Loy Krathong At Mae Jo

[Greenside]

My first time at this event (last year I went to Sukhothai) and I was very impressed. It had all the potential to be a bit of a nightmare with thousands of people, flaming torches, fireworks et al but I didn't see anything serious in the vein of Folk Guitar's post going on and perhaps the only (predictable) downer was the mega traffic jam at the end. Of course I didn't take the bike due to the many scary stories about firework psychos and have now probably contracted some major respiratory complaint after sitting in the car amid the fumes.

Here are a couple of pictures and there will be links to more (including last year's) if you follow the link on my profile to the Chiang Mai Photographic Group (and sorry, I can't seem to figure out how to make it a proper hyperlink - anyone know how to do that?)

I think the number of cameras was more than the number of balloons and the only way to really do this is to take your own scaffolding tower!

[eenloss]

My first time too and although I quite enjoy the 'Apocalypse Now' events on the river by Narawat bridge, this was by far the most beautiful event of the Loy Kratong (Yee Peng) festivities.

Well organised, trouble free and with a nice Buddhist ceremony beforehand promoting meditation and spiritual understanding.

I too have never seen so many cameras (let alone the lanterns), but I went on my bike with my daughter so didnt suffer the inevitale traffic jams.

Thanks to those at Thai Visa who brought this event to my attention, it will be an annual pilgrimage for me now.

[alfonsogett]

Nice shots you may set a high iso because look sharp. I've bee their but I set up ISO to 100 so most of my pictures blur but it nice though.

[realthaideal]

Howdy Greenside. Well, I heard you voice surprise that more ppl haven't posted any pix, so I'll make a rare pix posting of mine own for your peace of mind. But dang! When you start a thread with a knock-out first pic like you did, taken with all your big fancy equipment, and then you use it properly on top of that, it gets a little intimidating. As much as I resist the CM photo group meetings I now can think of a few things that are black holes in my knowledge of photography and likely leading to a couple recurring pix problems. I'll give you an eg or two: Despite having long exposure Noise Reduction on, still getting background noise/ pixillation; Also, in general not getting the minute clarity I want in my pix, though often expecting to - I don't use the tripod very often and didn't for that night's shoot. Likely a culprit. Also not going fully manual and controlling my F-stop. Oh boy, I need to attend a meeting. You got me.

Anyway, I stuck around late, ended up in the scaffolding trying to shoot some grounds/ whole area shots. They only kind of worked. Then walking back to get my moto at the far (forward) end of the field up by the Buddha, I ran into the monks from the ceremony lighting off their own Khom Fai. That made for some fun photo opps. Proud to say I was only 1 of 10 ppl or less who were still around and equipped to play 'photographer' with the monks at that point. Otherwise, man was it a slew of fancy cameras and camera bags and fancy other things that night. Felt very over-done the amount of cameras there. I hate being trendy, and I swear practically every photographer I know in CM was out and armed to the gills with photo equipment. And so too did most every member of the hoipaloi have their digital friends out with them. It was however nice to run into about 30 friends and acquaintances during the night after I'd ventured way out there alone. Quite a pleasant surprise to see so many I knew among the crowd actually.

And I'll add that it was a nice touch that the lighting off of the lamps was much more about celebration of Yi-Peng, peace of mind -samathi, and being together, than just alot of thoughtless launching of lanterns being remarkable simply for numbers' sake. I appreciated the explanations, meditation, and thoughtfulness that went into the event. I'll definitely be back.

And last thing... some ppl I've spoken to were stuck as much as 2 hours in traffic either getting in or out of the event by car. Oy vey! Got to love the squeeze-by-ability of the motosai.

[Greenside]

As much as I resist the CM photo group meetings........

Why resist? Come along and join in the fun.....

That second shot from underneath the lantern is really nice (and thanks for the comment on mine). If you're getting problems with noise, there are some very good tools around to help minimise it.