Chinatown, Bangkok

FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO250)

I have visited a couple of Chinatowns but today most of them are just for tourists. This one in Bangkok, Thailand is different. It is the real deal. A wonderful place!

No fridge magnets and much more locals than tourists. In some parts I was the only one. Despite the fact that I was “the white elephant with a camera” almost nobody seemed to care and nobody tried to sell something to me. I was invisible! A streetshooters dream.

FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2500)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO500)

In areas like this I use only one lens: the great 14mm! In my eyes this is the best and most useful lens Fuji has made so far. It might be a little wide for street shooting in Europe, the USA or everywhere where there is more space but it works just perfect here. It made me stop using the OVF on my XP1. It’s coverage is much wider and I like precise framing.

All images are out of camera RAWs converted with LR by using VSCO film 4 Astia F warm. Otherwise they are unchanged. No cropping. No adjustments. All shot by using the EVF except the images above and below this text which were shot from the hip.

I used autofocus on all images. I can’t believe how much it improved with the latest firmware update especially when the light drops. It does not compromising my shooting anymore. Fuji has made big steps after they introduced the X100 to improve in this area. I’m surprised that those substantial improvements can be done with software changes.

FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO400)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO500)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO500)

I think that’s why they have a very natural and raw look. That plus the fact that nobody was looking into the camera. Sometimes it can make more impact if somebody looks straight at you but it also proofs that you were to close or otherwise grap your subjects attention.

But that is the great thing about Asia. People are used to be in a crowd and that other people are very close to them all the time. They most likely would feel lost in the Highlands of Scotland.

Once I met a customer in a busy hotel lobby. It was extremely noisy and I didn’t understand everything he said so I asked if I could come over to his side and sit beside him on the sofa. He agreed and said “In Asia there is no such thing as private space.” He is right. I’m used to have it but strangely here it seems I don’t need it. I like to be part of the crowd and to be in places where live happens on the street. The only busy places we got in Austria are shopping centers.

FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO400)
FUJIFILM X-Pro1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO1000)