"Head Pat" Photograph

A nice moment between man and child. The gesture of putting his hand on the boy’s head is interesting in Thai culture as it is usually taboo to touch somebody else’s head. However, two things in this case make it more acceptable: the age gap, particularly with a young child, and the apparent closeness of the relationship. So in this case the gesture indicates an intimacy even more than it would in a western culture.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

"Into the Sun" Photograph

People walking into bright, low sunshine make quite good photographic subjects for me as they are much less likely to notice me taking their picture which means they usually keep whatever natural expression they are wearing at the time.

You can see the shadow of my shoulder and arm on this woman’s shirt as I take her photograph with my camera at belly-level.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

"Waiters" Photograph

Pattern and repetition often makes for a good photograph and human stance is no exception. A small detail that I enjoy in this photograph is the fact that the repetition here is mirrored as one man’s arms are folded left-over-right and the other right-over-left.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

"Face Slap" Photograph

Many of my favorite street photographs are ones where people have interesting expressions. Our interactions with each other depend so much on facial expressions that we are experts at picking up nuances and even quite subtle expressions can make a good picture because the viewer can identify and relate to it.

This is amplified with a combination of two or more people interacting with each other which not only gives facial expressions to be interpreted but also offers an extra dimension and the possibility of telling a story. I think the fact that we have no idea what these young men are talking about actually helps to make this photograph more interesting because in our socially-driven behavior we naturally try to interpret the interactions between other people.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

"Eyes Down" Photograph

As with any photograph of people in dynamic situations the way it looks as a frozen moment might not actually reflect the reality of what was happening. A brief glance can look like a stare, an innocent licking of the gums can turn into a meaningful expression and without the benefit of three dimensions angles can be deceptive. However, in this case it is hard to think of an alternative explanation than the obvious one. 

The chances are that she will never see this picture and he won’t get into trouble but let it be a lesson to all of you: I'm not the only one with a camera so you better behave yourself out there on the street.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Onward

Climb on board, a new year is about to begin.

Photograph taken at Chiang Mai Gate, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Alien

Carrying toy dogs around like in this photograph has suddenly become very fashionable here in Chiang Mai. During an hour’s walk around one of the street markets I am guaranteed to see ten or so. I am sure they are loved and looked after but I do wonder whether they wouldn’t much prefer to have the chance to sniff the world at ground level on their own legs. Perhaps this wouldn’t be a good idea in a crowded market but these dogs seem to get carried absolutely everywhere.

The face and position of this particular dog really does make me think back to the classic movie scene where the alien bursts out of a man’s abdomen. This is the (slightly) less scary version.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Beauty of Digital Photography

This photograph makes me think back to the days of film when the gap between taking a picture and actually seeing the result was usually a few weeks. And now a whole generation has grown up enjoying the immediate gratification of instant results, photographically speaking.

This is, of course, a great feature of digital photography but there are still people around using rollfilm cameras and I hope they never totally fade away for they offer something different in both process and quality that the digital world lacks.

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Faceless Faces

Sometimes you make your own luck.

I was trying to take a photograph of the group of girls huddled over looking at some goods. There were other people moving around between us and I wasn’t quite as close to them as I wanted to be. The chances were that the picture would not work, perhaps being blurred or blocked or just fail as a composition but I took it anyway and love the result of people in a crowded situation all turned away from each other with visible but incomplete faces.

It would have been so easy not to have bothered pressing the shutter-release.

Photograph taken at the “Sunday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Passenger

The angle of this photograph was just right to see the disembodied hands on this man’s shoulders but nothing else of the child hanging onto his back. Other than those hands there doesn’t seem to be anything else about him to even suggest that he is actually carrying a passenger.

Or perhaps they are just an unusual pair of decorative shoulder pads?

Photograph taken at the “Saturday Walking Street”, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Thai Transporter Photo

For many in Thailand a motorcycle is the only form of private motor transport they can afford however much they have to carry. These waste recyclers are clearly well-practised in the art of loading their bike’s sidecar and hopefully also used to riding it without being able to see anything to the left.

Notice how the lady in this photograph is only wearing flimsy flipflops but casually resting her foot on the exhaust pipe which happens to be a very common source of burns in Thailand. I have no idea what proportion of the population bares scars on their legs from motorbike exhaust pipe burns but it must be high. Not having been brought up with motorbikes, many tourists taking a motorcycle taxi or renting a bike of their own seem particularly vulnerable as they don’t realise that their bare skin is very close to extremely hot metal until it’s too late.

Photograph taken in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Blind Busker Band Photo

This group of blind musicians are permanent fixtures at the Chiang Mai “Walking Street” markets and they are often good enough to get people dancing in the street with their Thai folk and pop renditions.

Photograph taken on Wua Lai Road, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Child's View of a Busy Thai Street

This wasn’t what I had in mind when I took the photograph as the blurred man in the shirt just rocked backwards at the wrong moment but I love the accidental result. To me it looks like a child’s view peeking out from amongst the adults. It could have been taken anywhere but was actually photographed in Chiang Mai's busy night bazaar.

Shooting from the hip results in many photographs that I delete straight away but also some unintended compositions like this one that work well.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thai Street Massage Photo

Similar to yesterday, here is another streetside service offered in Chiang Mai and just about anywhere else in Thailand popular with foreign tourists. For anyone who can afford the flight ticket to Thailand the cost of buying a hour’s pampering is almost laughably insignificant and it’s a novel distraction on route between bars for some.

A less public experience can be had in the many massage parlours around the city ranging from traditional massage schools to expensive spa’s. There are so many, in fact, that most seem to hardly get enough business to survive.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Typical Thai Drinking Corner Photo

A night photograph of a street bar in Chiang Mai. Technically and visually not a great picture with no clear focal point and perhaps no clear point at all. However, for me it is evocative of the night life in many places in Thailand: dark little corners, partially hidden, a little secretive and poorly maintained but also providing a comfortable, cheap drinking hole with almost certainly some good fun and also a very good chance of some attractive company.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Photograph of Thai Brotherhoodie

Photographing from the hip as I do makes precise composition impossible particularly when very close to the subject. I got a bit lucky here in that just enough of their faces are showing to make it a good photograph.

What drew me to photograph these particular young men was the hand on the shoulder. A small detail which gives them such a strong connection.

A great photographic tip I once read was that hands are an overlooked but very important part of portraiture.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thai Man on a Mission Photo

Carrying 24 bottles of whiskey on your shoulders must be a heavy burden and he was certainly taking it very seriously. He strode passed me at quite a pace before I noticed him amongst the crowds and I struggled to get ahead of him for a photograph.  On his way to a party perhaps, his “whiskey blinkers” make him look very purposeful and I imagine he arrived with a pretty good thirst.

Unless, of course, he’s just carrying two empty boxes…

Chiang Mai, Thailand

'It's Time' Thai Street Photo

Is that a hint of reluctance on the boy’s face? Getting dragged into the adult world of time-keeping, I’m sure he’s bright enough to tell the time but perhaps can’t quite see the point yet.

I don’t know the truth of what was happening between this man and boy in this frozen moment from their day and it could be something completely different. However, that’s why I love this type of photography. This is a real moment in these peoples’ lives but the interpretation of it is ours.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Model Shoot Photo on Thai Street

The Chiang Mai “walking street” markets seem to be as much a place for photography as commerce especially in the main tourist season (Dec-Feb) and I am as big a culprit as anybody!

Whenever I look at this picture I wonder if the two young women in the photo have noticed me taking their picture in the background of their own photograph, and if so, what’s their reaction? My guess is that they wouldn’t notice as I shot-from-the-hip and the camera never left my side but I still worry that I might be perceived as doing something sneaky to the extent of creepy. I was, after all, taking a low angle shot of a woman in a short skirt but hopefully you agree there’s nothing distasteful about the result.

Chiang Mai, Thailand