photoessay – Ming Thein

Photoessay: Electric trees

April 29, 2012 by Ming Thein

For reasons I can’t fathom, this entirely man-made artificial construct on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur draws huge numbers of visitors – mostly young Malay couples on dates looking for somewhere dark that they can get away with holding hands in a very conservative country – in the evening. During daytime, it looks terrible. But at night, the shadows hide the artifice and provide a counterpoint to the multicolored bulbs. I went more out of curiosity than anything, and to see if the X1 could hold its own in a low light situation. MT

Series shot with a Leica X1.

Suicide bear at the adjoining funfair

Filed Under: Leica, On Photography Tagged With: leica, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photoessay, thein, x1

Photoessay: The urban scenery of Auckland, New Zealand

April 25, 2012 by Ming Thein

Some urban scenery captured during downtime on another work assignment at the end of 2010 – often, this is all the time I get to shoot personal work. It’s a rather pleasant city by the bay that’s really quite nice when the sun is out – when the sun isn’t out and it’s cold and windy, it’s downright miserable. Especially when you find out everything closes by 5.30pm and there’s precious little in the way of dinner options. It’s also a popular cruise ship destination/ stopover en route to the outer Pacific islands or Hawaii. MT

Series shot with a mishmash of equipment – Apple iPhone 4, Nikon D700, AFS 28-300/3.5-5.6 VR and Sony NEX-5 and 18-55 kit lens.

Bonus points to anybody who can tell me which shot this is in homage to.

You could be in California.

The America’s cup legacy is everywhere.

The taxi driver I had on the return trip to the airport told me he just bought a new SUV to tow his 50ft yacht. I ran out of words, thinking solely that I was both in the wrong job, and living in the wrong country.

Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: auckland, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, new zealand, nikon, photoessay, photography, sony nex, street, thein, urban

Photoessay: City Hall, London

April 23, 2012 by Ming Thein

City Hall, London – headquarters of The Greater London Authority and home to the Mayor’s office. An interesting blob of a building located in Southwark, near the southern end of Tower Bridge, it was designed by Norman Foster and opened in 2002. It sits at the center of an open plaza with a recessed area containing F&B outlets and entrances to the surrounding buildings, as well as a museum. I just like the architecture. MT

Series shot with a Leica M8, Zeiss ZM 2.8/21 Biogon and Voigtlander 50/1.1 Super Nokton.

Shadow projection.

Repairs.

Oddly reminiscent of a coil of DNA inside a nucleus.

Filed Under: Leica, On Photography Tagged With: city hall, leica, london, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: Catwalk fashion with a Leica M

April 21, 2012 by Ming Thein

Here’s an unusual challenge. During my ‘early Leica era’, I decided to challenge myself: I shot a catwalk fashion assignment with a Leica M8 and 35/2 ASPH, rather than my usual D3/300mm combination. How did it turn out? Different – and that was the point. The client magazine was pleased, which is what mattered. And boy, it was possibly the most difficult shoot I’d done up to that point – this being early 2009 – because of the combined challenges of extreme lighting, new and unfamiliar equipment, manual focus, and a much shorter focal length than usual. The plus side is that nobody seemed to mind too much when I was roaming in and amongst the guests; an M8 is surprisingly at home in this environment. One nasty surprise was the IR pollution issue – at this point, my UVIR filters hadn’t yet arrived, and I spent a LOT of time afterwards correcting the color. Even so, you’ll notice a higher than normal proportion of black and white images in this set. MT

Series shot with a Leica M8 and 35/2 Summicron-ASPH.

Filed Under: Leica, On Photography Tagged With: catwalk, fashion, leica, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: Hanoi, part two

April 19, 2012 by Ming Thein

Here’s an opportunity to compare the difference between a set shot in color, and one shot in black and white – same subjects, same location, same equipment, same time. Which do you prefer? Which do you think works better? There are no right or wrong answers (nor should there be if both sets are executed well enough). MT

This set shot with a Nikon D700, 85/1.4G and 28-300/3.5-5.6 VR.

Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: hanoi, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nikon, photoessay, photography, photojournalism, pj, street, thein, vietnam

Photoessay: Hanoi, part one

April 17, 2012 by Ming Thein

Hanoi is one of the more interesting places I’ve been recently – these images were shot during downtime on a business trip about a year ago. It’s a fascinating mix of French colonial and Southeast Asian chaos; juxtapositions abound, and rich textures are plenty – making for great shooting. Part one, in color. I’m told Ho Chi Minh City is a lot more developed an interesting, but I haven’t had a chance to visit yet. MT

This set shot with a Nikon D700, 85/1.4G and 28-300/3.5-5.6 VR.

Quantum mechanics at work again: the scene changed because the subjects noticed the photographer.

Feels like France.

A vomit-inducing ride. Notice passenger on the right hand bike.

If only I knew what cards she was holding.

Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: hanoi, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nikon, photoessay, photography, photojournalism, pj, street, thein, vietnam

Photoessay: Abstracts in metal

April 15, 2012 by Ming Thein

In an earlier photoessay, I covered some of what goes on at a shipyard; today’s coda represents the outtakes that didn’t make it into the final deliverable for the client, but I shot as part of my body of personal work. There’s just so much abstract geometry and texture going on with the interplay of parts, metals, surfaces and finishes at the yard it’s impossible to ignore; I’m pretty sure some of these would make rather interesting large prints. MT

This set was shot with a Panasonic TZ3.

Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: compact, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, panasonic, photo, photoessay, photography, ship, shipbuilder, shipyard, singapore, thein, tz3

Photoessay: Over Australia

April 11, 2012 by Ming Thein

This series was shot while on a long flight home from Auckland, New Zealand; the transit via Singapore meant that most of the flight was actually spent crossing the vast Australian landmass, over its northeast corner. The landscape through the window changed every ten minutes or so, presenting vastly different scenes – more abstract paintings than scenery. I was entranced, and didn’t manage to finish the presentation I was supposed to put together on the flight. But, I think it was probably worth it. MT

This series shot with a Nikon D700 and AFS 28-300/3.5-5.6 VR.

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Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: aerial, australia, landscape, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nikon, photo, photoessay, photography, thein

Photoessay: St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague

April 9, 2012 by Ming Thein

A fantastic piece of gothic architecture, St. Vitus is arguably the centerpiece of Prague Castle – itself at the northern part of the old Malastranska district and overlooking the rest of the city itself. I’ve been inside a number of famous cathedrals – St. Paul’s, Canterbury, Notre Dame, St. Vitus, the Sagrada Familia, and Stefansdom – and the one thing that always amazes me is that we humans could build such structures as early as nine hundred years ago, when the majority of people were living in shacks and huts without sanitation or any other modern infrastructure. Even more amazing is the degree of architectural finesse involved in building these structures in stone – remember, there were no structural members that could take tensile loads, let alone pre formed or pre stressed panels. Everything was reliant on gravity to stay in place. Construction took generations; even with modern building techniques, the Sagrada Familia began in 1882 and isn’t expected to be complete until 2026 – that’s <em>144 years</em>. Frankly, it doesn’t look very different today than when I first visited in 2003. Glass <em>had</em> to be made with lead frames holding together small pieces, simply because there was no way to make big sheets. But the craftsmen of the day found a way to make that beautiful, creating the incredible stained-glass mosaics that survive to this day; a lasting testament to their devotion to their faith. MT

Series shot with the Leica M9-P, 28/2.8 ASPH and 50/1.4 ASPH

Filed Under: Leica, On Photography Tagged With: cathedral, church, czech, leica, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photo, photoessay, photography, prague, st virus, thein

Photoessay: Piccadilly Circus by night

April 7, 2012 by Ming Thein

If this isn’t one of the most recognizable urban spaces on the planet, I’m not sure what is. Piccadilly Circus, London, is a gathering point for both locals and tourists, and all levels of the social stratum. The upscale thoroughfares of Regent Street, St. James and Piccadilly flow into a public square-cum-tube-station-cum-bus-stop-cum-traffic-junction, and mingle with the Theatre District and Chinatown in Shaftesbury Avenue, and the movie hub of Leicester Square.

I didn’t intend to shoot on this trip; I was based in Kuala Lumpur at the time and visiting London for work – to get some very confidential prospectuses securely printed, of all things – and only had a compact camera on me. Still, there are some places where you are compelled to break out a camera – of any sort – and shoot; this is one of them. And having a compact is not a bad thing in security-paranoid London; it just makes you like another tourist. Even better if it’s dusk, and your camera is black and nondescript. Not so good with the small sensor, but hey, there are compromises everywhere. MT

Series shot with a Ricoh GR-Digital III