The gardens of our Balinese villa are so gorgeous, we decided to devote a whole photo gallery to them instead of including them in our ‘Home Away from Home in…’ post as we usually would.
The location is so beautiful and our Balinese villa gardens so tranquil that even when we had to work it was a joy to sit at the dining table on the veranda and take in the beauty of our surroundings as we listened to the wind, the birds, and the other animals around us.
In the mornings I would sit with Dinah the Dog (pictured above) on the stepson the villa while I had my first coffee of the day and just listen to the garden. At times I could hear the sound of workers chatting in the rice paddies, and the hollow tins of their mechanical ‘scarecrow’ devices rattling in the wind. At other times, especially at night, we would hear the haunting sound of singing and drums from ceremonies at the nearby temples carried on the breeze of the windy season, or ‘kite season’ as the locals call it. Magic.
About the Photography
A lot of the photos above were taken with my best lens for making photographs with a shallow depth of field. This means that the subject was in very sharp focus but the background details are blurry. This works very well for photos of Dinah the Dog and the cats that were never really friendly. Still managed to get some photos of them though! The means that my most used lens for these was my Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D. If you use Canon, the equivalent lens would be the beautiful Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM Lens. Keep in mind that pro photographers love what we call ‘fast glass’, not because we’re going to take every photo at f/1.4, but at f/2.0 the lens is tack sharp…
All photos of our Balinese villa gardens were taken with a Nikon D700 with a variety of Nikon lenses, such as the following:
- Nikon Micro-NIKKOR 55mm f/2.8
- Nikon 35mm f/2.0 AF
- AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 12–24mm f/4G IF-ED
- Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF-D
I knew it!!!! absolutley beautiful! oh i love bali so dearly!!
you are soooo lucky!!
viele grüsse, kristina
Wow! I want to move there right now! Balinese gardens are so incredibly beautiful and full of energies. I agree with your choice to devote one post just to the garden. What a pleasure to see your shots. They remind me of my time in Bali and the night I spent in the Royal Palace in Ubud, something travellers should definitely try. Balinese culture and Hindu religions permeate every corner of this magic island and a trip to Indonesia is not complete without a fair amount of time dedicated to this very special, unique island. Congratulations once again, on your always excellent and noteworthy choice.
It’s just beautiful. Thank you for sharing your travels here. It’s lengthening my bucket-list exponentially. :)