From my latest collection on Photo4me, you can get a 10% discount too when you use this code: ADVENT2020. Still in time for Christmas!
Have a look at my Gallery and pick yourself a little bit of sunshine .
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Living in the South of Phuket I get to visit some of the less touristy areas. Well maybe Chalong pier is not one of those, except just before the covid restrictions on movement came in in March 2020.
Which is when i had a chance to go and photograph this interesting and usually thriving /busy place.
Chalong Pier is located southeast of Phuket Island on the border with Rawai. This pier is more and more frequented: sailboats are not the most numerous but motorboats for offshore fishing trips, diving trips, canoe trips and finally many speedboats that take you to the islands a little further away in a short time.
It is also a very active area with shops, restaurants, and a breathtaking beach. The pier offers many boat trips around all the nearby islands, including Racha Island and Koh Hae. In Chalong Bay, there is also a dive site for underwater enthusiasts and many activities like sailing and cruising among other fun endeavors.
It was completed in about 2002 and is around 700 meters long. Before this new pier, which was built to serve the countless tourist boats that depart from Chalong, there was only a rickety wooden jetty, barely wide enough for 2 people to pass each other. Now shored up as a concrete version of its bigger brother, I walked that too!
Music free under creative commons licence from Yo Tube Music Library: Everything You wanted- by Dan Lebowitz
Second in my personal look at lenses I actually own and use is the native Canon Efm 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 stm A quite different lens to the previously looked at Efm 15-45mm stm
This lens came out before the 15-45mm,(in fact 2012) is made totally with a metal housing and mount. Slightly longer, actually quite noticeably longer than its “kit lens” sibling. This lens lets you know it’s there! Weighing in at 200g it is a whole 80g heavier than the 15-45mm plastic /lightweight/wider angle lens. My version is black, it also comes in silver. That isn’t the only difference, the filter thread also comes in at a larger 52mm (as opposed to the 49mm of the 15-45), so no swapping your filters here. Not a complete problem as I have step up rings for my filter, but this could get expensive for some if you have to keep buying different sized sets for different sized lenses. Just something to think about and I will be posting info on my sets ups soon.
Some people may say solid, I agree, it is, and feels quality, and a very nice sharp kit lens that Canon has seen fit to stop making. Who knows why as this is a great , sharp, handy 28mm-88mm, in full frame equivalent (18 x1.6 and 55 x 1.6) from the APSC sized sensor.
Why do I have this plus the 15-45mm? I hear some people say, am I not covering the same-ish focal lengths? Yes I am, but I had heard so much about this lenses sharp and pleasing imagery, that when I had the opportunity to secure one locally for £39 (1500thb) at the beginning of June 2020, it was too good a bargain to miss!
Of course as I have two M series Cameras it also makes a handy lens to have to pair with either of the two cameras. So I have the 18-55mm on one and the 15-45mm on the other, depending on what /where I am going. I use both these lenses for my more casual projects, and my Sigma 8-16mm for my more serious landscape work.
The other reason is to really see what the differences are between the two lenses. I actually have not had much time to test it out fully, that will be an ongoing activity over the next few weeks, but I did get a chance to stretch it out at one of the beaches that I visited last week and I will put the images below this post along with focal lengths.
I really liked it, the weight counterbalances the M5 perfectly, focuses quickly, and is fairly accurate on all settings. On the Eos M it was a little front heavy, but nothing like the efs lenses, and not so much that I would not use it. I liked the nice clarity I got from it, and found that in real World use you don’t see any fall off on sharpness. again on the Eos m quick and silent focusing made it a delight to use.
The weather was not so good as it is currently rainy season here in Phuket(where I currently live), and I am looking to stretch it when I get some brighter skies. Overall I think it is quite different , giving a narrower field of view, but actually more as you see it (or the eye sees it), and less stretched than its 15-45mm cousin. with a 3.5-5.6 aperture it has at least the same light abilities as its wider cousin, if not a little stunted at the long end.
Does the 55mm at the long end make any difference? not really as I would use it mostly for landscape, and city work when on walkabouts, which entails using it at the wide end of 18mm more often than not. A great kit lens, loved by many and rightly so. If you can get one for less than 60-70 quid, you are getting a great lens for the money. It is a shame that Canon stopped producing it, I guess costs of production against its plastic mounted counterparts are what did it.
Would I sell it now? Nope, I love its field of view, and for a native lens it is very very usable walkabout lens. Fitting the compactness of the Canon Eos M range of cameras, I would say that it is a worthy addition to your camera.
Some of you may know I have a love of exploring old abandoned and unfinished buildings.
This video is dedicated to my new explorer friend Celeste Hanson, who without her knowledge of this place I would never have found.
I can see that it would have made a beautiful calm, peaceful and relaxing retreat in the Island of Phuket. Sadly it seems that it either ran out of money or possible investors. either way it stands as an example of what could have been. You will see what I mean when you watch it!
It was an idea to build the resort with villas…the owner was playing dirty with investors so they pulled off investments…that was around ten years ago…I believe that this property still has some serious legal issues
During my four month trip in late 2015 to Southern India, I visited the state of Tamil Nadu, here in Mahabalipuram I saw many of the wonderful Monuments there. This one is affectionately known as Arjuna’s Penance, and competes with it’s other title of The Descent of the Ganges.
It is one of the magnificent monuments of Mahabalipuram. This wonderful bas air relief dates back to the mid-seventh century. Standing tall at a height of 43 feet, the monolith was carved on the face of two huge adjoining boulders, making its length around 96 feet.
The subject of the massive structure is either Arjuna’s Penance or the Descent of the Ganges, or possibly both. Historians and experts of archeology have never settled on one account as there are not sufficient sources or records.
It is so wonderful when an artist chooses your work to reference their creations, and today this great piece of Art is from my friends at Artists and Photographers on Face Book.
Ros Beck, I am honoured you chose my “Multi Coloured Apples” for your project. I also love the way you saw something different in the message it gives to the viewer.
Today’s stunning piece of work titled “”Comparing Apples”, comes from Ros Beck who is an artist in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her images are predominantly Horses and dogs, but here she shows her talent to diversify into other subjects with this piece.
When Roz posted this image in the group one of her comments about the piece, saying “.I love still life… this started as a piece to be donated to the families of a recent mass shooting here in chch, but I ran out of time and sent a 3 horse pour instead, but this says a lot about the human race, we are all just people no matter our colour or beliefs!!”
You can see Roz and her work at; https://www.facebook.com/Ros-Beck-Art-936226009772475/
During my two month visit to Kyrgyzstan, a good amount of my time was spent in the beautiful Lake Issi Kul area.
Moving along the south coast of Issyk-Kul lake from Karakol town, before you reach the small village named Kadji-Sai, you have an opportunity to get into the most beautiful mountain landscapes.
The canyon was named because of its bizarre rocky landscape, which for many years has been transformed by erosion into amazing sculptures and formations. Some formations look like The Great Wall of China and you can also find other formations that look like snakes, dragons, sleeping giants and even whole castles. From the canyon you can see a majestic panorama of Lake Issyk-Kul and snow caped mountains.
Dedicated to my dear Photographer Compatriot; Natalia Arentseva!
This would make a great place for a photo shoot!
You can see Natalia’s work here ; https://www.facebook.com/photographynataliaarantseva/
Bishkek stretched Limos, Why? I hear you ask? well Bishkek is a popular place for the Kyrgz people to get married and no where is more popular than the Wedding Palace.
A restored Soviet throwback (1987) which now serves as a very kich registry office, no religion here! Primarily because of the soviet ban on religious ceremonies. Instead they agreed to a multi faith building.
A cross between a church, a castle and a Temple on the outside its brutal architectural lines belie the interior “fairytale palace” sadly on the day we visited it was closed as October is the popular month for weddings!
On wedding weekends, (rented) luxury vehicles abound: decorated stretch limos and Mercedes lead the honking wedding convoys.
During the quiet season(when we were there) we were able to walk round and see some of the stretched limos waiting for their bookings, a bit like a Limo car park. Again there are some others besides the Hummers/ Lexus/GMC/ etc that are to be seen, there is even reports of a fairytale carriage style car(which, sadly we did not see).
Bishkek is an eclectic mix of cars many from the Soviet era, and they certainly like restoring and cutting and shunting some of the modern ones.
Challenge: Taking an image you have photographed and adding text into the image to create a poster-Meme
So creative Arts come in all shapes and sizes, here I created a poster from an image I took from the Street Art in Trivandrum in India.
Credit to the Artist, whoever they may be, and credit to Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan , for putting it so delightfully.
I placed the saying in a specific place in this image to indicate that the “Writing is on the wall” Also it doesn’t pull the eye away from the Art that has been so beautifully done, and the Art subject itself fitted so well with this sentiment/meme.
I achieved this by importing the image into Photoshop Essentials 12(which is what I have a stand alone) and using the “Text tool” created and positioned the meme.
Do you have any thoughts on this?? Happy to hear your thoughts/ideas in the comments below.
Please click on the image to get a full view window. It’s much easier to read!
A series of self made “peaceful moments”
A series of self made “peaceful moments”
