For sure, you can take those atmospheric shots on cloudy days but, you know, when it's gloomy outdoors, you often even don't feel excited about anything including photography. Downpours, floods, and fogs are fun but those average grey days are dull even in colorful Vietnam.
Weather in December in Hue, Vietnam on Google. Room temperature 24 hours a day.
More people are giving up shorts and putting on pants. Dogs are basking in the sun.
And not only them basking.
The largest river of the city, the Perfume River with a city park along its shores:
Catch the moment while it's sunny!
Wearing a motorbike helmet in inappropriate situations is a strange habit of some Vietnamese people.
At some point, a Thai woman stopped at the hostel; she was traveling on a motorbike alone through Southeast Asia... So, we had a wonderful talk about all the oddities of the Vietnamese 😀 Of course, I'm biased: Thailand was my first Asian country, and since then I was there for about 2.5 or 3 years altogether.
Another scene at the Perfume River:
Mating dances with mobiles, a view from under the bridge.
Another fishing enthusiast:
Yes, sunlight means a lot.
Sunlight creates beauty in places where there is no beauty on an overcast day.
It also modulates the composition balance. Shadows and light spots are moving and, thus, composition balance is changed every minute.
But I don't suggest getting stuck on the sunlight. There are no rays of sun in the image above but it seems like an interesting picture: two tall young men and trees as their reflections.
And here, the sun just drags beauty from nowhere. A bridge over the An Cuu River.
Most photogenic bridge in Hue!
The brightly lit areas and shadows create a rich pattern that doesn't exist on a cloudy day.
Smile is another form of light:
She noticed me and realized she would be a character in a street photo shot, that's why that smile. Every time I see such easy-going characters in my pics, I feel grateful for their respect for photography.
Another great model, the An Cuu River. My favorite place in Vietnam.
It is not listed in the guidebooks but it has no equal in terms of photography.
Yes, I am subjective and biased. Perhaps there came a moment of such depth of bitterness in my life that I could not help but fall in love with the first decent river that found my way.
Already three months on its shores, and not sure I am willing to leave.
More Southeast Asian adventures to come, stay tuned! Check out my previous posts on my personal Worldmappin map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 in November/December 2024 in Hue, Vietnam.