Digital documentary photography of ecotourism: A case study of the Belum Temenggor rainforest complex.

摘要

The focus of this study is to understand the relationship between photography and ecotourism. Its objective is to establish a generic framework for digital documentary photography of ecotourism. The phenomena of digital photography have taken people by storm since the last decade and it has reverberated enquiries on the applications of photography, both as a recording tool and medium of expression. These questions revolve around technology, fundamental principles of methods, techniques, and its processes from the photographer's side as well as the subjects, issues, and events to be photographed.;As a subject that is recently becoming quite popular, ecotourism is still an ambiguous and often misused term in Malaysia, with the guiding framework on how, why, and what to photograph not readily available. This study examines the underlying foundation and applications of ecotourism, and explores the theories and practices of documentary photography to complement it. The Belum Temenggor rainforest complex is the case study of this research as it is representative and typical of similar ecotourism destinations in Malaysia. It also serves as a critical test for theoretical propositions within the subjects of ecotourism and digital documentary photography. These propositions are reflected in the research questions, review of the literature and formation of the theoretical framework. The propositions are also evident in shaping the data collection plan, thus forming the criteria of the analysis.;Data collection was done through multiple sources of evidence, which were from; Documentations, Geographical Records, Interviews, Direct Observations, and Participant-Observation. Data analysis was done by organizing the facts and information collected during the case study, categorizing the data in accordance to ecotourism elements and principles, interpretation of photography methods, techniques and process involved, defining general and specific patterns to both areas, and finally establishing the generic framework for ecotourism of Malaysian rainforest.