Single Lens

I was in Chinatown earlier tonight and had only one lens with me. If you are to take only one fixed-focal lens (non-zoom), which will it be? It is a personal choice but I like the 50 mm (25mm in m43). It is neither too wide or too tight and as such is great for street use. Because it is a bright f1.4, the lighted signboards provided sufficient illumination and speed was a manageable 1/60th of a second, even at ISO 200.

Only limitation is the narrow plane of focus and you have to decide which you want to keep in sharp focus. Here, I focused on the lady. Pana-Leica Summilux paired with the Olympus OMD make a perfect night street photography combo.

Single Lens

Coliseum Cafe

Opened in 1921, the Coliseum Cafe is living heritage from the days of colonial Malaya. In later years, this Kuala Lumpur landmark is known more for its sizzling Hainanese steaks served by very old waiters (who still wrap a white napkin around your neck). Patrons went there more for the ambience than the food. The furniture and architecture remained as it was during the time when William Somerset Maugham patronised the bar. The place was occupied by the Japanese Army during the 2nd World War and it probably saw its fair share of executions.

It is hard to level some old buildings in the viewfinder as the horizontal beams are often not truly straight. What I did when framing the facade was to line up the vertical grid lines against the swing door. I was fooling with Snapseed’s grunge filter to add some texture to compliment the rainy day and out came these 2 skeletal patrons. Hey! It is still the Chinese Hungry Ghost Month.

Coliseum Cafe

Sunset Hill, Cambodia

The temple ruins on top of the Hill of Phnom Bakheng in the Angkor Archaeological Park was once accessible only by riding on elephants. Today there are proper tracks and tourists climb up there in the evening hoping to catch its fabled sunset from this ancient vantage point. I chose a different angle and photographed it from the ground. Those are not magical objects flying about in the air. Those are leaves on a puddle. What you are seeing is another reflection of a great landmark, upside-down 🙂

Sunset Hill, Angkor Wat, Cambodia