A Night At The Opera
A masked performer waits for an opportunity to dedicate his opera to the king of hell.
f/4, 1/18 sec, at 14mm, 1600 ISO, on a X-Pro1
As I said in a previous post, the Hungry Ghost month is full of performances of puppet shows and Chinese opera all around Penang. Just about every night of the month there’s a Chinese opera somewhere in the city. Many of these performers are brought in by the government from Taiwan. I photographed two operas. The first was at the Lim Jetty and the other on the mainland near Butterworth. They were both visually stunning but the performers at Butterworth were much more open to being photographed. They even allowed me backstage during the performance. It was really fun to photograph this amazing event. A special thanks goes out to my friend Hariman for setting up the Butterworth shoot.
Here are a few shots from both event and then at the bottom of the full Photoshelter gallery for you to enjoy if you have the time.
A performer waits backstage for the performance to start at the Lim Jetty.
f/2.8, 1/30 sec, at 14mm, 1250 ISO, on a X-Pro1
The beautiful colors of the Opera.
f/4, 1/30 sec, at 14mm, 320 ISO, on a X-Pro1
The star of the show at the Lim Jetty.
f/1.4, 1/170 sec, at 35mm, 200 ISO, on a X-Pro1
This beautiful performer came from Taiwan to perform the opera at Butterworth.
f/1.4, 1/80 sec, at 35mm, 200 ISO, on a X-Pro1
Getting dressed before the performance at Butterworth.
f/1.4, 1/50 sec, at 35mm, 200 ISO, on a X-Pro1
The beautiful makeup of the Chinese actor.
f/1.4, 1/50 sec, at 35mm, 250 ISO, on a X-Pro1
This actress does a performance before the king of hell.
f/9, 1/20 sec, at 14mm, 3200 ISO, on a X-Pro1
The complete cast of the Opera Butterworth.
f/7.1, 1/30 sec, at 14mm, 200 ISO, on a X-Pro1
Chinese Opera – Images by Matt Brandon
