I am back in Bangkok from a 6-day trip to Phnom Penh and Battambang, Cambodia. Keep sharing...
It was another too-hot afternoon in Phnom Penh. I just started the walk and couldn’t catch the wave - no good shots although I was in a picturesque place - a market, spread out between two 4-story buildings, under numerous colorful umbrellas.
Then, I noticed that white rectangle with three people around and froze.
I only felt I liked this rectangle and how people were sitting. So I asked permission to take an image since I saw no way to secretly photograph without ruining the vibes.
Having seen my gesture question, the men even didn't move (too hot even for Cambodians!) but looked at each other, slightly smiled, and nodded to me.
I took two images and left radiant with all sorts of emotions boiled in my mind after that connection to strangers...
f/8 on 50mm.
There is a war of apertures in my mind
Which one should be default one, through which aperture I must watch the world before taking an image?
f/8 is winning since everything is in focus is the norm for street photography and I want this connection to the genre.
However, when I am clearly in a portrait situation, I roll the wheel to open the aperture. That's f/2.2:
I was walking along the Riverside of Phnom Penh when I noticed that proud man with the prey. I asked him to pose and he, not changing the expression of ultimate seriousness, stopped for me.
However, the portrait doesn't always mean the open aperture:
A sleeping rickshaw, f/8. There was no decision about the aperture though - I sneaked the image on the go with the aperture I had as the default that day, f/8.
Street ice cream seller
Phnom Penh definitely has its charm. They haven't yet reached the epoch when every 2nd person in the street slouches over a cell phone. From the point of photography, that's the golden opportunity.
Coffee shop hidden in an alley
There is no trace of tourist alteration there, which turns authentic alleys into tourist routes cafes with modern international interiors, hotels, souvenir shops, as well as graffiti painted at the behest of tourist city authorities.
A door in another alley
And, yes, Phnom Penh is often about poverty. But let's not get too dramatic. This alley is in the very center of the city, if someone owns a room there, he is richer than me.
Olympic Market's neighborhood
And that's a bit further, 30 minutes from the center. Olympic Market is not located on tourist routes so some people feel excited when they see a foreigner.
Taking pictures in the streets is about a cocktail of emotions. Look at this epic family. Two of them are admiring me and the rest of the team is having the guarding look (and that's how we know who is the daddy's boy here 🙂).
Phnom Penh, from the point of photography, is a place to be. A ton of authentic details, dark alleys, textured walls... Gonna back in 3 months!
More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal Pinmapple map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm on a Nikon D750 on February 13-16, 2024, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
