Tag: Thailand

Royal Pagoda At Nongnooch Gardens

I recently went to Nongnooch Gardens expecting something like a botanical garden. Instead, I found a giant tourist trap that just was horrible. After 2 hours I finally gave up and left.

First off, the place is full of plastic animals be it dinosaurs or other animals. Everything is designed to maximize profit and keep you spending. Want to do this it costs more. Want to do that, additional charge. Plus the layout of the park is a nightmare to navigate.

What I found the most frustrating thing was the stupid plastic animals that were all over for no rhyme or reason. As you can see in this image there is a camel and pandas for no obvious freaking reason other than they could put them there.

Shot on a Sony A7ii, done in HDR by one pissed off photographer.

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Wat Phra Yai Pagoda

Wat Phra Yai is the real name for what everyone else in Pattaya calls Big Buddha.

Having seen Big Buddha more times than I care to admit I skip it now and head towards the Chinese Temple that most ignore. Meaning, it’s not jammed by a bunch of tourists being dropped off by the busloads.

If you are ever in Pattaya and are like I rather see the Chinese Temple, just pull in at the top of the parking area and make a left and start walking. The Chinese Temple is actually bigger than the Big Buddha area. Nice, calm, and the best part no tourists to be annoying. The biggest issue you have is the chickens and roosters walking about.

Shot on my Sony A7ii and yep, it’s HDR using Aurora 2019.

Enjoy.

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Just A Bit Of Sun

I was down near the beach enjoying a beer at my local watering hole and wanted to grab some sunset photos. Sadly, where the bar is located versus where I live I missed the sunset for the most part. Hence the title, just a bit of sun.

This was taken off Jomtien Beach with my Sony RX100iii which I am now just chucking in one of my pockets in a case and carrying around with me. This way I can grab more photos without resorting to a phone.

If you were wondering why there was a lag between shots I have been waiting for my online backup to finish the upload to my backup service. I have a brilliant download speed here in Thailand but my upload lacks. I saw close to finished and didn’t want to dump the 30 or so gigabytes of photos I had until the initial backup finished which took nearly 6 weeks.

Enjoy.

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Buddha Mountain

I shot this last year when my Mom was visiting me here in Thailand. There is a real name for the place but the Thai name is brutal so we just call it Buddha Mountain.

I shot this on my Nikon D5500 with my Sigma 17-70 Lens. Honestly, if I want a travel camera and don’t want to hump one of my Sony’s around the D5500 with the 17-50 and the 55-200 is perfect. Lightweight, great battery life, and outstanding image quality.

This is in HDR but I like to think I do it subtle enough not to make it obvious. Dodging and burning as needed.

Enjoy.

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Sunset Over The Pier

This is the fishing pier at Fort Myer’s beach. Shockingly enough this was my first trip ever to Fort Myer’s beach so I really had no idea that the pier even existed.

I set up my trip in the water as I took this photo. Some guy was behind me going what you shoot? I was like the sunset over the pier. He goes brilliant and busts out his cell phone for the same shot. He ended up following me and getting the same shots I was getting for about 15 minutes.

I did this one in subtle HDR. I didn’t see a need to go nuts about it. Plus I prefer the subtle versus the so damn obvious versus of HDR.

Anyways. Enjoy.

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The Long Walk

This image was taken at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers Florida. I took this in early January which in Southwest Florida means it’s still stupid hot and there was still leaves on trees.

While I normally like to do a series of images if I am going to get into the editing swing of things I’ll stick to one or two depending on the level of intensity required for me to do it. Not that this took a lot of effort.

This was the first time I used Aurora 2019 which was much improved and the first time I used it on a PC. The new interface and the speed of this laptop versus my old Mac are massive. Going from 16gb of RAM to 64gb makes a huge difference. Plus all my drives are SSD and my external drive is USB-C to it’s much more pleasant to work now.

As always click on the image and it will take you to my Flickr where you can download the full resolution if you like.

Enjoy.

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Random Temple In Bangkok

I honestly have no idea what the name of this temple is in Bangkok. All I know is that it was off Khao San Road. In Thailand, a temple or a wat in Thai are a Baht a dozen.

To be fair, once you seen one wat you kinda of seen them all. There are only a few that stand out. The trick is to wander around the grounds until you find something different. Granted, I didn’t do that with this set but there was a Chinese Temple next to this one and I got a few shots.

Shot on a Nikon D5500 and a Sigma 17-50mm 2.0 – 4.0.

Enjoy.

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Bangkok Buildings

It seems appropriate to publish this set of images today because I will be on the final leg of my flight back to Thailand when these go live. I don’t live in Bangkok and it’s not my favorite place due to the traffic and congestion. Still, it represents the final portion of my sojourn to get home. From Suwannaphum Airport or BKK back to Jomtien where I happily live.

Shot on a Nikon D5500 and using the Sigma 17-50mm 2.0 to 4.0 lens around Sukhimvit Soi 4 and Khao San Rd. The Sigma 17-50mm 2.0 to 4.0 is a great little lens that gives you a great focal range to work with on a crop sensor.

Only 5 shots after the marathon of 12 I published on Monday.

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People Of Bangkok

I shot these last June when I was in Bangkok for a few days. I’m not the worlds biggest fan of the Big Mango as Bangkok is known. It’s also known as a city suffering from horrible air quality. The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority is trying everything to clear the air. Including spraying the air with molasses with drones. I wish I was making that up.

These were shot around Sukhimvit Soi 4 and Khao San Rd. using my Nikon D5500 and the 17-50mm lens.

Enjoy.

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