hey guys, I am back in Bangkok now and I just got done unpacking my camera bag and counting how many rolls that I shot and how many extra rolls that I have left over....I sorted out my film , the tri-x from the other stuff( C41 and E6) and I am going to go to the lab in an hour and drop off the C41 and E6 rolls.....all of my work "the serious stuff" was shot using tri-x, and that is going to take some time for me to develop, but I am I excited at what I shot and I am motivated to develop the rolls asap, I just need some time to get everything organized so I can develop them myself.....I am glad that I brought along some color stuff too....whenever I travel, I always bring a couple of rolls of slide film just for the heck of it...I have a cool Leica projector back in the states and I know one day when I am old, I will enjoy sitting down and looking at the slides....
Anyways, the trip was good, I am happy with what I shot, I know that I haven't seen the stuff yet, but I am pretty sure I have some good stuff....I just hope I don't mess up developing the film somehow......It was only a 2 week trip and I would of liked it to have been much longer, but all in all, it was good....
It did take me a day or two to get into the "groove" of shooting again....I mean approaching strangers, meeting new people, seeing new things, learning some basic language phrases, watching and learning about the light and all the other countless things that come with throwing yourself into a totally different culture and country.
As far as my gear goes, I am going to make some changes...not sure what yet, but I need to change some stuff up...I love my gear and I am happy using the m3 and m2 around Bangkok, they are amazing cameras and I can't see myself selling either of them, but I need a different (standarized) kit for stuff like this.....
The lenses were awsome....I used the 35mm 1.2 early in the morning when the cities or places that I was in were waking up....I used to use my 50mm summilux for early morning shooting (4:30-6:00 am) when I was in India.....but my 35mm was the go to lens....for one, I don't have a medium yellow filter for it, I just use a u.v. because it is a "modern" lens and I don't want a yellow filter on it, so obviously it is faster than my summilux......I use yellow filters on my older Leica lenses (90mm and the 50mm) because I like the look that I get.
I used the 15mm a little bit, but it was 100% worth bringing on the trip, it was exactly what I wanted when I needed it...that lens will always be in my bag....the 28mm and my 90mm saw a lot of use and the 50mm, well, lets just say, I am glad that I had it in my bag, but I could of done without it.....but I won't, because I love the 50mm focal length and I like the look of my 50mm summilux...there is something special about the 50mm that I like.
ok, that's about it, I am off to the lab soon....I will post some photos up when I can, but it will be a couple of days because I switched labs and this lab takes a couple of days....the quality is much better than that other lab that used to scratch my negatives, but the downside is, I have to wait a couple of days....and when I get the tri-x stuff ready, I will post some up too, that's the stuff I'm excited about...
....cheers, michael
