there cutting grass with a small hand scythe and had a quick conversation in Indonesian about the heat and where we were headed. She seemed relatively unaware of the scorching heat even though she was wearing two shirts and a long skirt. She seemed a bit surprised that we were walking up the mountain for no reason except just for the sake of seeing what there was to see. I would likely feel the same way if I had grown up in a ...

Just a recap Of what I have been up to. I was in Beijing for a while checking out the sites before leaving china which was pretty cool. Met some really nice people there. After a few days, we flew from Beijing to Singapore and caught a ferry to the island of Batam in Indonesia. Flights directly to Jakarta were pretty expensive so we figured we should just fly to Singapore and take a ferry to Jakarta via the island of Batam. Batam was a nice island, though we only stayed for one day before jumping onto a ship bound for Jakarta. The ferry ride was overnight and lasted about 30 hours. We met a couple in their 70s who were on a biking trip all across Europe and Asia. They had biked most of the way from Scotland to Indonesia and were about to bike the length of Java to Bali. Amazing! In the end, we ended up saving a couple hundred dollars each. We arrived in Jakarta In the evening and took a Taxi to the main backpackers street, Jalan Jaksa. An interesting street if you’re in the right place...