Kids

GR, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 12800, RAW

Window Seat

OPO, f2.0, 1/60, ISO 100, JPG

Pakse to Tad Lo

After taking it easy yesterday, there was a bit more driving to be done today.

The plan was to do the Bolaven Plateau loop and see how far we would make it in the loop. The first stop after leaving Pakse was the Tad Fane waterfall. It’s a pretty cool waterfall and definitely worth a stop.

After tad Fane, it’s just a short drive to the Tad Gneaung waterfall, where you can also get nice food and enjoy a chat with the very nice owner.

Once you are past these waterfalls, the next stop is Paksong where you should stop at Jhai Coffee for a really nice cup of local coffee and a chat with the owner who knows a lot about the local coffee and can give you a tour.

We arrived right when he was being interviewed by a crew for a documentary about Laos and the local coffee.

After enjoying the coffee, a quick bite and sheltering from a small shower it was time to head onwards.

The next part is on a road that you don’t have on Google maps (even 3 years later after they finished the road) so just use Maps.Me or follow the signs towards Attapeu and Sekong.

The road will lead you through the mountains down from the plateau past some really amazing views. Since they completed the road it’s a lot easier to drive than it was 3 years ago but you should still watch out not to end like the car in the photo above.

Once you are on road 11, it’s an easy ride to Attapeu or Sekong, since we wanted to do the loop, we were heading towards Sekong and from there to Thateng.

After a quick stop for some Huda beer (yes, I know) we started to head on to make it to Tad Lo before it got too late.

Tad Lo is still a very sleepy town hidden away, the tad Lo waterfall is it’s main attraction but it’s more the peace and quiet that gets people here filling up the many guesthouses.
Staying in Tad Lo, you’ll definitely go to bed early as even 8pm feels like midnight with most places closed and all the locals being in their homes.

Looking out the Train Window

GR, f2.8, 1/60, ISO 6400, RAW

To celebrate World Photography Day 2016, I thought I feature a photo on my blog I didn’t post before and will tell something about it.

I took this photo at the beginning of my Around the World trip while on the train from Cologne to Copenhagen.

This photo happened mostly by coincidence and quite a bit of luck and almost no preparation. Not being a big portrait photographer, I like to take more candid portraits instead of posed portraits.

Still, while in the overnight train to Copenhagen and chatting with the other people in my compartment about my travel plans and photography one of the girls told me that she always wanted a photo sitting in front of an open train window.

Since we were in a train and had a window we could open right next to us I was happy to take said photo for her.

I did warn her that it would probably make more sense to wait till the morning given it was dark outside and there might not be much in terms of a background.

She was happy to try it and for her it was more about the wind in her hair and capturing this instead of any views outside.

The Ricoh GR with a fixed 28mm f2.8 lens is not an ideal portrait camera but it had to do for this photo. I set it up to TAv mode at f2.8 and after some test photos decided on 1/60 since it seemed to cope well with the train movement and dim light inside the carriage, while keeping the ISO low enough.

The train was passing by some lit up houses, some railroad crossings but it was going too fast to be able to predict when the next lit up place would pass by the window.

To make sure the wind was coming towards her, I had to face the opposite way of the driving direction, not letting me even anticipate anything lit up passing by the window.

But as luck had it, on the 2nd try we passed by this railroad crossing and without seeing or anticipating it, I took the photo just at the right time. She was very happy with it and try as we might, we didn’t get any other photo as good as this.

So I will celebrate this World Photography Day with the knowledge that photography is sometimes all about the luck of being in the right place at the right time and pressing the shutter button to capture a moment that will not happen again like that.

Me and Teddy

TG-4, f4.9, 1/8, ISO 3200, RAW

Two Guys and a Dog

GR, f2.8, 1/320, ISO 18000, RAW

Another quiet day mostly chilling at home but I did go out to one of the local pubs in the evening. I took my GR with me for some photography but ended up with only two photos. I used the 47mm crop mode for this one because it made composition easier and I didn’t need to crop afterwards.

Dessert

GF1, f1.8, 1/160, ISO 3200, RAW, 100mm (Canon f1.8 50mm FD)

While enjoying a pint and a wee dram at a local pub I took this photo of her enjoying the desert she got.

It’s always a challenge of using the GF1 because it doesn’t have a WYSIWYG live view but instead always gains it up and shows you a nicely exposed photo, this is very annoying. It is nice if you want to focus but then it should go back to show the actual exposure on the screen or at least the histogram when half pressing the shutter.

A Day at the Tate Britain

It’s been a cold but sunny day so I decided to go out to do some photography since this comes too short during the week. The plan was to walk around Battersea Park and then around Victoria.

I took the Epson RD-1 with the Ricoh GR lens along and started off in Battersea Park but the ended up near the Tate Britain museum.

I have been to the Tate Modern many times, just because it’s close to the City and I like the building it’s in more than the art there. To the Tate Britain on the other hand, I’ve only been once before.

Since I had time and it was warmer inside once the sun started to go down, I figured it’s a good opportunity for a walk around the museum.

I spent quite a long time walking around but less to take in the art and more to take photos of the people doing so.

It was very nice and I need to do more series in museums around London, especially now when it’s cold and rainy outside and with the museums being free it’s a inexpensive day out.

Maid Talk

GR, f2.8, 1/250, ISO 25600, RAW

There are a lot of things about Japan that are different and that make it not only special but also different from any other country in the world. Some of it is tradition, some of it is more modern but it’s always special.
Being a huge fan of Japan and the culture there, I had to go to the opening of a a friend’s pop-up Maid Cafe in London. It was a big success judging from the many people who turned up and who were waiting just to get a seat.

Welcome to Halloween Town!

Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates it and to the others hope you had a great Friday!

I went to a pub for some drinks in the evening and to celebrate Halloween in my usual scary costume, dressed as myself! ;)

Once I got there she opened the door to let me in so I had to take a photo and it came out better than expected so I had my photo of the day.

I processed the GR JPG in Snapseed on my Nexus 5 phone so this is the photo you see here.