photography | Without an H

Bangkok leftovers

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A few more portrait and detail shots from my recent trip to Bangkok, pictures which didn’t really fit into either of my previous posts.

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Amulets R Us

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I spent a little time in Bangkok at the end of January and beginning of February, because of some not very interesting but still quite annoying problems with my Vietnamese visa. My visit coincided with the Lunar New Year, so I made a couple of visits to the area around Yaowarat Road, Bangkok’s Chinatown. The area was awash with red: kids’ pyjamas, lanterns, envelopes for ‘lucky money’ and, confusingly, anti-government protesters. While red has been adopted as the signature colour of the pro-government faction, the other side seemed to use the new year celebrations as an opportunity to reclaim the colour, temporarily abandoning their usual yellow shirts in favour of red.

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Winter

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Winter in Hanoi has been mild so far, though the pessimist in me is wary about what February and March have in store. Up until now, despite the cold of the early morning and night time, the days have been mostly bright and sunny. These pictures were taken last week, in a Hanoi neighbourhood not far from where I live.

I’ve been trying for something a bit different with my pictures since coming back from my Mekong trip, shooting only in black and white and only with a 35mm lens, and with minimal post-processing. I think this approach is quite well suited to Hanoi in the autumn and winter. But I’ve not been shooting as much as I would like. While I was travelling in the summer, I was very focused on photography, shooting nearly every day, and planning my time and my travels around my pictures. Now that I’m settled back in Hanoi, photography has taken a bit of a back seat again, something to be fitted in around my job and my everyday life. This isn’t altogether a bad thing. I’m very happy to be living in Hanoi again, and am (mostly) enjoying teaching again, but I hope to be shooting and posting more often over the coming months.

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Lucky numbers and other pictures

A few more from the streets of Hanoi.

Pyjama man and other pictures

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Autumn in Hanoi, 2013

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Squeeze

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Hanoi, October 2013

Barbershop quartet

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Hanoi, October 2013

Fish

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West Lake, Hanoi, September 2013

Streets of Chau Doc (part 3)

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My five day stay in Chau Doc in early August was one of the most rewarding periods I’ve had with my camera – everywhere I looked there seemed to be a picture waiting to be taken. Everything seemed so easy – the weather was perfect, the people were friendly and my mood was good. Looking back, I wonder why I didn’t stay there longer.

This is my final set of pictures from my summer Mekong trip: three and a half months of travelling from Yunnan province in China, through Laos, a tiny bit of Thailand, and eastern Cambodia, and then into the Mekong delta in Vietnam. I came back from the trip with some great memories, ruined sandals, the nearest thing I’ll ever get to a tan, and – I think – some of the best pictures I’ve taken. Just as I enjoyed the journey, which came to an end at the beginning of September, I’ve also enjoyed the process of going back through my photo catalog over the last few weeks and posting the pictures that didn’t make it onto the blog while I was travelling. At the same time, I’m glad that process is now finished, so that I can give more time and energy to taking pictures in Hanoi, where I’m living now. So this post is my way of drawing a line under the Mekong trip – for now at least – and moving on.

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