The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

I recently returned home to Thailand for a brief vacation.  While there I stayed in an old hotel with a marvelous stairwell lighting fixture.

The light, color, repeating patterns, and ambiguity of space were astonishing.

I climbed those stairs many times choosing multiple angles and compositions.  Pakkred, Thailand, January 2016. [Fuji X-T1 and 10-24mm f4.0 lens]

At exactly 9:01 this morning the movers arrived in their little truck.  We're moving to Scotland!

The packers got right to work.  They seemed to know what they were doing . . . imagine doing this every day.

Everything, big and small, was wrapped in paper . . .

. . . and then in bubble-wrap.

Sometimes the wrappage seemed excessive.  I would have thrown these in a box and forgot about them . . .

Lots of keepsakes and mementos of Thailand nicely packed and awaiting their trip to Aberdeen, Scotland.

As the morning wore on, the boxes started to accumulate.

We do have some warm weather clothes to pack from our "winter" vacations out of Bangkok . . . but not too much.

We have had to pare down our home altar.  We are only allowed to export five Buddha images from Thailand.  We have competed all the applications and submitted the paperwork for legal exportation of Buddha items and old Thai artifacts.  All travellers out of Thailand are required to do this.  It is a good thing.  We will have  new home altar in Aberdeen.

This is our shipment ready to go.

And away it goes!

The truck is loaded.

Loading our possessions . . .

. . . see you in six weeks.

Our Transpo/Asian Tigers packing crew.

And off it all goes, June 10, 2013.

I was back down at the Saxophone Pub on Victory Monument Circle in Bangkok last Sunday night for a big blues show featuring my old friend, Khun Chai, perhaps one of the greatest blues guitar players on earth . . . and I do not exaggerate.  I sat in front with my good camera and f1.4 lens.  Magic.

I took 563 photos that night.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Khun Chai has a great blues singer in his band . . . I cannot remember hearing a better version of "Wang Dang Doodle."

Chai's band is great in it's own right, but an incredible 15 year old sax player sat in . . . WOW! . . . this kid is FANTASTIC!

Khun Chai in action.

If you have never heard Khun Chai play the blues you are REALLY missing something special.

Saxophone has the perfect environment for listening to the blues . . .

Khun Chai singin' dem blues.

I hope I make friends in Scotland as cool as Khun Chai . . . but I don't think that is possible.

Until we meet again . . .

Play on, Khun Chai . . .  play on.

Basil and I have been having that old photographer's conversation: What lens to buy next?

I was feeling like I had the complete set of lenses I needed . . . for the kind of photographs I take and for how I display them . . . until, that is, the new Sigma 35mm f1.4 came out!  I do a lot of night street shooting in Bangkok and around Southeast Asia, and my trusty Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX DG HSM had become my favorite (reviewed elsewhere on this site), but I found that, on a full frame Canon 5D mark II, it was sometimes too narrow in confined alleyways and dark night markets.  So . . . . I traded in my excellent Sigma 50mm f1.4 for the just released Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG HSM lens . . .  and boy, am I happy!  Very nice.

There was nothing wrong with the 50mm Sigma . . . . it almost never left my 5D . . . it is a fantastic lens . . . but I already like the 35mm better for this kind of street shooting.  It's Bangkok, so there is ALWAYS something to shoot, like this egg truck.

Very sharp indeed.  A 35mm is about as wide as you can have on your camera without distortions appearing.

Detail in dark/shaded areas is amazing.

I like walls.  Walls show their histories on their faces.  A 35mm lens in an alley is perfect for capturing this kind of thing without the barrel distortion of something wider.

Wall history.

A Bangkok alley in great detail and clarity.

A Bangkok alley straight from the camera (RAW), converted to a JPEG, reduced in size and posted without any PhotoShop inputs.

The Sigma 35mm f1.4 is not a macro lens, but you can close focus with good results.

Orchids are always candidates for close shooting.

White lobby orchids, Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok.

A wonderful, large, old, carved, lacquered elephant greets you at the Shangri-La Hotel.

The red Shangri-La elephant served as a good object to experiment on for depth of  field studies.

Very nice low light performance.  I couldn't be happier.

This is why you have an f1.4 lens: hand held shooting in a dark parking lot.  The detail in this photo at full resolution is incredible.

Just a few minutes and a good lens is all you need for a good day.

I may go back and shoot this one with a tripod . . . . some additional depth of field could improve the feeling.

So fresh and sweet.

An intriguing tiny world.