It was my first solo travel to Pulau Ketam after being late for a street photography Malaysia outing and it was a bizarre travel experience where I got lost for a few minutes while on my way to the island. I was actually quite excited to be able to join the outing where many Malaysian street photographers can hang out and share experiences together. Pulau Ketam means ‘crab island’ is a unique fisherman’s village island located off the coast of Port Klang.
To get to the Pulau Ketam terminal, travellers can take the KTM train or by car. After reaching the terminal, travellers will be able to board the ferry which takes about a 1-hour journey or if you need the fastest way to the island is to take the speedboat. Let me share some of my Pulau Ketam experiences.
KTM Train to Pulau Ketam Terminal
It has been a wild experience for me. I took the KTM train from Kepong and it took about 2 hours train journey, which is equivalent to the time of travelling to Ipoh. The train will only arrive one stop before the Pelabuhan Klang KTM station, which is the Jalan Kastam KTM station. So, I have to take the Grab Car which took about 8 minutes to reach the Terminal Pulau Ketam to get on the ferry. I didn’t realise that there is a speedboat counter service at the terminal and eventually got on the slow, ferry.
It was raining in the area but luckily it stopped. After waiting for about 15 minutes, I was able to get on the ferry earlier than expected, or else I will be really late and only can spend 1-2 hours on the island.
Lost In The Middle of Nowhere For Few Minutes
The ferry will stop by at the Sungai Lima jetty to drop off passengers, and this was where the anxiety hits me. I was feeling so excited as well as late for the outing, and I got off at this jetty, I walk up the jetty staircase, and I thought I have reached the destination. But I felt something was not right, there are passengers still on the ferry. I was like, ‘am I really at the right location?‘. I quickly returned to the ferry and it took off seconds after. I asked one of the boys on the ferry ‘have we actually reached Pulau Ketam?‘ and he pointed in a direction. I was actually relieved I was back on the ferry.
I arrived at Pulau Ketam and was an hour late but I felt relieved after seeing some of my street photographer friends at Pulau Ketam. It was already 11 am and the sun is getting harsh light. So I just tried to take whatever photos I can. I realized the scenes here are quite bizarre as the transportation here is only bicycles and electric bikes. As I am a personal travel photographer, I realized some of my street photography photos are more travel kind of photos which consist more of scenery, objects and as well as daily life scenes.
In the end, I made more photographer friends from the FJM street photography outing, we left the island, took the speedboat back to the terminal and we took the train back together. What a great experience for me.
Shooting on Analogue Film & Digital Camera
Sorry about all the rants, after all, let’s check out the Pulau Ketam 2022 photos I’ve taken with the Contax G1 and Fujifilm X-T4. I was actually testing my second Contax film camera functionality during this trip and I got all the full 24 exposures from the Kodak Ultramax 400. You will be able to witness all kinds of Pulau Ketam’s daily life activities and it is a perfect place for day trips for the locals. I was shooting with the Carl Zeiss Planar 45mm T* F2 lens that came with the Contax G1. I actually preferred the Biogon T* 28mm wide-angle lens for streets, which I’ve used to test Kodak Vision3 500T on the first broken Contax G1.
It was fun to use and solid to hold but the Contax film camera is so fragile while bringing it out for a long trip, especially in a harsh environment. I felt like I was the ‘knight‘ who was protecting the ‘princess‘ all the time. It takes a lot of effort to protect and care for the safety of two cameras when shooting outdoors. Guess I will be investing in a bigger camera bag. I was still looking for a good camera bag that can store up to two cameras. Similar to my recent creative portrait shoots, I love shooting film photography in Malaysia and at the meantime shoot digital for backup.
For digital, I’ve been shooting with the new created Urban Dream and the Nomadic Mood, which is known as one of the best film simulation recipes for travel from the Fujifilm recipes list. I might one day return to Pulau Ketam with my friend to explore the other areas which I might have missed out on.
Kodak Ultramax 400 Photos on Contax G1
Fujifilm X-T4 Photos
Happy shooting, peeps!
