You'd be forgiven for thinking this super bright Series of photography by the talented Xavier Portela is circuiting electricity, thanks to its utilisation of dazzling neon lights. However, it's actually the handiwork of a Canon 5D Mark III and Portela's sheer skill.

A follow-up series to his original Glow collection, which featured Tokyo and Hong Kong, Bangkok Glow captures the nighttime activity of the bustling city.

Portela explains his main source of inspiration for the project: "The initial idea came from a frustration after capturing night scenes of Tokyo a few years ago. The photographs were ok but I couldn’t get that 'electricity' feeling that you get when you are on location.

"So I left those pictures there for years…until one day after watching some manga/anime (I like the Japanese entertainment culture) I remembered those shots and I thought 'what if I try to mess with the colours and atmosphere of those compositions? Could it help to reproduce the feeling you get when you arrive in those places?'

"I wanted those pictures to look as if they came straight out of a manga. That’s how I landed on the idea of processing all the colours in order to make it more vibrant and powerful."

Check out the Tokyo Glow series here. And follow Xavier on Instagram.

All images courtesy of Xavier Portela