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More Fuji Love

I am in love my Fuji a little more as days pass. I have been writing about this already but the feeling is stronger now as I have been taking photos every day, running sunrise and sunset tours in Hoi An. But now I have come to an epiphany thanks to some scrotum looking potatoes.

 

Yesterday while bringing a group of South African photographers in the countryside of Hoi An I met a farmer lady that I know. We often meet her in the fields where I take students on the sunset photography tour.

 

So yesterday her and some of her neighbors were working in the fields, and were harvesting this:

 

 

Well, I know what you’re thinking. And yes you’re right, these are sweet potatoes.

 

My wife loves them so much (I mean the sweet potatoes) so I had to bring them home. After about 2 seconds of negotiation (she told me a price and surely I said “ok”!) I bought them. We spend 5 more minutes chatting with the group as we were also taking photos at the same time, and then we kept going through the fields and villages. I didn’t have any bag with me as I just walk around with one camera and lens when I run my photo tours in Hoi An. So I took my new purchase into my left hand. And there I went, spending an afternoon walking around taking photos with 3 massive scrotum looking sweet potatoes. Plus all the pieces around and the pubic hairs looking stuff. They actually looked like drew Hopper’s balls, just a tad smaller.

 

The best thing about it was actually that every single person we were meeting in the villages was asking me about them: where did I get them, how much did I buy them for? Why did I get the balls looking ones? The Vietnamese people are very curious. So that actually a great topic of conversation and allowed us to get close to people and spend more time with them.

But that surely didn’t stop me from taking photos like it would have done with my DSLR. Using the screen of the back of my xt2 to compose and having all the dials (and mostly the exposure compensation) reachable with my right-hand fingers allowed me to spend the afternoon shooting with only one hand. This is something that would have been pretty annoying if I had carried my DSLR on that day. But you know by now that my good old Canon cameras are gathering dust at home.

 

So cheers to that, to my xt2 and to sweet potatoes! Next week I buy a jackfruit. They have plenty there. I hope it looks like a jackfruit.







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Etienne

Founder of Pics of Asia, Etienne is a teacher with a photography habit.

5 Comments

  1. Ron Brindley on April 24, 2017 at 7:45 am

    G’day mon Ami,
    Hoping this finds you and your dearest in good health.
    Enjoying your “pics of Asia” site very much. Enjoying your commentary and thoughts as you make shooting decisions.
    I too have a camera (Nikon) and 6 lenses collecting dust while I run around with an Olympus these days. Mind you I have 3 Olympus lenses, one of which is large and heavy, so I still have a weight/size issue when armed with that lens. Jenelle and I recently visited Luang Prabang / Sapa and Hanoi … enjoyed the opportunities and experience immensely. I still advise people to watch their speed when shooting, just as you instructed me to do when we first met. We’re planning to visit Hoi An early next year so will drop in and say G’day to you if you’re about. When we pin down a date I’ll join a tour if the timing is right.
    Be well

    • Etienne on April 25, 2017 at 12:51 pm

      Thanks Ron, looking forward seeing you in Hoi An again!

  2. Armando Lopez on November 15, 2017 at 10:57 pm

    You know your Canon gear like the back of your hand and the pictures that you take with it shows it. Why mess with a good thing ? Looking forward to join you in Vietnam in 2018.

    • Etienne on December 10, 2017 at 10:06 am

      Knowing something like the back of one’s hand is probably not the best way to get out of one’s comfort zone and become more creative?

  3. Armando Lopez on December 21, 2017 at 4:24 am

    Yes that that is also very true.

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