photoessay – Ming Thein

Photoessay: A slice of green in Tokyo

October 30, 2012 by Ming Thein

During my last trip to Tokyo – the workshop and the couple of spare days I had – one of the things I’d always wanted to do is find a bit of urban oasis in the concrete jungle of the city. It seems that the Japanese apply the same sort of perfection to their landscaping as they do to just about everything else – even though it seems at times that some parts of the composition may be chaotic, it’s probably intentional. On a more practical note, the gardens were used to provide easy perspective practice for that portion of the workshop. We visited Koishikawa garden near Iidabashi station – a little mini-enclave with several distinctively different areas to provide some variety.

Personally, I was just happy to enjoy the flawless green grass of the Imperial Palace East Garden – open to the public, and supposedly with regular lunchtime concerts (though I was there at the appointed place and time, I guess it must have been the wrong day). One of the photographic ideas I continued to explore here (and you may have seen some evidence of this in my past work already) was layering and the use of projected surrealism – spot the Monet-a-like, and homages to Chinese painting in the fish. Though I like this for my personal work, I’ve yet to see any commercial potential here…

Thoughts and comments welcome as always; you can click the images to view larger versions via the flickr landing page, plus EXIF data if you click on the right column (‘The photo taken with an XXX’).

This series shot with an Olympus OM-D, 12/2 and Sony RX100.

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: japan, landscape, micro four thirds, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nature, om-d, photoessay, photography, sony rx100, thein, tokyo

Photoessay: Papan, part two

September 17, 2012 by Ming Thein

The conclusion of this two-part photoessay. Part one can be found here.

This series shot with a Sony RX100. Thank you to one of my Email School of Photography students, John Chang, for taking me here. EXIF data is intact, click through the images to view larger versions and EXIF data on Flickr.

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: abandoned, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, papan, photoessay, rx100, sony rx-100, thein

Photoessay: Papan, part one

September 13, 2012 by Ming Thein

Papan is a small, semi-abandoned town in rural Perak, Malaysia; it’s just outside Ipoh. I suspect that even during boom time, there couldn’t have been more than 300 inhabitants. The remaining residents are elderly, and I suspect have nowhere else to go, or stay out of inertia. For every lived-in building there is an abandoned one; sometimes even the upper stories of occupied buildings are derelict, with caved in roofs and empty windows. Leave anything for long enough, and nature will take its course to reclaim the land. It’s often said that the more advanced a society, the less will be left behind – and the sooner it will all decay. Clearly, not that many years have passed since Papan’s heyday, yet the place is practically a ghost town. However, it’s also a medley of interesting textures and pastel colours; an excellent place for an hour or two of photography. MT

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: abandoned, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, papan, photoessay, rx100, sony rx-100, thein

Photoessay: Paris part three: some architectural cliches

September 9, 2012 by Ming Thein

Finishing this three-part series on Paris are some architectural shots and general cityscapes; the grandeur, oldness and overall feel of the place is something that’s evident the moment you start walking around. Capturing the atmosphere in a photograph of a relatively static scene that both invokes some feeling (and not a postcard) isn’t so easy to do; there are only so many angles of the Eiffel tower that work compositionally.

This series shot with a Leica M8, 21/1.4 ASPH and 50/1.1 in 2009, except for the Eiffel Tower shot which was with a D200 and 17-55 in 2007.

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If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting the site via Paypal ([email protected]); Ming Thein’s Email School of Photography – learn exactly what you want to learn, when you want to learn it or our Photoshop workflow DVDs. You can also get your gear from Amazon.com via this referral link. Prices are the same as normal, however a small portion of your purchase value is referred back to me. Thanks!

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: bw, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, paris, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: Paris part two: the streets, in B&W

September 7, 2012 by Ming Thein

Part two continues with a series from my last visit; focusing on the people of Paris. This is a place where hyperfocal shooting, honing your distance-estimation skills and shooting like a stealth ninja are the order of the day.

This series shot in 2009 with a Leica M8, the 21/1.4 ASPH and Voigtlander 50/1.1.

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: bw, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, paris, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: Paris part one: color vignettes

September 5, 2012 by Ming Thein

One of the spiritual homes of street photography, Paris is actually quite a challenging environment to shoot in – partially because the people are rather unfriendly, and because the urban space itself isn’t really human scale. The left bank is much more conducive to shooting.

This series is a mix of images from 2007 and 2009; shot with a Leica M8, 21/1.4 ASPH, 50/1.1 and Nikon D200 with 17-55/2.8.

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: bw, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, paris, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: The immigrants of Kuala Lumpur

September 1, 2012 by Ming Thein

Developing countries have just as much, or perhaps even more immigration going on than in developed ones. For starters, border controls are a lot more lax; as is visa enforcement. At a recent visa amnesty, the Malaysian government granted over 600,000 national identity cards – representing permanent residency or citizenship – to previously unregistered foreign workers or illegal immigrants. Put that in perspective for a moment: that’s nearly 2.5% of the people in the country who were previously operating under the radar. What do they all do? Well, mostly provide cheap labor or services for the jobs the locals don’t want to do; and as the immigrant community expands, many have started businesses providing a bit of home for their own people, too.

There’s one part of Kuala Lumpur that’s mostly home to the Bangladeshi, Burmese and Nepali immigrants of the city – it’s the area around Leboh Ampang and the older portion of the city. I took a walk around with a student a little while back, and this is a short series on the other side of Kuala Lumpur. Understandably, a lot of them are still nervous about being photographed, because I suspect some are not officially supposed to be here…MT

Shot with a Leica M9-P and Zeiss ZM 2.8/28 Distagon. Exif data is intact, click through to Flickr to view.

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Filed Under: Leica, On Photography Tagged With: immigrants, kl, kuala lumpur, leica, m9, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photoessay, thein, zeiss

Photoessay: Kowloon in color

August 30, 2012 by Ming Thein

Shot on a particularly rainy night in Kowloon, post-typhoon with a Leica M9-P and Zeiss ZM 28/2.8. Surprisingly, both functioned fine despite the moisture and humidity. I must be one of the few strange photographers who actually like shooting in the rain – it’s not masochism, despite what it might appear as. Three simple reasons: one, there’s a lot more texture and color from the water, reflections and umbrellas; two, the light is a bit more diffuse; three, nobody pays you any attention – everybody is simply too busy trying to keep dry. And this makes street photography significantly easier. MT

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Enter the August 2012 competition: Compact Challenge – here!

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Filed Under: Leica, On Photography Tagged With: hong kong, leica, life, micro 4/3, micro four thirds, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, olympus, photoessay, photojournalism, pj, reportage, street, thein

Photoessay: Macau, part two

August 28, 2012 by Ming Thein

A continuation of the set from Macau. Shot in the tail end of a typhoon with a Leica M9-P, Zeiss ZM 2.8/28 Biogon and ZM 2/50 Planar lenses. MT

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Enter the August 2012 competition: Compact Challenge – here!

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and join the Flickr group!

Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: life, macau, micro 4/3, micro four thirds, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, olympus, photoessay, photojournalism, pj, reportage, street, thein

Photoessay: Macau, part one

August 23, 2012 by Ming Thein

Part one from Macau; immediately post-typhoon and still very, very rainy, not to mention humid. This set was shot with an Olympus OM-D, 45/1.8 and Panasonic 20/1.7 lenses. Images can be clicked on for larger versions, or to go to the flickr hosting page where exif data is available. Enjoy! MT