Sri Lanka Trip with my Fujifilm X-E3

To test and experiment the new Fujifilm X-E3, I brought this pre-production camera to Sri Lanka (my review about the camera here). All the picture that you see that I took them with the X-E3 and all are in JPEG.

It’s my third time visiting the country and it is one of my favourite location.
This time we decided to go to the north, all the way to Jaffna. I have never been there before and i was commissioned by a Singaporea media to do a Travel story about Jaffna.

We only knew that we were going to this destination only few days before because, I initially thinking of moving to another country but the process for the visa is too much of a challenge for me to do so.

In fact, we were so happy that it turn out this way because a few weeks ago, I remember telling myself that it is so sad that this year my wife and I could not make a trip to Sri Lanka… I hope I can make a visit on a yearly basis.

And because i was overwhelmed with my photography assessment and working on my future exhibition. I did not have the chance to prepare this journey.
I started to prepare my luggage only 2 hours before heading to the airport and arrive at 11:30 pm on the way to the airport. We contacted a hotel in Negombo to check if they can still accept a reservation for us to  check-in a few hours later (direct fly with Emirates departure 12:50 am and arrival 1:55am). Luckily, , the person accepted our reservation and went to pick-up us too, thanks Mirando.

Now let’s talk about about the condition that i use the camera and the pictures that i took.

Sri Lanka Trip
This is the third time and I was there with my wife for 2 weeks.
As you can see that the travel Journey was very busy: Colombo – Negombo – Jaffna – Kerimalai – Jaffna – Colombo
Our mode of transport for this trip was by a local bus and Tuk Tuk…
Here is the map to give you an idea on our travel expenditure:

Negombo – Beach
I went there 2 years ago but to a different spot with my friends but felt that I did not spend enough time to discover, Negombo is located in the Western Province, approximately 35km north of Colombo, the International Airport is located close by.
Negombo is well known for the fish market and the beautiful sandy beach.

Negombo – Fish Market
It is very impressive to see the activity in the market place and people starting to work at 3am.

Negombo – Dry Fish Beach
In this area, you have a small fish market beside the large beach covered of fishes drying on the sun. Usually the fishes doesn’t look good or smell good to be sold and become a matter for dry fish.

Jaffna – City
It was my first time going to Jaffna. Jaffna is located all the way to the north in Sri Lanka. This population in this area is mostly Tamil, Jaffna is considered as the Tamil main city of Sri Lanka. We were very close to India, just few kilometres cross the Ocean.
It has only been few years since the Sri Lanka Civil War ended, now Sinhalese or Foreign tourists are finally free to visit this area. Catholicism is very present in the city (Portuguese occupation heritage), and Negombo is named as Little Rome.

Jaffna – Hindu Festival in Nallur Temple
We were just in time during the bigger Hindu Festival in Sri Lanka – Nallur Kovil Festival, long of 25 days. People all over Sri Lanka did the travel to Jaffna what this time of the year but not just form Sri Lanka, we met many people coming from Canada, London, Lyon (France), Berlin, etc… On the last day over 600 000 people were celebrating and praying around in The Nallur Kandaswamy Temple.

Keerimalai – A Little Paradise, Cut Off From The Busy Life
We stayed 2 nights in a Temple right next to the special Keerimalai springs (my drone pics at the end of the article). Keerimalai is situated from 25 km north to Jaffna. The area is very peaceful and people were incredibly nice.

Colombo – Galle Face
The light at the end of the day in Galle Face is always beautiful and special. You can see that how much the locals enjoy this time of the day with their close ones.

Colombo – Street Photography
I really enjoy doing street photography in Colombo as well as close-up portrait shots.

Stories that Never End…
My last day in Sri Lanka, I spent my afternoon shooting in the old city part of Colombo. Each travel to Sri Lanka I try to do it. This time, I wish I had a few more days left to shoot more in this area. After few hours in the city I knew I was late to meet my wife who was working in a Hotel-Coffee place and told myself let’s do one more street because after than I might get in trouble if I’m late to meet my wife. I was walking in this street and saw a guy who was ready to carry a sack (worker in this area carries heavy sacks all day long) and was looking at me closely which I did likewise. Then we both started to laugh at the same time. It was the man that I photographed 2 years ago in Colombo. We shaked hands and tried to communicate. He gave me his address and wanted me to  send him the picture taken 2 years ago + the one we took together.
What amazing surprise! Photography connects people…

 

Myself with M.R. Firty.

My Picture of him 2 years ago in Colombo. I really like this photograph and this image in on my website on the homepage since it was online.

Me using the Fujifilm X-E3 mirrorless camera – Pictures taken by wife Shanthi Jeuland (COCO PR Agency).

Keerimalai – Drone Pictures:

The video trailer of my experience in Sri Lanka this time round:

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