Tag: holiday

travel

Looking back my Japan trip in monochrome

Alwin Kok

It was a blink of an eye that 2 years has passed since my last overseas holiday trip. It was in November 2019 and then covid-19 begans. Friends who know me and follow my Instagram are kinda irate about me sharing my belated Japan trip photos since early this year. (It is coming to an end… Soon…) People who love Japan wish to visit Japan as soon as the border is open, so am I. But this is not my point in this post.

The reason why I write this post is that it is going to be my last post in 2020 and I think it is a good opportunity to revisit some of my shots taken during my Japan trip. I pick some of the photos that I think are the essence of what Japanese is like in my own eyes and edit them in monochrome. (You can look for these shots in colours via my IG posts.)

Disclaimer:
1. All the shots taken here are shot by me.
2. Some of the shots are slightly edited in Lightroom Classic to my preferences. Otherwise, the shots are straight out of the camera.
3. The opinions are based on my experience. If there is any mistake, please kindly drop me a message and I will gladly make the amendment.
4. I reserve ownership of these images, if you wish to use my images, please notify me.

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travel

Travelling Oversea with One Lens

Alwin Kok
The most popular stall owner with the tourists.

When travelling overseas, regardless on work assignments or personal trips, I will bring at least 4 lenses with me. Three primes lenses and one zoom lens. Of which, one is an ultra wide lens (9mm – When travelling overseas, regardless on work assignments or personal trips, I will bring at least 4 lenses with me. Three primes lenses and one zoom lens. Of which, one is an ultra wide lens (9mm – 13.5mm equivalent), one is a wide angle lens (23mm – 35mm equivalent) and one mid-telephoto lens (50mm – 75mm equivalent) or  long telephone lens (80mm – 120mm equivalent). As for the zoom lens, I have one and only one zoom lens in my arsenal and it is the XF18-55mm “kit” lens. This kit lens is my backup lens, I shoot with prime lenses most of the time.

Grill pork on a stick.
Barbecue prawns.
Night market visitors.
Cool hairstyle stall owner.

Last year, I had a short trip of 4 days and 3 nights at BangKok, Thailand. Travel light is the first thought that comes into my mind and I instantly decided to bring which camera body with me. Obviously, the lightweight, low profile and the underestimated X-E3 was the choice. As for choosing one lens out of the three choices that I have, 16mm F/1.4, 23mm  F/2 and 35mm F/1.4, I had a hard time deciding.

Chatuchak nearby.
Sharing his six-packed abs in the making.
Preparation in progress.

23mm was the obvious choice since it is a 35mm equivalent focal length. It is a safe bet, it won’t go wrong to choose this focal length. But while I picked up the 23mm, I saw the new 35mm which I just bought during my Hong Kong trip. Then I thought for a while and decided to pick it for my Bangkok trip. It should be challenging and open up my perspective of shooting at 50mm equivalent point of view. 

The 35mm lens fitted nicely on the X-E3. The lens suits the frame of the camera body very well. Aesthetic look. 

DJ in the house.
What a candid pose.
The promoter.

Pairing up these two combinations comes with some drawbacks. 

First, it is not the best focusing system in the X-world but this will only surface under very dim environments but I have no issue with places like night markets. There is no issue with day time at all. 

Second, it has a small EVF (Electronic Viewfinder). If you are used to the EVF screen on the X-T series, you will probably take some time to get used to the small EVF (or maybe you will never get used to it).

Third, I missed the articulating screen whenever I wanted to shoot at a low angle. 

Prayers at Wat Pho.
Wah Pho Temple.
Wah Pho Temple.

Shooting with a 35mm lens alone was indeed challenging one but it gave me fruitful results. As compared to the 23mm, this lens really gave me a lot of thinking because I am too used to 23mm. Of course I can’t deny that I missed a lot of ultra-wide and wide angle shots. But for a short trip and a city that is accessible and convenient to go, I think this lens helped me a lot to change my perspective with this familiar city.  

If you ask me if I ever regret bringing one lens only, “no regret” would be my answer.   

Pond in Wah Pho.
Chefs in discussion.
Bookshelf.

Disclaimer:
1. All the shots taken here were shot by me.
2. I reserve ownerships to these images, if you wish to use my images for whatever reasons, please notify me and we can see how to works thing out.