Lantern people

One autumn evening it was finally time to see the Chinese garden light show hosted in Montreal's botanical garden. The display was pretty nice, with some of the most prominent paper figures reflecting in the water. Lots of crowds and they did not allow tripods though.

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/2.2, iso 800

Boat ride

Another little trip and again not that many pictures taken. And not much time to explore golden or twilight hours. But having the little Sony RX100M3 on most of the walks I was able to catch some nice sights.

This one is from the first afternoon on the Lake George, little town on the southern shore of the lake with the same name, upstate New York. We have arrived there on Thursday, just before the start of the season, which is inaugurated on the Memorial Day weekend. Almost empty on Thursday and Friday, suddenly it filled with people on Saturday and Sunday. The picture below accurately reflects the Thursday emptiness :)

This is not HDR even though - after the post-processing in Color Efex it looks a bit like that. I bumped details quite a bit, because I wanted to show how clear the lake waters are.

Sony RX100M3, 24mm, 1/160s @ f/5.6, iso 80

Morning on Mekong

This is the same longboat as in this picture. The morning was chilly, it was hard to wake up, especially after a long ride from the Thai border in a cold bus. But when I look at the shots taken, I could probably post one daily for another month. Beautiful river.

Sony RX100M3, 24mm, 0.8s @ f/11, iso 80

Isaan morning

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/16, iso 500

Something always has drawn me to Isaan, the eastern part of Thailand, where people speak a mix of Thai and Lao. Maybe it was the influence of my first Thai teacher? Maybe it is because possibly every Isaan-born person I met was extremely nice and always cheerful?

Indeed, when I was planning my trip around Laos, my first idea was to cross from Vientiane to Udon Thani and explore this part of the country from there. Well, it turned out I enjoyed Laos so much that I ended up going all the way to the south. And that's where I crossed back to Thailand, only not to Udon, but Ubon.

And Isaan did not disappoint me. Great people, awesome food and sights like this one. Next year I may be working from there!

Going home

iPhone 5s, auto, VSCOCam

Four things.

First, I am back to cold Montreal, after three months in beautiful and warm - in many aspects - South-East Asia. Last year it was this picture I chose to say my good byes. This year I could not have a better shot than this one.

Second, even though I mostly stayed in one place (Chiang Mai, where else?), it was two weeks of holidays in Laos that were the highlight of this winter. I met many wonderful people, both falangs and locals. And I was blessed with the company of a special friend who travelled with me right from the Thai border up until the last moment before I embarked on this boat. It was a wonderful trip.

Third, another friend recommended VSCOCam app for my iPhone camera. Indeed, it offers a great deal of control when taking quick snapshots - for anything else I have other "real" cameras. Snapseed is the best on-the-device editing app (if you exclude Lightroom Mobile). Camera+ has many advanced shooting and editing options. But when it comes to taking the phone off the pocket and just taking picture, VSCOCam is the best.

Fourth, I still have many photos and I will certainly post them here. Just think of this one as my way of saying:

"Good bye, Asia. See you next winter."

Gremlins 3: Unexpected Delivery

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/160s @ f/1.4, iso 100

Not exactly sure where this connections come from, but the first title that jumped into my mind during the post was Unexpected Delivery. And when I tried to imagine, what could be in that box, all I could see was a cute mogwai...
Anyways, it was a really productive morning on the river. And - aside from the cold - it is the best part of the day in Luang Prabang.

Afternoon on River Ping

iPhone, auto

And here is this water magnetism again. No other camera with me, so iPhone was the only way to capture the moment. Cropped too much to be useful anywhere else, but it still holds in the 2048px width resolution.
The B&W post-processed in Nik SilverEfex.

Follow that boat!

Nikon D5100, 35mm, 1/200s @ f/6.3, iso 100

This time it's the nature, not people, that is the main subject of the picture. 

Even though the vignetting draws an eye to the small motorboat in the centre, if you follow its path you'll reach hills of Taquile Island on the horizon. And you may be surprised that the bright white cloud on the horizon is indeed Cordillera Real, part of Bolivian Andes with peaks above 6,000 m.

And the girl who played

Nikon D5100, 35mm, 1/2000s @ f/2.0, iso 100

Unlike the photo of the wet-eyed girl from the previous post I did not have any reservations about this picture. In fact, I totally adore it. Check out more faces in my album called "People of Titicaca".