Changes in latitude, changes in attitude

A cosplay weekend

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Mike

There was a Japanese anime festival at one of the shopping malls this weekend, with literally dozens of cosplayers dressed up as their favourite characters…and probably nearly as many photographers !
I’ve just downloaded 255 photos, here are a couple :

I’ve no idea who they are supposed to be, but I did recognise Batman and Spiderman, although I did n’t think they were Japanese ?
There were also quite a few guys in various military uniforms, but no nazi swastikas or uniforms this time, unlike the last cosplay I photographed (here and here ). There was one guy looking like North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un though !
More photos to come tomorrow ..you have been warned.

Posted in Events, Photography, Portrait, Thailand | Tagged bangkok, cosplay, photography, Thailand | Leave a comment

Muay Thai #2 ..(cat)fight night

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Mike

I went back to MBK yesterday for the Muay Thai fights trying to get some better photos. Usually they have one female bout and 5 male bouts, yesterday they had only 2 bouts for the guys and 4 for the women, 3 of which were championship fights. OK, so a women’s MBK belt is n’t that prestigious in the world of Muay Thai but that did n’t put the girls off. There was nothing girly about their fights, they really got stuck into each other. In fact their fights were better to watch than either of the two male bouts.

copping it on the chin …

I know that I certainly would not want to pick a fight with any of those girls, not even the under 50kg class. They would kick my butt big time !
And then there was the “heavyweight” title between a Swedish girl and an Indian-Singaporean fighter who really had the crowd going wild … a fast athletic fighter up against a big strong brawler who ended up the winner and wearing the belt.
Last weeks fights all ended in KOs, all except one went the full distance this week. (one guy threw in the towel in round two, to the boos of the crowd)
I got there early this time, and got a ringside position from the start without having to work for it as I did last week.
I think I managed to get more decent photos this time, but I’ll probably go back next week, practice makes perfect !

2 foreign girls fight it out for heavyweight belt

The technical stuff for anybody who is interested : Nikon D800 with 50mm and 85mm f1.8 lens at f2.5, auto ISO 1000, aperture priority gave speeds of 1/160 to 1/320. I could have used slightly wider aperture and got faster shutter speeds but went for slightly wider depth of field. Imported into Lightroom using the “punch” preset (aptly named?), shadows and blacks slightly darkened to bring out the fighters more prominently.

Posted in Photography, Thailand, Travel | Tagged bangkok, Muay thai, photography, Thailand | 2 Comments

A new neighbour ?

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Mike

It looks like I’ve got a new neighbour here in Bangkok.
She’s a white female.
(not that there is anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld would say)
It seems she is going to be a single mother, I have n’t seen a partner.
(not that there is anything wrong with that either)

She is a pigeon.

She has made a nest on the ledge outside my condo, between the wall and the air-con unit.

I hope the children are not going to be noisy brats.

Posted in Random musings | Tagged bangkok | Leave a comment

A justifiable case of G.A.S.

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Mike

I mentioned a few days ago that I was going to take advantage of the post-Songkran sales here in Bangkok to do some shopping.
I also mentioned that eventually I wanted to get a water-proof housing for my “retired” camera, and commented that camera gear should come with an addiction warning.
Well, I bought the new running shoes I was after, but also ended up buying more photographic equipment ! But I think I can honestly tell myself this was a justifiable, even necessary, case of G.A.S. ….aka Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
During the wet season Bangkok often has a humidity of 75% or more, which can quickly lead to fungus growing inside a camera lens, or viewfinder. So a dry cabinet is an essential piece of equipment if you want to keep your expensive photo gear in good condition, and most of the good camera shops here are well stocked with them now, in the lead-up to the rainy season.
They come in various sizes, from 50 litre up to a whopping 210 litre …imagine the camera gear you would need to fill that !
After getting a 60% discount on the new shoes, and seeing the prices of dry cabinets I decided it was time to buy one. After handing over 7000 baht (approx. $230 ) I was the owner of a 90L “Ailite” dry cabinet. That was the easy part, finding a taxi to get it home from MBK to On Nut was the hardest ….eventually I found somebody who would take me for an exorbitant 200 baht (only $7 but twice the proper fare!)
The 90L capacity is big enough for 2 DSLR bodies, many (too many?) lens, my GoPro and a small video camera with room to spare. It is chinese-made but the brand has a decent reputation according to everybody I asked, it is the most common brand, but not the cheapest sold here, so they must be Ok.
I’ve got it set at 45% RH, which it only varies from when I open the door and the reading quickly climbs to 60% or more.
My only complaint about it is that it has a very bright LED-lit “Ailite” brand name on the front, and as I have it in my bedroom it lights up the room at night ! I’m going to have to cover that up with gaffer tape or something, LOL.

Posted in Expat life, Gear, Photography, Thailand | Tagged bangkok, photographic gear, photography | Leave a comment

Anzac Day 2014 ….lest we forget

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Mike

On this day, Anzac Day, let us remember those from Australia and New Zealand who have made the ultimate sacrifice, at Gallipoli and Flanders, at the Burma railway here in Thailand, in Afghanistan, and all other battlefields.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anzac day | Leave a comment

Fight night ….Muay Thai at MBK

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Mike

Every Wednesday evening during the dry season there are Muay Thai (thai kickboxing) fights outside the MBK shopping mall. While the fighters may not be up to the same skill standards as those at Ratchadamnoen Stadium they don’t seem to lack anything in desire so it is still worth watching.
And it’s free, unlike at Ratchadamnoen where foreigners are coerced into buying the most expensive seats at 2000baht each !
There are usually at least a couple of farang fighters, and a female bout too.

It’s not the easiest to photograph, the action is fast and furious ! Even using auto ISO up to 1600, and a wide aperture of f2 or f2.8 it was impossible to avoid motion blur, but I figure blurred hands and feet will show the speed ? And of course, those sort of apertures don’t give much depth of field either.
Next time I’ll get there even earlier to get a better spot, but I did manage to work my way into a ringside position halfway through the evening. But I did have to work for it, as some of the fighters only had their trainers and seconds with them, and nobody to lift the fighter’s stool in and out of the ring …that became my job at the end of each round !