Ha Noi | Report 11 | The People of Tay Bac

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

All good things come to an end. Sort of.

The People of Tay Bac Photo Expedition ended at breakfast this morning (Ha Noi time), where it has become noticeably cooler and less humid.

Seizing on the opportunity to shoot in the streets without exuding a ton of sweat, I worked the small streets of Hanoi and its tiny alleys, where impromptu small pho establishments suddenly appear out of nowhere. I've been encouraging the group to look for layers in their street photographs, and I practiced what I taught.

Ha Noi's Old Quarter is rife with such opportunities, but one has to pick an interesting spot and wait...or lucky enough to stumble on one or more of such scenes. I normally shoot from the hip in such instances; not because I don't want to appear sneaky but because I don't want the subjects to freeze, or wave, or proffer the V sign that's very popular in Asia.

Mostly working with my new Fuji X-T1, (and occasionally with a Leica M9), during the past couple of weeks convinced me that the era of DSLRs for me is over. The X-T1's capabilities, performance, ergonomics as well as image quality, are very impressive. It has a few quirks and irritants, but these are easily either ignored or worked around.

In a few days, I'll write up a review about the Fuji X-T1, and feature it here on this blog.