Author: AK

When visiting the temples of Angkor you will come across people selling books, pictures and tourist tat. Some of it is very good and other bits are less interesting.

I was mooching about and seeing what was available a young Cambodian fellow offered me this book to buy.

It makes for stark reading as it chronicles the life of a family, their demise and quest to survive against the unrelenting odds.

Perhaps it’s not the sort of thing you might choose. But take a look, if you’re having a bad day, someone else had it really really bad.

Here is the Amazon link.

To those of you that follow my blog / site, you may have noticed that I’ve been absent for a few weeks. I’m currently on the island of Langkawi in Malaysia. Now for those of you in slightly cooler climates, I would like to point out that it has been raining here quite heavily in the afternoon the temperature has dropped to a chilly 28 degrees Celsius and about 72% humidity. Once I get back home to England I will publish some of the photos that I took on my trip. We went to Cambodia – Siem Reap > Malaysia – KL > Langkawi. Below are some photos of Tiapan….this is a small local shopping and eating destination in the Suban Jaya area of Kuala Lumper, it’s not a tourist destination. The images were roughly / slightly edited on my iPad. I’m using the WordPress app to create this post and I’ve no idea if the formatting will look any good on a computer screen. Hopefully you will find the images interesting.

The city was blessed with bright sunshine today (6th November) though judging by the images below you would not think that. However it got me out of the house and put me in the mood for a few hours schlepping around the West End of London.

October the UK, the nights are drawing in the weather is getting rather lousy, the opportunity for day time photography is limited. Time to take a different approach. Abstract petrol station at night.

I decided to revisit some of the photos that I took in Malaysia last year 2018. Taking photos of animals is not something I do very often, as you really need a very long lens to keep a reasonable distance from the subject. At the Batu Caves just on the edge of Kuala Lumper is a troop of monkeys that inhabit this religious site. They can be a touch feisty but if you keep your distance they don’t bother you too much. A couple of photos below.

For many people in the UK this week (end of Sept into early Oct), the weather has been rather unpleasant. Heavy rain with strong winds, in some parts of the country there is a lot of flooding and misery. Two images taken this week with two different cameras in two different weather conditions. The XP130 and the XE2s with the 35mm f2 lens (50mm equivalent in full frame terms). I purchased the XE2s secondhand to have as a “city sling it over your shoulder camera”. Considering its a three year old product it works rather well.

They say the best camera is the one you have with you.
Having tried several times to take my Z6 & the EM1X with me to work on my bike through central London. I was constantly nervous about damaging my kit, so last week I took the plunge and purchased a Fuji XP130. A Waterproof, shockproof and apparently you can drop it from several feet and the little fellow should still work like a trooper. It produces rather contrasty images which are very well suited to black and white.

So how does a cheap £100 Fuji XP130 perform ?
Much better than you think.