My Beijing: How I Remembered It pre-Covid and How I Found It in 2026
I’ve been to Beijing many times — eight or nine, I’ve lost count. The last time was in November 2019, just as the world was starting to freeze before Covid. Then came a long pause, and finally, seven years later, in October 2026, I flew back to the city I ...
In Defense of Zooms: Notes from a Zoom Shooter
I started on film, with a Zenit and a Helios-44. Back then I was a prime shooter not by conviction but by poverty — a zoom for the Zenit was an impossible dream, like jeans from a Western tourist. When I switched to digital, something unexpected emerged: I...
DaGuanYuan: The Beijing Park That Was Built for Your Camera
I've wandered through a fair share of Beijing's parks, and let me tell you — this city doesn't do "just a park." Every green space here has layers, history, and something to point a lens at. But DaGuanYuan? That one hit different. I'm writing this as a guy...
Beijing’s Hutongs: From Bulldozer to Dialogue
For fifteen years I watched Beijing learn to listen to its alleys… I am not Chinese. I am simply a person who once, quite by chance, turned off a noisy avenue into a narrow lane and stayed there in my soul for fifteen years. At first as a tourist, then as ...
Iconic Kuala Lumpur - Batu Caves
Today I’m going to tell you about a place that’s only about 13 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur and that, without exaggeration, everyone knows. It’s Batu Caves. I’ve been living in KL for almost four years now, so I’m telling you about it not as a tourist ...
Chin Swee Temple in Genting Highlands, Kuala Lumpus
Drifting through the clouds at 1,400 meters above sea level, there’s a place where the mountain air itself seems to hum with centuries-old stories. The wind doesn’t just blow here — it whispers, carrying the scent of incense and the echo of chanted sutras ...
Detailed lens review: Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 50-200mm f/2.8-4.0 ASPH. O.I.S.
I want to share my impressions and experience using the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 50-200mm f/2.8-4.0 ASPH. O.I.S. lens. For me, this lens has been a true revelation and has become one of my favorite tools for shooting. It impresses with its combinat...
Anime culture thriving in Kuala Lumpur
In Kuala Lumpur, the anime festival is not a rare comet. It’s a season that returns again and again, a regular pulse in the city’s calendar, and each time, the whole rhythm of the Klang Valley shifts a little to make room. You’ll know one is coming not by ...