We skipped town for a quick and totally blissful weekend trip to Bali with an overnight bag and a Huawei P30 Pro smartphone. Take in this photo essay shot entirely on one of the best smartphone cameras of the year
We’ll confess. We’re forever looking for an excuse to pack up and run to Bali… even if it is for a quick weekend. Now that we’re back with a warm tan and salty hair, we can’t wait to show off our pictures. Did we carry our DSLR, you ask? Naah, we didn’t even need to. We were armed with the Huawei P30 Pro – you know the one unanimously voted as the best camera phone of 2019 with the pretty iridescent cover <insert heart eyes emoji>.
Took the Huawei P30 Pro’s camera for a test run to Bali
Ticking off the epic list of Honeycombers Bali’s recommendations – walking barefoot in the sand, lazing around in the sun and letting our hair down at night, we captured our laidback eat-play-love Balinese weekend in and around Seminyak with the Huawei P30 Pro. Here’s what it looked like…
#Play: Beach club blues
Marinating in an ocean facing pool staring at the blue on blue. We could do this all day! The wide angle landscape mode captures everything from the pool bar on the far left to the waves and curving coastline on the right.
#Play: Beach clubs, baby!
Did we spend all day lazing around Finns Beach Club? You betcha. The many shades of blue in these pictures simply thrills us – from the sky and the pool to the ocean and the surfboards. Dare we say it looks better than real life…
#Love: Shoot from the hip
You never know what you’ll find when you turn a corner in Bali. We were wandering around looking for a pre-lunch snack when we stumbled upon this lil’ army of stone sculptures.
#Love: Up close and personal
Left: Close-up of the odd one out. We even tested the insane zoom feature on the P30 Pro and it retains quality and details. It goes as high as 50x zoom by combining a 5x optical zoom and AI-driven digital magnification. Right: One incredible tuna tartare topped with buttery avo and roe.
#Eat: Camera eats first!
Can’t do Finns without hitting up the Sushi Bar, immaright? Sea breeze, great music, sashimi platters and freshly tableside grated wasabi – sounds like one good weekend to us.
#Play: Poolside and pretty
Bubblegum pink pool towels, green tropical leaves, while umbrellas, blue pools and bluer ocean – we simply pointed one of the best smartphone cameras at W Bali Seminyak to capture a total Instaworthy, profesh-looking picture where every colour pops. Don’t you think?
#Play: After-dark
Can’t we talk about the Night Mode for a moment? Shot at the entrance of Ku De Ta, the iconic beachside venue, the water feature almost come alive in this picture. How crisp! Side note: Ku De Ta does one neat espresso martini – an ideal picker-upper before a night out in town
#Play: An alter ego
It’s a forever fiesta at Motel Mexicola. Every nook and corner of the hottest Mexican joint in Bali is bursting with character and colour. We dropped by at night for a good time and simply couldn’t get over this shrine. And the Huawei P30 Pro effortlessly captures all the little details despite the dim lights and all the neon signs.
#Love: Life’s precious moments
The congregation of sweet stone sculptures wasn’t the only pleasant surprise we bumped into that weekend. Smack in the middle of busy Seminyak, we spotted this. A far cry from the Pinterest-perfect cafes and restaurants fronts is the purely functional back wall featuring air conditioner ducts and chimneys, a random patch of green and two friends catching up.
#Play: Serious about sundowners
Say aye if you find yourself chasing sunsets every time you’re on a vacay. We aren’t shy to admit it but we’re suckers for a great sunset. Like this one right here where the sky turns colour faster than we can drink our margarita. Shot after- dark at Finns Beach Club (yea we spent a lot of time there), this particular tequila, agave nectar, lime juice and rosemary salt rim concoction was refreshing.
#Play: Casual masterpieces
Gotta love the zoom on this one. From the comforts of our sun bed, we caught this minimalistic shot of surfers doing their thing. The gloomy cloudless sky versus the calm waves of the Indian Ocean, the Huawei P30 Pro captured the smoothness and the textures without compromising on the silhouettes of people. *dreamy*
#Eat: Hue are you?
Dim lights and neon club scenes to warmly-lit dinner ambience, just because it’s nighttime doesn’t mean it can’t be a riot of colours! Heart-eyes for our shots from Mexicola and Da Maria – the Huawei P30 Pro brings purples, pinks, blues, yellows and green to life.
#Love: To the moon and back
Full moon nights and totally natural-no filter bokeh are our favourites. And Huawei P30 Pro night mode kills it again capturing the wispy clouds and the tropical palm tree dancing to the wind.
All photos were shot on the Huawei P30 Pro by Winnie Castelo.