An ordinary life in an extra-ordinary place
Archive for September, 2010
Having cash in the camera gear kitty has turned me into an eBay legacy lens junkie. The potential for sticking alternative lenses onto the front of my GF1 is much larger than I realised, and I spent too much time every day researching the possibilities, and stopping myself from bidding on impossibly expensive Leica rangefinder lenses.
I have already acquired the quite beautiful Contax 45mm, have taken nearly five hundred photos with it, and been very impressed.
So it only seemed right to get another Contax, this time the equally highly rated 90mm. A little bigger and therefore even more beautiful, and at a cost of less than 8,000 baht.
A quick check indicates it also takes lovely sharp photos. Unfortunately, the adapter thingie that allows me to fit a Contax to the GF1 has started making grinding noises and has gone back to Hong Kong to be fixed. So all I can do with my Contax lenses for the next week is just look at them; but more photos taken with them will follow in due course.
My final acquisition, which cost a wallet-emptying 2,500 baht, was a Canon FD 50mm F1.4.
This purchase was particularly pleasing because Camberley has recently thrown out a complete collection of Canon FD lenses. not knowing that the M4/3 crowd are snapping them up on eBay. For a Yorkshireman, there is no greater pain.
Anyway, the camera kitty has been pretty much emptied now, so I need to sell some more gear or earn some cash taking photos. Won’t stop me lusting over Leicas on eBay though.
She who must be obeyed has an extended family that I cannot fathom. I can recognise her parents and siblings, but beyond that there is massive collection of uncles, aunts, granddads and grannies; whose place in the family tree I do not understand. But I find that a smile and a wai keeps me out of trouble.
Last weekend we made a trip to visit a granddad who is a monk, living in a temple near Samut Somewhere. I think he is a proper Granddad because my mother-in-law turned up and claimed he was her father. Mother-in-law’s mother also came along and, such is my general state of confusion regarding my wife’s family, it was only this morning that I realised that grannie and granddad must have been married at some point; which rather explains why he ran away and joined the monk-hood.
After much bowing and chatting and food consumption, it was off to stay the night with another granny whose lineage was obscure, but whose suitability for accommodation was not in any doubt because she owned a resort. She also turned out to be a hell of a cook and we dined very well before retiring to our cabin in the woods. The best feature of the cabin was the toilet/shower which was open to the elements. There is nothing finer than reading the news on your iPad whilst sitting on the toilet and listening to the forest reverberating around you. She who must be obeyed was not so sure, particularly when it got dark, and I was required to stand guard in case a passing moth assaulted her while she was cleaning her teeth.
The worst feature of the cabin was the bed. She who must be obeyed likes a hard bed. Took me a while to get used to the idea; but now I am also of the opinion that a mattress should be just short of being concrete. But the bed in the cabin was like reinforced concrete with extra hard bits and we spent a restless night. It was only around dawn that extreme tiredness forced me into sleep; and I was then immediately woken up by my wife who told me we had to go and see the monk being fed.
WTF?
So I was dragged out of bed and down to the edge of the river where a lone monk could be seen paddling upstream. Apparently he does this at around 0600 every day. If only he could do it at around 0930 I would be much more enthusiastic about watching him.
He moored up next to granny, who loaded up his canoe with food.
Then he paddled off to the next jetty so gather more supplies.
Grannie then spent at least ten minutes in silent prayer by the side of the river.
This quiet time, by the banks of a soft-flowing river, amidst a forest coming to life in the cool morning air; gave me a chance to contemplate my existence and my place in the universe. Of course I wasted this chance and instead thought “I really need a shit and some more sleep”, and I wandered off back to the cabin and had both. Nietzsche would have been proud of me.
A Ferris wheel at night can be a fun thing to photograph.
Bump up the ISO a little and you can get a shot at 1/160th second, enough to just about freeze the movement, but not very interesting:
Drop the speed to 1/4 second, and you get a sense of movement:
Let’s zoom out and try again:
Now slow the shutter to 1/6 second, getting more interesting:
1/8 second:
1.3 seconds:
2 seconds:
3.2 seconds:
And finally, with a 5 second exposure:
Ferris nirvana, rotating orgasm, the circle of light is complete. Send more drugs.
Panasonic GF1
A sort of a working lunch to discuss a coffee-table book which is to include some of my photographs. Most of the shots have already been taken, so I was able to relax and enjoy the food and the decor. Took a few snaps on the way out; want to go back and take some more some time.
At last we seem to be having some days when it doesn’t piss down; so we jump in the car and head out for a drive, perchance to take a snap or two.
She who must be obeyed has seen some photos taken on Nang Rum beach which appears to have white sand and might be good for a sunset shot. After some diversions, we finally arrive to find that the sand is white-ish, but any sunset would be obscured by jetties and the rusting hulks of the Thai Navy. Never mind, there is no decent sunset to speak of anyway.
But there are some statues on the rocks, so I take a couple of shots of them before we head home.
Panasonic GF1 with Contax 45mm lens
Our route home takes us past Bang Saray and my favourite seafood restaurant, so we have to stop and have too many bowls of Tom Yam Khung. Excellent.
Panasonic GF1 with Panasonic 20mm lens
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