Night on the Streets of Bangkok
People walk, drive, and shop at night in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand.
My visit to Bangkok has been on my mind a lot lately. I’m sure that is partly due to the fact that Gary and Michelle Ford, our hosts for the Bangkok trip, arrived here in the United States last week to make preparations for the next phase of their mission work there in Bangkok. Hearing them talk excitedly about things there and their plans for the future brings back lots of great memories that I made there, even in the short time of my visit.
As I was looking back through the photos that I took in Bangkok, this one immediately jumped out at me, reminding me of how the streets were at night there. All of the activity on the crowded streets was much different than what we have at our rural home in Tennessee, or even what we have on most of the streets that we see in Memphis. It seemed like there was always something going in in Bangkok well into the night, and this captured it for me. It is interesting to see how many of the signs are in English here. I am guessing that this area attracts people from all over, and English seems to be a connecting language there for those who don’t speak or read Thai.
And when we were on the streets, we always had to watch out for cars, taxis, motorcycles, and whatever other vehicles might make their way down the narrow, crowded streets. It was interesting to see how everyone shared a common roadway.
When I think back over some of the places that we have been in the past several years, I realize that I love just about any place that we go, whether it is somewhere close to home, such as a small state park, or someplace far away, such as the Mayan ruins in Mexico. Some places and their memories fade over time as we visit other new places, but I can still think back fondly on those places. Maybe that is why I like photos so much, because it helps me to remember those places and keep them somewhat fresh in my memory.
There seems to always be something interesting to see most anywhere we go. You just have to take the time to look for it. Sometimes it is an old watchtower, sometimes it is an old mound built by ancient people, sometimes it is an old abandoned bridge. Or sometimes it is just seeing how people go about their lives and how that might be different from what we do back here at home.
Life is full of interesting things, if you take the time to look for them.
indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. - Proverbs 2:3-5
About the photo:
As with almost all of the nightttime photos that I took in Bangkok, this one did not involve some sort of fancy setup. This was just a quick handheld photo as we walked through the streets. There was quite a bit of available light coming from the different shops and signs, so I just turned up the ISO a bit and got what I could. In fact, I darkened this one up slightly in processing, just to bring out the contrast a little more than what was there originally.
Here is a before-and-after view, showing some of the changes that came about in processing. I think the dark, edgy, gritty tones worked well here.
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8
Date: May 18, 2015
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
