The Bridge

TG-4, f5.6, 4 sec., ISO 125, RAW, 74mm

City Lights

TG-4, f3.2, 4 sec., ISO 320, RAW, 30mm

Lights

GR, f2.8, 8 sec., ISO 100, RAW

Fire and Smoke

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 2 sec., ISO 200, RAW, 75mm (Jupiter-8 f2.0 50mm LTM)

Kanchanaburi to Uthai Thani

After a slower start in the morning and a must do visit to the Bridge on the River Kwai, we set off to get to Tak or maybe even Mae Sot.

As you can judge from the title of this post we didn't quite make it there but Uthai Thani proved to be a great place to stop over.

The roads were definitely better, less highway and more country roads with actual things to see and Thai people to meet during coffee breaks.

Ultimately the late start and slower drive on the country roads meant we had to change plans and stay in Uthai Thani. This was not really a problem as the drive was fun and Uthai Thani is a pretty cool place.

It has a lot of Chinese influences there, is quiet and laid back, people are friendly and it has some pretty cool roundabouts to discover.

So far Uthai Thani proved to be my favorite place in Thailand during this trip and I could have even stayed longer here.

60-40

TG-4, f 2.8, 1/2, ISO 100, RAW, 25 mm

This is an experiment of the long exposure while riding a motorbike. I set the TG-4 to the long exposure scene mode to force the long exposure and took a few photos to try and get the light trails.

It's not exactly what I wanted but close, need to experiment a bit more and maybe see is a better way to steady the camera.

Two Guys Fishing

GR, f8.0, 1sec., ISO 100, RAW

Some long exposure street photography for a change and because it was fun to try.

Moon Over Da Nang Bay

a-5100, f6.3, 15 sec., ISO 800, JPG, 33mm

Dusk over the Bay

GR, f8.0, 1.5 sec., ISO 1600, RAW

In Da Nang

Having some time in Da Nang, I went to see some of the sights and take some photos.

Da Nang is a nice city, it is modern but still feels like you're in Vietnam, it has the sea, a river, mountains, temples, shopping malls, old and new buildings and enough events to keep people entertained.

I am no too much of a beach person but I do like walking along the river in the evening. The views are very nice in the evening with all the buildings and bridges lit up.

Too many tourists skip Da Nang to go straight to Hoi An but they miss out in my opinion, it is definitely worth to spend at least a night in Da Nang.

Lightning Storm

X Play, f2.0, 1/15, ISO 1600, JPG

The saying goes the best camera is the one you have with you but sometimes it's great to have a backup camera with you just in case.

There was a lightning storm over Hue tonight, not wanting to miss out on some good photo opportunities I took my Ricoh GR with me to the Huong river to take some long exposure photos.

Not being a fan of carrying much gear or big cameras the Ricoh GR is the ideal camera to take along for any kind of photography. It is versatile thanks to the 28mm f2.8 lens, has great image quality and fits in a jeans pocket.

Not having a tripod with me means I always need to find a ledge or something stable to place the camera on. Lucky for me there was a place to sit down and place the camera on with a good view over the river and the bridge.

I set the GR up in full manual mode for long exposures and used the timer to avoid any camera shake, I experimented with different exposure times but found that 8 seconds yielded the best results.

Lightning might never strike twice in the same place but tonight, it did strike 4-5 times in exactly the same place and my GR was recording this as it happened.

This might have been the best photo of my outing tonight but just as the GR was busy recording this long exposure shot of the lightning strikes, I looked behind me and saw a guy sitting on his cyclo watching the lightning storm.

I liked the light and the way he was sitting and wanted to take a photo. My GR still busy with my long exposure shot meant that I had to resort to using my Motorola X Play phone to take the photo.

Sure, the quality of the phone camera is not very good, especially in low light but I figured it will be better than no photo. Sometimes getting a photo is more important that the technical quality.

Just as I was about to take the photo of the guy, a very close lightning strike just behind him illuminated the sky purple and provided a great backdrop. This made the phone photo my favorite photo of the evening and it shows that it's good to always be prepared and have a backup camera around.

Speaking of lightning or more accurately 'Light', I recently came across the Light camera and think it looks very promising and has some interesting ideas behind it. It's good to see something fresh in photography. It could prove to be an excellent backup camera to have on me and since it is weatherproof, it should survive a lightning storm and some rain without any problems.

Hopefully I will get to try the camera out and get a better idea of what it can do and how it works.

GR, f8.0, 8 sec., ISO 100, RAW

Huong River Boats

GR, f5.6, 2 sec., ISO 400, RAW

Hue Festival 2016 - Day 4

Another day at the Hue Festival, I started by a quick walk over the Sake Festival. Since it was early there were not many people around, the music was very loud however.

In the evening a friend called with an opportunity to go and visit the Citadel so I did just head over there to make the most out of the time before closing.

The lights and lanterns in the citadel were great and it's something that they should consider doing once a week or month to have it open late and allow people to enjoy the Citadel by night.

I haven't been to the Citadel for a long time but they did restore quite a bit and it surely looked nice at night. I have to get back there during the day and take some more photos.

The different stages with various performances were very nice, dotted about but each was different and offered something new. Some performances were traditional, some modern and some traditional with modern influences so it was entertaining.

It's definitely worth visiting the Citadel in the evening during the Festival and I can only hope they will make the evening opening hours a more regular occurrence.

Intersection at Night

TG-4, f2.8, 1 sec., ISO 100, RAW

St. Pauls by Night

GR, f8.0, 8 sec., ISO 100, RAW

Been to see 'The Merchant of Venice' at the Globe Theater and went for a walk along the Southbank before and after the show. This photo could have maybe done with being exposed a bit longer but I still like it and think it shows the colors of the lights better.

Boats on the Thames

GR, f8.0, 4 sec., ISO 100, RAW

It might be a bit overused of a subject and maybe a bit cliché but I did like the light and how the boats turned up due to the long exposure. This and it breaks off the usual people and street photo themes on my blog.

Moon over Tower Bridge

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1.3 sec., ISO 200, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Took this on my way home, the moon looked great but unfortunately I did not get it very close due to the wide lens I had with me. Still, I am still impressed by the level of detail the GXR A12-M manages to capture thanks to the excellent lenses and the sensor which works great with the lenses.

Pier

GRD IV, f6.3, 4 sec., ISO 951, RAW