But only a few can compare with Bangkok's Chinatown on Yaowarat Road, in terms of history, size, and culture. At the heart of Bangkok's Chinatown lies Yaowarat Road, the pulsing artery of this district.
In this night photography series I ventured into Yaowarat Road after dark with a 50mm f/1.4 Sony G-Master lens, exploring the main road and its inner side streets with the goal of capturing the unique, chaotic, and colourful aesthetic that blends several cultures, symbols, and colours into one straight road in Bangkok.
At night, Yaowarat Road transforms into a colourful, chaotic strip full of sounds, smells, people, traffic, buses, tuk-tuks, vendors, tourists, shops, street food - including a Michelin-starred street food stall — massage parlours, and bars, all surrounded by vintage neon advertising billboards. The night rush hour brings chaos, and with it photography opportunities everywhere, from the main road to the busy back alleys. This is easily one of the best urban night photography spots in Bangkok.
Shooting in Yaowarat Road was a challenge for several reasons. The 50mm is my favourite lens for night photography, but in such a confined space it was an interesting challenge to capture the chaotic essence of this road. Shooting at 50mm created a certain intimacy with the characters and locations, the ever-present neon signs, street vendors, and tuk-tuks — and the 50mm aesthetic style helped create the moody yet colourful style of this night photography series.
There is never a dull moment on a night stroll along the hyper-busy Yaowarat Road, or exploring the dark back alleys of the area. For the street and night photographer, this must be one of the best spots for continuous photography opportunities, just follow the flow, stop, look up, smell the food, orientate yourself among the chaos, duck into the back alleys, take a break, have a drink, look up again, and repeat. This road is in a constant state of flux.
All images are copyright of AltSpots.For image licensing inquiries, contact thomas@altspots.com
Capturing the world around us.
Read about all the things we do.
