Bangkok Motorshow

Yesterday I made my way to the Bangkok Motorshow, camera in hand.  Last year the family went, and Tim ended up buying a car.  She is still driving on the temporary tags on that one since we are waiting for her "lucky" number license plate.

This year I went alone.  I took a cab because it was on the other side of town, and I read that sometimes you can wait up to an hour to find a parking spot there.

Like a lot of the amateur photographers there, I was more interested in taking photos of the female models than the new car models.  Its not every day that you can photograph models.  I also noticed that there were a lot of photographers there with some nice glass.  Strangely, it seemed like there were a lot more Canons than Nikons.

Overall, I was somewhat happy with the photos.  The lighting there was top down and not very great.  I used a flash on low power, but sometimes it wasn't enough to get rid of the shadows from the overhead lighting.  While the light was plenty bright enough to see in, I had to shoot at a little slower shutter speed than I would have liked, and I used a higher iso.  I didn't have the sharp focus that I really would have liked.

I didn't take my 70-200 2.8 mm lens, which would have been a much better choice than the 24-105 mm.  The 2.8 aperture would have let me shoot at a higher shutter speed, and I would have had a shallower depth of focus, making the models stand out from the background more.    When I got home, I was actually going ot go back with my 70-200 lens.  I had Nalin tell the guard to call a taxi for me to arrive in 30 minutes.  An hour later I walked to the guard station.  He had forgotten.  At that point it wasn't worth going back.

One thing I noticed is that the Thai photographers would all stand around the models, sometimes three or more people deep.  Most of the photographers in the back couldn't be getting a lot of great photos, there were people in their way. I wasn't going to stand in the back and wait for ten minutes only to have the model leave.  I would just walk around to the front of all the photographers and shoot sitting down or kneeling.  Essentially I was in the front row.

Throughout the day, I only saw a handful of Thai photographers shoot from any position but standing.   I'm glad they didn't or I couldn't have gotten so close all the time. Since they were standing, I could work my way up to the front without blocking anyone's shot.  The models look at different cameras so you can take your shot, and since I was in the front, I never had any issue with them looking my way.

I definitely plan on going back next year.  In fact, I may end up going for a few days.

Here are a few photos of the models.  I'll add some more and some of cars (I did take a few) later.

 

Wonderful Weather

The weather this past week or so has been fantastic. Although I'm reading that we are still experiencing highs in the upper 80's, it really feels like the upper 70's or lower 80's. Perhaps its a result of lower humidity or a gentle breeze, but its just been so pleasant. The rain has stopped as well, so its overall a good time to be outside.

During most of the year, if I'm at home I'll often have the air conditioner in my room running. This past week I've just had the windows open and fans running and its still very pleasant.

There is an amusing side effect of the cool down. You'll see people around, mostly Thais, wearing jackets to stave off the freezing 80 degree weather.