As I mentioned yesterday, I recently returned to Bangkok after eight memorable days in Bangladesh. Here are some images I snapped during the trip. The entire photoset of 14 images is on Flickr here.
A laborer in Dhaka
A man playing a horn in downtown Dhaka
A man at a market
Looking out at the countryside
A man in Dhaka
A boy in Dhaka
Shop clerks
Again, the full photoset is on Flickr here.
Richard Wanderman has pointed to a couple of good photo-related items of late: Recent Volcanic Activity (the third from the bottom is my favorite — simply wonderful) and a Slate story called “The Weird Science of Stock Photography.” (And don’t miss Richard’s own images from the 4th of July: “A Different View of Fireworks.”)
I generally like using iPhoto, Apple’s default image management and editing software. But with nearly 8,000 images in my library and limited RAM and hard drive space, opening the application and its accompanying 20 gigabytes of data was taking an eternity, and even basic tasks were becoming unwieldy.
I’ve now figured out a better way to manage my images using iPhoto. The solution isn’t revolutionary, but it’s working well, and I figured I’d share my new setup in case you’re facing a similar issue.
First, I bought an external hard drive and moved all of my photos off of my PowerBook. This was a no-brainer, and I should’ve done it a long time ago. Here’s Apple’s official description of the process. It’s pretty simple. (Note that I’ve got iPhoto version 5; I understand the newer version of the app makes this task even easier.)
Then I used a helpful add-on called iPhoto Library Manager to create a new library that I now store locally on my machine, while the album that holds my thousands of other images lives on my external hard drive. This Macworld article describes, with screen shots, how iPhoto Library Manager works. One thing I like about this application is that it’s very lightweight, and you can launch it and fiddle with your libraries without actually opening the resource-intensive iPhoto itself.
And finally, I happened upon an excellent little app called Image Capture, which I didn’t even know I had it on my machine. It’s a straightforward app that allows you to review, delete, rotate, and save images from your camera or memory card without opening iPhoto at all. This way, you don’t automatically import huge batches of images and then sift through them in iPhoto. Instead, you can simply delete images directly from the memory card and choose the images you want to keep. Then you decide where to save the good pics and then import them into iPhoto.
This detailed overview of Image Capture provides instructions for making the application open by default when you insert a memory card, rather than having iPhoto spring to life automatically.
Remember the french fry-coated hot dog that I photographed in Seoul a while back? I mean, seriously, given the international acclaim that followed, how could you forget?
Well, in my ongoing quest to identify and consume hot dogs encrusted in all manner of incongruous snack foods, I bring you the waffle-coated hot dog.
In a feat of observation that would make Austin proud, I recently spotted — and subsequently scarfed down, lest I fail in my mission — this remarkably-executed example of Euro/American-Thai culinary fusion at a night market in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Per the vendor’s recommendation, I applied ketchup. The result was a flavor profile not commonly encountered in the west: The dish was doughy and sweet from the waffle, meaty and nitrate-infused due to the hot dog, and acidic from the ketchup.
After finishing my snack, I thanked the vendor — the man in the photo above — and asked him what this particular treat was called. He looked at me blankly, turned to his companions, and then took a deep breath. “Waffle…hot dog,” he said.
There you have it. The international language of snack foods, my friends.
LINK LOVE UPDATE, Dec. 16: The Thai waffle-coated hot dog, I’m happy to say, has struck a chord with lovers of silly foodstuffs the world over. It’s been featured on the following fine blogs: Coudal.com’s Fresh Signals, The Food Section, SuperSizedMeals.com, and Blog on a Toothpick.
I recently purchased the excellent Nikon D40 camera. And a trip down to Koh Chang and Chanthaburi last week afforded me the perfect opportunity to put my new toy photojournalism tool through its paces.
You can see all 40 images in the set here.
Following are some of my favorite pics:
A ferry sets off for Koh Chang.
A small island off the coast of Koh Chang.
Winding road in Koh Chang.
The scene from my hotel balcony in Chanthaburi.
Vendors in Chanthaburi.
“Improve Your Photos 60 Seconds at a Time” offers basic tutorials on subjects such as light, landscaping, people, color, and composition.
(Via Popurls.)
My little brother C is studying in Buenos Aires this semester. So when A and I heard that our pal G — an American friend who used to live here in Bangkok — would be passing through Argentina, I put G in touch with C faster than you can say carne asada.
Hence, this excellent image of the two of them: Siam, the US of A, Argentina — it’s a crazy, haphazard world we live in, but it’s comforting to know that even in faraway places blood relations and dear friends can gather for a meeting of the minds, sight unseen, and enjoy some tasty vittles and red wine. Cheers to that.
![Seoul Street Fashion [not my image]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1392/957512951_32e98ad3c2_m.jpg)
Street Peeper is a new blog devoted to global street fashion. The Asian cities featured here include Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo, but Bangkok hasn’t yet joined the party…
You may remember “Uncle” Joel, a long-time friend of the family whose remarkable photography I’ve mentioned here before. He snapped the image of me — here — as a three-year-old.
This morning I woke up to a surprise that has made my month: Joel unearthed this old image of me and my Dad back in 1975 or 1976, when I was a just a little guy. I’d never seen it before. And I really, really love the shot. It’s eerie for me to look at because my Dad was probably 28 at the time Joel snapped the pic, which is a few years younger than I am now, and I think we bear a strong resemblance.
Other observations: I’m not sure what, exactly, I’ve got coming out of my mouth (perhaps the drawstring from my hoodie?). Also, I love my Dad’s jaunty sartorial sense: the anorak jacket, the blue collared shirt, the dope shades, and best of all, the hat. Oh man, the hat. I love it.
A and I just returned from a lazy beach weekend in Pranburi, south of Hua Hin, on the Gulf of Thailand. Here’re some pics.
The view from our outdoor bathroom.
Our balcony.
A squid boat.
Here’s the full set of images.