roy ivankoe

red shirt rally – may 19, 2012

rivankoe — Sun, 20 May 2012 07:02:40 +0000

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"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. A red shirt decides to help direct traffic at the Chidlom/Langsuan intersection."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Coincidentally, the Louis Vuitton window display was made of red arrows."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. People set up shop, competing with the nearbt Prada shop."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. A crowd of 45,000 or so."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Red shirt rally."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. A news photograhper takes a timeout and poses with the UDD and red shirt leadership."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Red shirt rally crowd of 45,000 or so at Ratchaprasong."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. A crowd of 45,000 or so."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Red shirt rally crowd of 45,000 or so at Ratchaprasong. From the main stage."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Red shirt rally."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Red shirt rally. Rajadamri Road was lined with buses, waiting to take everyone home."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Basket of sticky rice in hand, walking down Rajadamri and heading home after the rally."

"Bangkok, Thailand May 19, 2012. Red shirt rally. Quiet from the Rajadamri sky train."

There was a large rally in Bangkok yesterday, marking the two year anniversary to the end of the spring 2010 demonstration/occupation. Upwards of 45,000 people participated in the Ratchaprasong shopping district in central Bangkok.

Personally, I’m not too familiar with the history of Thai politics and government, so I don’t have an informed opinion on all of this. The rally took place just a short walk from where I am so I ventured out with curiosity and camera in hand.

Pictures from my 2010 experience are here.

photographing xanny disjad

rivankoe — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:39:30 +0000

Sometimes you get lucky. That’s how I felt recently when I was hired to photograph a young lady and model named Xanny Disjad. A handful of pictures from the afternoon are below. There’s some minor nudity, so be forewarned.

Click through the thumbnails to see larger images.

songkran 2012

rivankoe — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:47:49 +0000

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"A family sets up for some Songkran fun along Langsuan Road."

"Ride around in any open air vehicle and you will get wet."

"On the way to RCA, looking out a plaster splattered taxi window."

"Songkran revelers at RCA near Route 66."

"Silom Road/Saladang BTS - the crowd below on Silom Road."

"Songkran revelers at RCA near Route 66."

"Silom Road view from a Saladang BTS station walkway. Wall to wall people and water."

"Silom Road view from a Saladang BTS station walkway. Wall to wall people and water. Natural light meets the lights under the skyway."

"A couple of fire trucks help everyone get into the Songkran spirit along Silom Road. They were indiscriminate in using their water hoses."

"Water fun along the skyway about Silom Road."

"Songkran reveling along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand."

"What a traffic mess - Rajadamri meets Rama 4 and Silom Roads."

"Songkran crowds along Silom Road."

"Saladang walkway - some folks prefer to stay dry."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. When the music is thumping and water is flowing it kind of feels like this. Not to mention the Leo."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. Waiting for passersby with a pucket of white face paint."

"Songkran reveling along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. When the music is thumping and water is flowing it kind of feels like this. Not to mention the Leo."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand."

"Ready for Songkran - a cup of Leo and a water gun."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. The crowd in front of the Dusit Thani hotel where they had a pretty good sound system set up."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. Take that!"

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. Officially alcohol is not allowed, Unoficiallyâ¦"

"Pran and Otto mix it up in front of the Dusit Thani."

"On ttheir way to Silom Road. people pile out of the trains at Saladang station."

"songkran-bangkok-thailand-20120415-0851"

"Otto holding court in front of the Dusit Thani along Silom Road."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand."

"Songkran revelers along Silom Road - Bangkok, Thailand. Selling iced water. Getting sparayed by water is OK, but when someone gets you with ice water you really notice it."

Songkran, the Thai new year, is celebrated from the 13th to the 15th of April (at least in Bangkok). It’s known for large celebrations with lots of water and white face paste. But there is more traditional beyond the popular water celebrations and the same new year is celebrated throughout southeast Asia, but in different ways. You can learn about that here.

When in Rome, do as the Romans - I hung out with a couple of families on Langsuan Road, getting sprayed and spraying others driving down the road. I checked out a couple of the more popular celebrations in Bangkok, spending time at the RCA/Route 66 area and Silom Road. It’s quite a party.

Knowing I would get wet, I had to decide what to do about a camera. I ventured out with my less expensive camera, a Fuji X100. I put the X100 in a ziploc bag, cut a hole for the lens, sealed the lens/hole with tape, and put a cheap UV filter on the lens glass. The water proofing worked great. I decided to rely on the Fuju X100′s much less than ideal autofocus system, which turned out to be a bad decision. In less than ideal conditions, and sometimes even in ideal conditions, the X100′s autofocus just doesn’t focus. It’s obvious in a number of the pictures, but I still like them – when the water is flying, your face is getting painted, and there’s a cold Leo in hand, you get out of focus anyway. In hindsight, I should have gone manual focus with a preset focus distance. Some people were squirting ice water – nothing like getting shot with ice water when it is 90+ degrees. When ice water hit the UV filter protecting the lens, the filter would fog for 5 minutes or so. Not a big deal.

The second night I decided to use a Canon SLR with a larger ziploc bag. It worked great until the tape sealing the lens/ziploc bag started to come loose. For some reason the tape did not stick well to the plastic lens hood. Before long it all fell apart and I decided it wasn’t worth risking the camera, so I put it away and enjoyed my time with the masses.

people running @ lumpini park

rivankoe — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:30:35 +0000

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"people running @ lumpini park"

People running – different shapes, sizes, suits, shoes and colors.

My achilles has been preventing me from running most days but I still go down to the park for a morning or evening walk, camera in hand.

ice flows and mountains from 39,000 feet – the Okhotsk sea and Kamchatka peninsula

rivankoe — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:05:55 +0000

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"The Okhotsk sea and Kamchatka peninsula off the Siberian coast."

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"The Okhotsk sea and Kamchatka peninsula off the Siberian coast."

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"The Okhotsk sea and Kamchatka peninsula off the Siberian coast."

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"The Okhotsk sea and Kamchatka peninsula off the Siberian coast."

During a flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong I woke up from a nap and this is what I saw. Then I thought to shoot a few pictures. The ice flows reminded me of weather satellite imagery.

Afterwards I turned on the flight map to see where I was – over the Okhotsk sea and I think the land mass we flew across was the Kamchatka peninsula. Click here for a map. I never heard of these places – they are located off the Siberian coast north of Japan, which goes pretty far north. I thought it looked like a great place for a Warren Miller movie.

random pictures from my phone – march 2012

rivankoe — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:06:33 +0000

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"Feb. 2012 - low clouds and fog from the upper floor of my house."

"Feb 2012 - almond tree blooming on my street."

"Feb 2012 - crissy field."

"Feb. 2012 - my neighbor Betty on her front porch."

"March 2012 - the I580 freeway between Livermore and Tracy"

"March 2012 - I5 southbound."

"March 2012 - I5 southbound. Blooming apricot trees and a random VW."

"March 2012 - I5 southbound."

"March 2012 - I5 southbound. Blooming apricot trees."

"March 2012 - I5 southbound."

"March 2012 - dog(s) is my co-pilot, along the I10 east."

"March 2012 - I10 east. A modern day Indian reservation."

"March 2012 - I10 east. Dinosaur at the burger king."

"March 2012 - I10 eastbound."

"March 2012 - I10 eastbound. Wind farms near Palm Springs."

"March 2012 - the dog Herman."

"March 2012 - the dog Jimmy."

"March 2012 - mesquite tree."

"March 2012 - the dogs hang out in front of Mom's house."

"March 2012 - Mom and all of the dogs."

"March 2012 - me and Karina."

"March 2012 - Red mountain,."

another dog day at crissy field – san francisco, california

rivankoe — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:50:10 +0000

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"February 25, 2012. Another dog day at Crissy Field - San Francisco, California."

It was another sunny winter day so I grabbed the dogs and camera and drove over to Crissy Field. Here are a few photographs from the morning.

Political Debate and Board Games along Prospect Svobody – Lviv, Ukraine

rivankoe — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:53:43 +0000

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"Political debate and board games. Prospect Svobody - Lviv, Ukraine. August and September 2011."

Board games and political debate are favorite pastimes along Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine. Walk through the area any weekend, holiday, or some evenings, and there will be small groups of older men, and a few strong ladies, participating in some pretty intense political debate. I’m told this pastime took root, at least in public view, after the fall of the Soviet Union. I still recognize some faces from my first visit in 2002. I hope this tradition survives in the Facebook generation.

I enjoy walking with a camera along Prospect Svobody , looking for interesting light, and photographing people’s expressions. Sometimes I get in fairly close, using a 35mm to 50mm type lens and maybe a hand held flash. Other times I stand back a bit with a 70mm-200mm lens. Most everyone is aware that I am shooting their picture. Every now and then I’ll draw stern glances and questions. Fortunately I’m usually welcomed, especially if I’m able to communicate that my grandfather was originally from Rohatyn, about one hour away by car. In a couple of instances it was made clear that it was time for me to step away. The next time I visit I’ll carry a set of prints to hand out to the people I can find.

I couldn’t decide on back and white or color images, so I did both and it made for a large number of slides. I think they look better when viewed larger on a full screen, so I created a flash slideshow. You can see that here (make sure to click the little box on the lower right for full screen): http://royivankoe.com/sspro/2012/prospect-svobody-lviv-ukraine/

Cliche – Wien/Vienna Cafe. Lviv, Ukraine.

rivankoe — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:48:09 +0000

Wien/Vienna Cafe - Lviv, Ukraine.

Going through photographs of older guys playing chess and practicing political debate along Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine, I ran across this memory. It’s said that photographs of sunglass reflections are cliche. So be it.

A few pictures from yesterday’s run across the Golden Gate Bridge

rivankoe — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:17:58 +0000

This has to be one of my favorite runs – start anywhere along the San Francisco water front and head across the Golden Gate bridge. I’ve done it so many times yet I still do not take it for granted. Yesterday I started near the St. Francis yacht club and shot a few pictures along the way: