20/02/2019 - Asiatique

Asiatique is an attraction. It is a relatively new one that sits on the main river that runs through Bangkok and offers a mixture of shopping and food outlets as well as scenic views over the south of the city. It is a popular destination for both the Thais that live here and a good number people visiting the city and I was hopeful that this would provide me with the opportunity to get some images that could be used on my ongoing project. Rather importantly also, it is really, really easy to get to from where I was staying, and therefor really easy to get back from late at night.

http://www.bangkok.com/shopping-mall/asiatique.htm

There is a free ferry service that is operated from the ferry point directly under the Saphan Taksin BTS station and from my Victory Monument locale this would be about a 15 minute train ride with a simple switch over at Siam. The ferry point when I arrived in the late afternoon had a small number of people waiting for the boat to arrive, but it was nothing like the elongated queue that greeted me when I visited here 3 years ago. I started to wonder at this point whether this visit was going to be productive or not. I had decided to visit mid week in order to avoid the worst of the crowds, but perhaps this decision was going to prove to have been a mistake. Only time would tell, and if it turned out to be such, it would be something I could put into the "learnt something" bag and I still had time to come back and re-shoot anything if necessary. The ferry ride took maybe 10 minutes from leaving to putting us back ashore, a welcome trip that also had the benefit of providing some much needed cooler air that danced off the water.

As I had feared the place wasn't exactly teeming with people, but it was early and I decided to have a little walk around the area, wide avenues littered with shop units and restaurants, but nothing that I found inspired me. At the back of the premises I found a few small shrines and sat by some fountains watching the visitors come to them and interact. Some took time to take a moment in silence by one, others visited each in turn as they took time to worship in their own personal way. Some made small offerings in appeasement, and then others ate said offerings and threw their contents on the floor. Pigeons it seems are anarchic wherever they are to be found in the world.

Walking back the the riverfront as night fell, I walked up and down looking for images that might work in line with the themes I was working towards, I had the Tamron 90mm and the Samyan 24mm at the ready but as much as I wanted to get my game on, I just felt I wasn't firing on all cylinders. Sometimes this just happens. I depend on my mood a lot of the time to direct me, to motivate me, but if that fails to spark then as much as I may try, there is a chance I won't be satisfied with anything I get.

But then there is usually something that you can take from somewhere.

As the sun dipped away over the city skyline, and over the bridge that spanned the river, I was struck by the colours and the majestic nature of the scene before me. There is something about scale that always grabs me and it's something that perhaps isn't fully transferable to a picture. I found it the first time that I was confronted by Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, and here I was undone my a similar effect. It wasn't the type of shot that I had come out to get, but it was something that I did my best to confront and capture. The magic however might not just be that it visually magnificent to witness. It was perhaps this moment that I decided that it would be no great hardship to come back on another night and try again.