It’s a big place Donegal. One of Ireland’s biggest counties, it’s rugged, remote and a wee bit different. They even speak like us Northern Irish in some parts.
Donegal town is a nice quiet place – shops, pubs, a castle built by Red Hugh O’Donnell and plenty of churches
One thing Ireland isn’t short of (other than pubs) is pilgrimage sites and general Saint Patrick related places of interest. One picturesque site is Lough Derg in County Donegal, just outside village of Pettigoe which like the Brexit vote, is half in the North and half in the Republic – and hence the EU.
Lough Derg has a nice walk around the lakeside, a visitors centre and a church but is mainly used for the boat crossing over to the Station Island of retreat – St Patrick’s Purgatory. This isn’t available to non-pilgrims but it’s a nice spot for a walk and a photo. I had the chunky Praktica L from this post with APX100 and being in Donegal, guessed exposure with Overcast 8. Or 5.6.
There are basic cameras and there is the Praktica L, a large block of East German utilitarian metal introduced to consumers and comrades in 1969 as the first camera in Praktica’s L-line. The previous PL Nova range cameras were basic enough with some models having metering, and the whole range having some curves, bevels, lines, circles and a bit of a retro look, even for 1960’s cameras.
With the L range, Praktica embraced modernity, sort of. No lines, curves – just a big heavy functional camera, and to these eyes, a thing of beauty.
The Praktica L has no meter, no split focussing screen, no battery – nothing other than a shutter button, speed dial and a winder. My model has a slight deviation from conformity. A small number of the L’s had the Pentacon logo etched on the prism housing and a small ‘L’. I was delighted when my £8 eBay purchased arrived with this decal.
The winder doesn’t even have the black covering present on many later Praktica L ranges, obviously far too decadent. The shutter speed dial is the usual with a flash hot shoe sync at 1/125, a fastest speed of 1/1000th and an ISO indicator. Just as a reminder as there is nothing electrical in this camera.
The viewfinder is bright and bare. There is a wee pointer which disappears when the shutter is cocked. There is also no focussing aid like a split screen – which can make focussing a bit trickier than usual. So nothing to distract from composition..
Which brings me to the lens – the much derided Domiplan 50/2.8, a lens with a pretty poor reputation out there.
It looks nice with the ‘zebra’ markings, it’s extremely basic in construction and, yes – a bit soft. But it’s not terrible and with metering by sunny 16 it did ok. These shots were taken in changing weather in County Donegal on a roll of Agfaphoto APX100.
Like a lot of old cameras – and basic cameras – there’s a lot to enjoy using without a meter and focussing aids, and using a pretty crappy old lens while getting half decent results. And of course using one so aesthetically pleasing.
The Kodak Retinette 1A. The site Kodak Classics gives in excellent detail the history of the delightfully well-built Kodak Retina range and its budget sibling the Retinette. Mine is the type 042 Retinette 1A from around 1962 and the first thing you’ll notice is that this is one solid wee camera. There’s a lot of metal and it’s not the lightest, there are no lugs for a strap (you’ve to use the case) and it’s fully manual – no meter and viewfinder/guess focussing (there are sort-of zone dots). And it’s a delight to use.
All the business is done on the lens/shutter housing. A Pronto shutter unit with a Reomar 45mm f2.8 lens. With no internal meter, it’s Sunny 16, a handheld meter or the phone app. There is a generous range of four shutter speeds 1/30th to 1/250th and B. Who needs milky water anyway. Aperture is F22 to F2.8.
Focussing is a reasonable guess or using the sophisticated 1-to-3 dots going from close to further away, Father Dougal style. 
You could attach a rangefinder to the cold shoe, but since you can pick these cameras up for a tenner, it hardly seems worth the bother. And why not go fully manual – it’s part of the fun of using something of this vintage.
There’s a wee button to open the back and film goes in easily, and the viewfinder ? – nice and clear with zero information apart from the subject.
There is a self timer, they’re the weak link in a lot of vintage cameras and since I’m never going to use it, I’ll assume it’ll work.
The first roll out was Agfa APX100 developed in Ilford Ilfosol with some shots taken in Lloret de Mar, Spain and east Belfast. For the contrast..
The main thing I noticed about the Retinette is that in good light, f8 and smaller, the lens is tack sharp and nicely contrasty. In fact all the over/underexposed and blurred shots were purely down to me and rushing a bit. When you slow down, check the exposure and take a bit of care focussing, this is a terrific camera. If the Irish summer holds up, it’ll see a few more rolls.
Bangkok is a wonderfully colourful place, so why not try some black and white film, head out to a market or two – or a temple and see what clicks.
Markets are incredible places in Thailand – hot, sticky, crowded, aromatic (in so many ways) and no-one seems to object to a photo being taken. These were taken around the Chinatown food market areas and the ridiculously big Chatuchak Market in the north of the city using the trusty Olympus OM20 and a roll of Ilford FP4.
On all my visits to South East Asia I encounter groups of students who are looking for a tourist to practise an interview in English with. The first time it happened I, of course (and without any justification) thought ‘is this a scam?’ And of course it isn’t. All the times it has happened, I’ve talked to bright, enthusiastic students about Ireland and visiting Thailand while at all times trying to curb my natural Norn Iron accent tendencies. Studying English as a foreign language is one thing, trying to understand Belfast is another.
There’s a lot of expensive daytrip options around Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle. We decided to do the cheap option of a day in Tachileik, across the border in Myanmar.
Many travel sites have stated this is quite a difficult trip to do independently – we found it the easiest thing to do. By bus, songthaew and on foot.
There is a regular bus from Chiang Rai station to the Mae Sai border town for about 40 Baht. Then there’s a songthaew – regular service for 50 each Baht from the bus station into the town centre and the border crossing.
Once in the town centre – you walk. Through the Thai exit and into the Myanmar immigration area.
There’s naturally no photography in the border control buildings. Which was a pity as on the Mynamar side the immigration officer was a pleasant chap who had the Backstreet Boys playing on a CD. He asked if we were here for a day’s shopping (yes), took the passports, gave us the visa (for Tachleik only) and a receipt to get the passports back.
And then we were in Myanmar. The crossing took about 10-15 minutes. There is a multitude of guys offering tours, guiding, hawking all sorts of services on the walk to the main centre from the border but there was no hassle.
First stop of course, was coffee and wifi.
Then it was off to the market for food, football shirts and photos
Elsewhere in Tachileik life goes on apart from all the day tourists from Thailand.
As the afternoon got late, it started to rain – heavily so we headed back to the border, picked up the passports and spent a bit of time in Mae Sai before getting the Chiang Rai bus.
If you’re in Chiang Rai, the daytrip to Tachileik is an easy thing to do without a tour. The border crossing was quick and easy, it was $10 for the visa and the little taste of Mynamar adds something different to the holiday. It’s a bit quieter and more reserved than in Thailand, the markets are great fun and everyone we met were friendly with no-one objecting to photography. I did buy a lot of stuff which may have helped.
Despite a general lack of any useful knowledge of or insights about Buddhism, visiting a temple is for me a great opportunity for some photography, a bit of peace and quiet and an experience of something extremely different from the normal day-to-day life in Belfast.
Wat Phra Kaew in Chiang Rai is a great example of a temple complex that is extremely welcoming to tourists yet doesn’t seem to get many tourists. Chiang Rai’s Blue Temple and the White Temple in particular are tourist hotspots but Wat Phra Kaew has lots to walk around, places to sit, have bit of meditation if that’s your thing and great to spend a few hours with the camera and not be rushed.
Those who were there for devotional reasons were ok with photos being taken – but it’s best to be discrete about it
The original Green Buddah is now in the Grand Palace, Bangkok but originated here. It has a replacement now.
In the temple grounds there are a variety of drums and bells. Some you can’t play, others you can have a go.
And there is the usual, delighful literal translation to English. I did.
Wat Phra Kaew is about a 7 minute songthaew ride from the centre of you can walk in about 25 minutes.
Pictures taken on the Canon 6D and 28-90 lens
Everywhere in Thailand has a night bazar, a night market of some description or a big weekend market. In Chiang Rai they take it a bit further. A large thoroughfare is closed off for the market, there is an multitude of stalls to buy just about anything, a selection of food to end the most austere of diets – and a large square for line dancing. Thai line dancing. There seemed to groups – organised hardcore dance classes in uniform, with clear lead dancers, as well as less formal social groups and the occasional Irish tourist.
The main attraction for me other than the food is the dancing and music. The dancing goes on for hours, a live band – sort of Thai Schlager – do the music and the dancing is continuous – til late.
This lot were a delight to watch and most agreeable for a photo.
As was Busker of the Night. Playing the cute card along with the music
And of course – evidence of the photographer getting in the swing..
I generally prefer black and white – it removes a feeling of clutter, great for showing contrast in a scene and it has that delightful separation from reality. Occasionally, though, you encounter a scene that demands to be shot in colour. In Chiang Rai there is Wat Rong Suea Ten – or The Blue Temple. On a sunny day, there is nothing quite so blue as The Blue Temple.
As you can see, its predominant characteristic is its undoubted blueness.
And once you get inside, there’s still blue. And some white. And people to add a bit of colour enhancement.
As always when visiting temples, not all of us are Irish tourists runing around with cameras. Some are there for more spiritual reasons.
Wat Rong Suea Ten is about 3.5km from the centre of Chiang Rai (the Bus station) and there are a variety of busses, taxis and songthaews. We walked in the heat. A lot of surrounding cafes were closed late afternoon and early evening (it closed at 6pm) but the light is so much better.
All shot on the Canon 6D and an old film era EOS lens 28-90 kit zoom.
Most of my gig photography has been in local venues, usually small sweaty bars in the greater Belfast area. In stark contrast to this I stumbled upon a free gig in the more picturesque and exotic location of the Singapore Esplanade Theatre on the Bay. Performing in the Jazz in July concerts were Philippine jazz and funk band Conscious & The Goodness. The band were happy for me to walk around shooting during the sunny afternoon soundcheck and then I was back for the post-sunset evening gig. Quite the difference from death metal night at the Goat’s Toe pub in Bangor.
Afternoon soundcheck
and once darkness fell…
All shot on digital – the occasion, lighting and Singapore colour too risky to lose the moment for B&W film – Canon 6D with 50mm and 70-300mm lenses
