Bangkok, Thailand 2020 | Travel Photographer

This is my second visit to Bangkok. My first visit was last year around this time, too(feel free to check it out here). As I sit here and try to open myself into being truthful of my account of exploring this beautiful city, I cannot help think about just how much we bring with us when we travel. Both emotionally and physically. As photographers, we weigh ourselves down with equipment by attempting to be prepared for anything. While this is necessary, we also forget to move on from this mindset while exploring. There isn’t time for obsessing over equipment in the form of cameras and lenses. It was, for this reason, I documented my 6 days in Bangkok almost exclusively using a lightweight, but competent camera - Fujifilm X100F. Not the brand new Fujifilm X100V, unfortunately.

Why am I bothering with mentioning what camera I used? The reasons are simple. This is a photography blog and the type of camera used provides context as to what my mental state was like at the time. 2019 was rough, and upon arriving in Bangkok, I still possessed a lot of noise in my head. It was very unobtrusive by just dangling around my neck while I focused on what was in front of me and around me.

Atmosphere is a huge point when speaking about Bangkok or any other colourful city. Sights, sounds, smells and light. I purposefully omitted “moments” in that list because I felt as if it deserved its own separate mention. I speak of moments here, but I am actually referring to smiles and other gestures that make this city great. Unfortunately, during this terrible virus(2019-nCoV) outbreak, face masks where plentiful.

I ventured through a fair amount of old neighbourhoods with a bud of mine, Glenn. It felt somewhat nostalgic because I could recall how I felt when I arrived in Seoul, South Korea, for the first time.

I really wanted to achieve a filmic look with a muted but organic colour palette. I thought this would describe Bangkok the way I feel about it. Here are a few colour palettes that were prevalent: