It’s been nearly four months since my last post, a really busy time indeed — there’s been lots of good stuff in front of my camera. In December I photographed a beach resort in Krabi, in the South of Thailand. Enjoy this gallery and click on the images to view my full interior hotel and resort portfolio. And of course a big thanks to The Pelican Krabi.

We recently photographed for Audemars Piguet the interiors of their new flagship boutique in Bangkok. Check out my updated interior photography portfolio at https://www.thomasdecian.com/commercial-photography/interior-photographer-bangkok/. Commercial interior photography for all markets.

It has now been six months shooting and working with the Fuji X-T2 as my main camera body and finally Fuji has nailed a flexible camera that delivers under most conditions. This story on the Sühring Twins restaurant in Bangkok is the very first job I shot with it, and since then I have used the X-T2 to photograph a variety of assignments, from interiors, food and lifestyle, to fashion and products in the studio.

Having started photography with fully manual film cameras, I never really got used to the wheel controls of Canon and Nikon. Fuji’s aperture rings on the lenses and the classic shutter speed dial, now dubbed “retro style”, are what original prompted my move to Fuji almost five years ago. The controls felt more natural, more like what I was used to, and despite the many glitches of earlier Fuji X cameras, they made photography once again more enjoyable (if frustrating at times!).

We now have a camera that can nail a shot under most lighting conditions, and can deliver consistently an reliably when photographing moving things, my 2-year old daughter being the hardest and most erratic subject I ever tried to photograph!

As you can read in all the tech specs info, many things have been improved over past models. What I personally like the most are the snappiness of the shutter and the ability to shoot several shots without having to refocus (I somehow never managed to do that with my X-T1, maybe there is a way but I haven’t figured it out). Since I shoot interiors and hotels, which often require bracketing shots, I’m glad the AE Bracketing program was finally redesigned. No idea why it wasn’t done earlier, or why it is not been extended to older models, as is just so clumsy to bracket with older generation Fuji X cameras.

What could be further improved? Besides the well known documented issues (battery life, autofocus-yes it is still inconsistent at times and with some lenses), I’d like to see better flash support (Godox is going in the right direction here), seamless tethering throughout a variety of applications, and some speciality lenses (macro/tilt-shift). While not everybody needs those, included me most times, it is nice to have the option for when the need arises, and Fuji should quickly address that if they want to the X series to be a truly professional system.

Last month I photographed an assignment for Wish of a Lifetime Canada, a non-profit organisation that works to fulfil lifetime wishes for elderly citizens. It was great documenting 88 year-old Gordon’s visit to Thailand, where he was finally able to meet his great-grandchildren who are living near Bangkok with Gordon’s grandson and his Thai wife. Check out some of the images we shot for WOL, or see the full coverage here, here or in this video.

Photographing a resort or a hotel is always great fun. Recently I was asked to photograph a 5 star boutique hotel to refresh the brand: interiors, lifestyle shots, facilities, food and activities. They also bring in elephants sometimes, so I found myself riding one again after being tipped in the water by one in Laos!