My Great Aunt Emma
Not everyone likes having their picture taken.
I have the feeling that I took this picture on Christmas Morning – maybe 15 years ago. Sometimes my family – who generally fairly staid – like to show that they too have reality show potential. My sister and I had had just performed a duet of Bohemian Rhapsody (a noted song in the Queen catalogue) and my (great) aunt, just to show that she was top banana in the shock department, started playing up when I tried to take her photograph.
I have the feeling I was using a Nikkormat FTN and a 50mm f2 lens (and Neopan 400).
T-Shirts on a Clothes Line
This is quite an old photo – from when I lived in London.
Another class were doing tie-dye – and these were their clothes hanging out to dry. Made me think of prayer flags a bit. I really like the rich colours.
I have a little photo project in mind. Most evenings I take my bicycle for a ride – usually for about an hour. When I walk around the city, people completely ignore me, but on my bicycle, lots of people want to talk or say hello. They want to be known to me. For my part, I’m busy trying to keep the wheels turning – so they must think I’m very rude. Or perhaps they realise I’m training and I’m running into Vietnamese humour. Which i do from time to time. Anyway – my idea is to mount a camera on my handlebar, facing left and to take pictures of the people I meet. I don’t know the reaction I would get. And I’m worried my flash would cause an accident. But I’m thinking about it.
Danger - High Tension!
I love signs!
Particularly old ones – this one has been so beautifully made – and so carelessly changed a la marker pen (I wish I could do accents with my keyboard).
As it happens, I’m really interested in the Underground and its history. The type face on the sign for example is a custom one I’ve forgotten the name, but pretty sure it was designed by Eric Gill.
Anyway, I have a feeling I found this door near Foley Street, which is just to the north of Oxford Street in London (UK).
On Ho Tung Mau Street
A photo from earlier this week.
“So why did you take this picture then?”. And people do phrase it just like that.
Ok. I think it sums up Ho Chi Minh City quite well. Crowded. Hemmed in. The old building (love the balconies) with the modern shop fronts underneath, being towered over by a modern hotel. That conflict, or at least that stand off, between the mondern and traditiona,l is one of the things I find most interesting about Vietnam.
Another strangeness about the photo, is that it looks so calm. Which District 1 definitely isn’t. There is nearly always a constant flow of traffic and the background song of the motorbike horn. But it has been the Tet holidays, and all the shops have shut and so for once, the noisy has become quiet and the busy has become calm. Well fairly…
Approaching the Phu My Bridge
Detail of Phu My Bridge
These are pictures of the recently completed (September 2009) Phu My Bridge.
I’d ridden across this bridge once before in the early hours of a Sunday morning, with a cool grey sky. This time however, in my wisdom, I decided I woul do a crossing at midday in the middle of the Tet holiday – which is just about the hottest it gets here (incidentally, however hot it gets here, there is always a ready supply of people to tell you that it is hotter at another time of year). Unlike my speedy ascent in the cool morning air last time, this time, I felt every pound of my bicycle’s weight as I dragged it to the middle of the span, where fortunately gravity stepped forward and gave me a hand with the descent (which was great).
Lantern - Le Loi
Happy New Year Everyone!
At the moment everyone here in Ho Chi Minh City is celebrating Tet. Locals buy all the food and flowers they can and then head home (which is often some way away from the city) for a family get together. Here in the city, most of the shops shut and beautiful displays of plants and lanterns line the streets for children to be photographed in front of. And then just as magically, once Tet is over, they disappear – literally “overnight”.
Here are a few street photos of people racing home with food and flowers.
Carrying Flowers
..more flowers
and a small tree with fruit!
View from the Emergency Escape Hatch
It feels like it has been an age since I last posted. I’ve been to Singapore, I’ve been doing lots of riding in the neighbourhood and I’ve been upgrading and reinstalling computert stuff. I’m loathe to suggest it has gone well – which it has so far) incase I have some catastophic loss or disaster.
As usual in Singapore, I did my bit to support the economy, principly by spending lots of money. A couple of books, a couple of how to do it DVDs. I think I will write about them later – but write about them I will.
Technology-wise, my current step into the unknown is with an install of Windows 7 64-bit. It looks very good – better than Vista to my eye. As to the rest, we will see.
