2023 ROLL#03 – LONDON IN COLOR

Borough Market – Hot Chocolate

OMG this is roll 03 already ! But one sec where is roll 01? Well ok Roll 01 is sitting tight in the computer, waiting for its blog post, but I think I could share a few colour shots for a change.

The players – Clerkenwell

So actually the trip starts where Roll02 finished, in Borough Market, I had a bit of a hard time to load a roll of Portra 400 in the M6, god knows why. This is always so easy but not that day. So I missed a few shots and soon after it was loaded it was too dark for the Summaron 3.5. On the way back we walk up to Smithfield market, then up to Clerkenwell, where we met these gents playing chess outside of a church.

Who cares about signs when you drive a Jag – Chelsea

Sunday was more a Chelsea / Thames river walk where I first met the above Jag then towards the Thames I met again the following acquaintance.

The return of the penny farthing- Chelsea

The guy on the penny farthing this time in colour, the cars don’t make much for a background, but I had not enough time to move them around.

Then a long walk along the Thames.

My photographic weeks are long tunnels where nothing happens until the next week end, so after a long apnoea I carried the roll of Portra ( with the camera around it) to the west side that time.

The three wise men

Around Harrods I met these three happy Chelsea pensioners, they are retired servicemen from the British army, leaving in Chelsea. They were happy to pose for me in front of a big car. When I told them with such a big car one may think they were having a good life they told me that indeed they had. Nice to meet happy folks from time to time.

Kensignton Palace entry

Through Hyde Park and towards Nothing Hill I notice the doorbell of Kensington Palace, next time I am invited I’ll know where to ring. Two Pictures are not much for a Sunday but ok there’s no hurry.

Meanwhile life goes on

Opposite 10 downing street Ukrainians continue demonstrating against the war that is still going on in our backyard, while here life goes on.

… a special tourist

Moving eastwards, Benjamin Netanyahu was in town, causing some of his countrymen to express what hey think of his visit to the UK and recent policies. The man travels in style, staying the Savoy.

A couple of shots reminding of the Empire and its colonial past.

Monuments to the Gurkha’s

A Royal Enfield Side Car

Dancing in the streets

Luckily all is not doom and gloom and people are still dancing in the streets.

I hope you enjoyed the walks, maybe a bit of Paris action soon…

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Hare Krishna Celebration in Trafalgar Square

A strange sadhu

Here are a few shots of a Hare Krishna celebration in October in Trafalgar square in London. Is stumbled over the party by complete chance.

Hare Hare its all in the flare

I was armed for the occasion ( well not for the occasion then as it was by chance) with the Leica M6 classic and the Summicron 50mmV5.

Hare Hare its all in the flare

For once I had a Kodak TMAX 100ISO film loaded, not the usual Ilford HP5 coming from my endless bulk roll.

Cling cling

And the band kept on playing

Very friendly atmosphere, an opportunity to remember and share our love of India and its culture.

Some may still be lost…

Ceremony in the street in Hua Hin – Thailand

This a somewhat long post (30 shots) of a ceremony I came across in the streets of Hua Hin in Thailand during Christmas break. Getting of the main temple in the center of the city we came across the person above dancing of a building at the sound of loud reggae type music. 

This happen to be in the honor of a your man turning 20, the one you can see with a shaved head in some shots after.

I am not a specialist, I believe this guy is going to become a monk for a certain  time. Kids in Buddhist countries often spend some time in monasteries for their education but in Thailand they cannot spend any time as a monk until they reach 20 and it seems this is quite mandatory in a man’s life.

The parade involved a group of people walking the whole city center area around the temple. Carrying alms as above.

Dancing as the sound of a band, plating from the top of a lorry.

There i some support for the guy carrying alms or umbrellas, the pink bucket is for quench his thirst.

The birthday boy and the older lady below are paraded on cycle rickshaws.

More dancing …

and drinking

The auntie had a lot of energy and  good sense of rhythm.

I am not sure if they are strictly singers or also MC’s my command of Thai is very poor.

That was a very enjoyable moment, I really love shooting these events, and the lovely Thai people seemed not to matter my presence.

• Color shots: Leica M262+Summicron 35mmF2
• Black and White shots: Leica M6+Summicron 50mmF2 + kodak tri-x

ZHOUJIA QINGMING – Part 2

A small follow up to y last post about this celebration

Above is mister Lee Kum Yuen, he is the current master and son of the master who brought this Kung Fu / Lion Dance style in Singapore. There is a very interesting video here https://youtu.be/kZq6iGxfWUo.

I shot a couple of rolls with the Leica M4 and either the Summaron 35mm F2.8 (the one with Goggles) or a Summicron 50mm v5.

Above is the typical Lion Dance troupe transport, a lorry used the rest of the week for hardware work.

Below the troupes gathering before climbing up the slope to the part of the temple where the celebration takes place. (Did I mention if the other post the temple is massive?)

The slope is tough, the sun is hot, and yes they drum up-hill

Below starts the celebration directed by a monk,

below the final parade and one minute drumming of all the troops together.

The color shots are Kodak Portra 400, the black and white are Ultrafine Extreme 400, hand-rolled.

Oh yes if you want to see more, come back soon, I also did  a certain number of digital shots as well.

The Fire Dragon – Part 1

“it all started as a riot”

 

I felt very lucky last week when a friend of my wife told us a bout a fire dragon performance organized by a temple in Balestier area in Singapore. In 9 years here I have never seen such a thing and was very thrilled to see one.

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The Fu De Gong temple is located in Kim keat lane, very easy to access by bus. I have been told by the friendly member of the temple that this is a taoist temple. I did not see the actual temple as we arrived at night fall and the premises were covered by the tent hosting the celebration.

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There was maybe a couple of hundred people attending, on one side of the tent was a stage with a Cantonese opera (or wayang) on the other side a large shrine and in the middle an area for the performances.

When we arrived a very good quality lion dance was in process and we enjoyed for a good half hour until the riot begin. From the end of the road the Dragon was approaching; with music and flames; until it finally enters the tent (but that’s another story)…

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Nuwara Eliya – Sri Lanka

The fish stall

I am still going through the pictures of Sri Lanka but at the same time rolls of films are pilling up (so to speak) in the hard drive, new cameras have arrives and lenses to try are expected and the  next trip is just around the corner with plans for the second half of the year in the making. I have told too much already, haven’t I? Well, ok, the new camera’s are a Kiev 4 with a 35mm and a 50mm Jupiter lenses and I already done two rolls with it, the other one I’m not supposed to use as it’s my present for the upcoming Bday, it’s a beautiful Leica IIIC, but I’m having a test roll at the moment just to check you know. Ok and the upcoming holidays are 5 days in Taiwan, I plan to shoot on  film only.

 

For those interested 1st of May will be the International Commie Camera Day 2013, take out your Zorki, Kiew, Praktika and more. Check here on flickr : International Commie Camera Day 2013

 

Ok and now back to Sri Lanka.

 

Nuwara Eliya is a hill station as it used to be called, close to 1800m above sea level, the center of a region of tea plantation. The city itself is very touristy (by local standards) and did not seem to be so interesting, but the countryside and the plantations are worth the visit.

The road from Kandi is about 2 hours, steep and tortuous.

The Tea museum is worth the visit, stopping by one of the tea factories in activity for a commercial tour (and buying tea on the exit) is also worth the stop.

For those like me who like markets the  small food market in the center of town is also a valuable place to visit.

 

We stayed one night in the Langdale by Amaya, one of the boutique hotels on the other side of the city when coming from Kandy, something like 45 minutes drive. The hotel is built in a old tea estate and you can walk the plantations (if you have time). After Nuwara Eliya, we drive directly to Gallle (see next post), which took us the best of 6 hours, not the best day of the trip.

 

Traditional Dance show – Kandy – Sri Lanka (2/2)

Now is time to swallow fire ! Do not try this at home ….

Oh yeah and at the end of the show the firewalking…

 

Shots were taken with the D700 and the 80-200F2.8D, and 17-35F2.8D

 

Traditional Dance show – Kandy – Sri Lanka (1/2)

Next stop on our trip was Kandy; another Royal city in the middle of the country, at the foot of the hilly region where tea grows. Kandy is quite a large town that unfortunately, due to the pace of our trip we did not have much leisure to visit. There are two main things to see in Kandy: the traditional dances and the Buddha Tooth relic temple.

We arrived in town from Dambulla just for the 17:30 show. The one our guide picked up was held inside the Red Cross Society building, the room was more looking like storage or workshop, but as there is a stage one must assume it is a actual show room.

We were given a paper explaining the various stages of the dance, but frankly I just let go, enjoyed the show and fired 200+ shots.

Shots were taken with the D700 and the 80-200F2.8D, trying to avoid the screens of cell phones and digital cameras in front of me.

A roll with the Nikon F – part 1 : There is always something going on on Orchard Road

Nikon F – FTn finder – Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f:1/4

Time to pull another friend from the dry box ! At least once a year let’s get together and have a walk around town. The Ftn finder uses the same batteries as the Minolta Hi-Matic so there was no problem to get started, just loading a fresh (and cold from the fridge) roll of Ilford Delta 400 and off we go. When I say off we go its a kind of shortcut, because it took me more than two weeks to complete the 36 exposures, but you know what I mean.  Oh, and I have chosen the original 50mm 1.4 Auto-s; last year I was very pleased with the pictures I did with the more recent 50mm 1.4 AIS, so let’s try to see if there is an objective difference or if it was just chance.

Here are 3 shots make on Orchard Road, in rather dim light, so wider aperture (probably around 2.8) and slow speed (30 to 60).

Nobody was dancing in the street at the sound of the band that Sunday, but that’s a common sight. Too bad!

In term of dancing I was luckier withe the Line Dancing Fiesta and the two shots below.

Kathakali show – 25 Dec

Kathakali show

A Kathakali show in Kochi, Kerala, south west of India. Hey, that was Christmas day !

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikkor 80-200 F2.8 D @ 155mm ISO1250 1/60 F2.8
Retouches: Lightroom 3