First post containing images so here we go.
I think this may well be the best photowalk I've ever had in my life. 19,000 steps around my favorite area in Bangkok and I got so many images I was happy with. I can't even pin point what happened other than amazing light, new lens and great mentality. I was rocking the Artra Lab 24mm F1.7 and every single image was taken with that lens. It has magic inside I'm sure of it.
Despite all of that, this walk was actually an accident. I was heading to Kathmandu gallery to see a photography exhibition by Adam Birkan however when I arrived it was closed. Totally my fault, it was a Sunday afternoon and they clearly state that they are closed on their socials and website. Well done Arran! I was torn whether to turn around head to the BTS and go home or go for a walk to wards chinatown. Obviously I took a deep breath and walked. Took me a while to get into the groove but by the time I had found a nice rhythm of shooting I was close to Talat Noi and loving it. The light was getting better and better and everything just fell into place.
I zig zagged through all of the intricate alley ways, stopped and asked a few interesting people for portraits and all in all, everything just worked perfectly. The XT2 Fuji paired with the Astra Lab lens is just perfect for my eye. I'm a huge fan of the 35mm field of view and when attached to a Fuji X body, the Artra 24mm becomes a 35mm roughly due to the 1.5 crop factor. Perfection!!!! I love shooting street at around F5.6 and F8, zone focusing for the fast grab your shot quick scenarios. Then when I want the more artistic look or I see a portrait subject, open that baby up to F1.7 and shoot! Damn it's so nice.
So as you can see I walked and got plenty of street scenes and portraits, but once my feet started to hurt, I picked a route back to the MRT station at Hua Lamphong and Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram Worawihan (Wat Tri Mit, for short), is very close by so of course I took a detour and BOOM! The light kicked off and I snapped the shots of the temple. Gosh I love these shots so much. I am clearly obsessed with monochrome photography but these temple shoots, with the light just so good, looked equally as good (maybe even better) in colour! So I added a few here for anyone who cares to look at them!
Anyway, that's about it for this first post and I am hoping to make a little habit of these posts to show each walk I do around BKK. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out Artra Lab and the rest of my work here on the website.
Thanks again,
Arran.
