“Thought Balloon” Photograph

Looks like she’s just had the kind of great idea that could turn out to be life-changing. I really hope she wrote it down before re-focusing on the shopping.

Or perhaps she’s just got a joke somebody told her earlier.

Photograph taken in Saturday Walking Street, Chiang Mai, Thailand

“Dark Space” Photograph

The minimal detail, high contrast and low angle might make this photograph hard for some to resolve at first depending on your viewing screen.

I love photos with lots of empty space that is still an important and integral part of the composition. Here, after catching the man’s eyes you will probably follow his gaze down into the black space then come back to his arm and on upwards to his face again. A nice little compositional triangle where one point is actually nothing at all.

Photograph taken in Sunday Walking Street, Chiang Mai, Thailand

“Window Maker” Photograph

Several stories up this guy seemed confident that the window frame was securely installed but with crowds wandering along the street below I was seriously worried that he might drop his metal tape measure and somebody would end up six feet under (that’s 1.829 meters).

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Outdoor Office” Photograph

These two public transport bureaucrats have a nice little outdoor office with a constant and varied stream of passersby. On the other hand, it’s also very hot (hence the short trousers), very noisy and air is far from “fresh”.

As this is the busiest time of day for them with so many commuters trying to get home, I doubt these two will be leaving in eleven minutes.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Leaner” Photograph

I suspect this stall-holder deliberately keeps that pile of trousers low enough to lean on.

Notice his nice little bunch of amulets dangling above his heart and warding off all kinds of evil.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak weekend market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Bus Shelter” Photograph

The clear plastic at the back of this bus shelter was covered in small cracks and scratches and had clearly taken a battering from something. In my imagination it was caused by the incessant loud noise of traffic and people and music and loudspeaker announcements at this extremely busy intersection. I could almost hear it sobbing “…please, please shut up, I can’t take much more…”

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Street Photographer” Photograph

So many shiny, reflective surfaces in which to distort life!  Or perhaps that man really did have an extremely long arm, and perhaps I really do have a tiny head and legs but enormous hands and a bulging abdomen.

In a more subtle way I think a lot of street photography is a distortion, which is fine as long we appreciate the fact.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Concrete Muzzles” Photograph

Stop me when you’ve had enough…

This abstract representation of a row of cattle muzzles depicts the effect of cultural urbanisation and the mechanisation of livestock farming whereby living beings become little more than foundations for our urban lifestyle to the extent that we barely recognise them as even existing anymore...

I’ve had enough…

It’s just the side of Bangkok’s skytrain structure.

Photograph taken along Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, Thailand

“Shadow Dog” Photograph

In this photograph I like the way the dog’s elongated shadow, particularly with the ear lengthened by the curb drop, makes it look more perky than the dog itself.

The speed of the tropical sun in Bangkok meant that a few minutes later the shadows were already too long to be discernible.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“GUTS” Photograph

Here’s a man with real guts snapped on my cellphone camera on my way home around midnight (I was feeling about as blurry as the photo, sorry).

I guess it stands for “something something something Security” but it seemed such an appropriate term for a brave but slightly over-weight night security guard who happened to be taking a snack-break in the local convenience store.

Photograph taken in Don Muang, Bangkok, Thailand

“Bench Bed” Photograph

I hadn’t realised how much I really wanted to sit down until I saw this guy taking ownership of a whole bench at a busy Bangkok corner at a busy time of day. Whether other seats were available elsewhere was irrelevant, he was offending my sense of decent, considerate public behaviour.

Perhaps he was hoping that one of those nice young ladies walking passed would use him as a cushion. I was tempted, but he’s bigger than me.

I mean, come on, he doesn’t even look comfortable!

Well, this post is my petty revenge.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Followed” Photograph

This photograph is actually a reflection of the scene taken in the clear plastic front of an unused advertisement board (the large almost rectangular shape taking up most of the picture is another one on the other side of the walkway), which explains its blurry, warped graininess.

A darker version of this picture which would have looked more sinister.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Very Important Parent” Photograph

Happy Birthday Mum!

I’m sure my father won’t mind the lack of a plural today.

Photograph taken halfway up Doi Inthanon, Chiang Mai, Thailand

“Hole In The Roof” Photograph

I daresay at some point this little market area will get modernised and a proper roof erected to keep the rain out. At that point the stall-holders will no longer have the responsibility to maintain their own haphazard protection and in exchange will have to pay higher rental fees. The shoppers will probably be happier without all the erratic dribbles and risk of a drenching whenever something gives way but I bet it won’t be nearly as visually interesting.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Broom” Photograph

I love these flamboyant brooms. It almost seems big enough to have swept all those people off to the side.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Boy Racer” Photograph

It probably didn’t take long for you to realise that this is actually the upsidedown shadow of a man on a motorbike. Turning photographs like this the other way up is a bit gimmicky and I’m not usually keen on it but in this case I liked the way that the shadow’s perspective distorts the relative sizes of man and bike.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

”Directions” Photograph

After a long and careful explanation of where she wanted to go with the motorcycle taxi driver double-checking all the directions with elaborate gestures, he said “nah” and she had to find somebody else.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Queue” Photograph

A few years ago there was a competition in my home country, England, to come up with the best five-word slogan to describe the national character. I forget the winner but my favourite entry was “Sorry, is this the queue?”. We Brits are born with it in our blood and even if I want to cross the road I check to see if there’s a queue first.

On the other hand it is not nearly so deeply ingrained in the Thai persona and I have been in danger of losing my temper at poor queuing etiquette many times in thi country. But then on seeing these folk forming such an orderly bus queue I was actually a little disappointed. I felt a slight yearning for more anarchy and had a sense of Thainess slipping away.

Of course, if I had actually been part of the queue I would have been so happy I probably would have worn a big grin on my face.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“What Happened?” Photograph

The easy answer is that somebody spilled their drink.

The more detailed answer, as I read it, is that somebody stubbed their toe as they were walking up the steps, spilling their fizzy drink onto several, but not all, of the steps. The drink then flowed down, pooling on each step as it came. The person swore before walking on, and everybody except one person coming down walked around the spillage.

I then blocked the stairway as I took a photograph making several tired commuters a little more irritable and increasing the chances of them having an argument with their loved one when they got home.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Mother’s Achilles Heel” Photograph

I think this is evidence enough to prove that kids do such things deliberately.

Understandably, her mother was a little annoyed at having her heel stood on.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok, Thailand

“Shadows Climbing Stairs” Photograph

It was quite fascinating to watch people’s shadows flowing up these stairs. Actually quite creepy if you look at them in the right way – a bit like very large and slightly disturbing flatworms.

Focusing on the shadows also meant less self-conscious feelings – from me because I didn’t notice when people give me strange looks and from the shoppers because they didn’t have a camera pointed at them.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok, Thailand

“Temple Van” Photograph

Whenever I take a photograph like this I get an uneasy feeling that because of the reflection I haven’t noticed that there is actually somebody inside the van looking out of the window and wondering why on earth I am taking their photo so intrusively.

Minivans like this are available for rent throughout Thailand to visit temples like this which are available throughout Thailand.

Photograph taken at Wat (temple) Laksi, Bangkok, Thailand

“Scratched” Photograph

Whatever it was that scratched down the side of this skip at a temple in northern Bangkok it must have made an ear-piercingly horrible noise.

I like to think that it was a tiger.

Photograph taken at Wat (temple) Laksi, Bangkok, Thailand

“Fast Food Stalled” Photograph

Too much Pepsi is bad for you, especially your back.

This delivery guy couldn’t quite get beyond the bottom step before his load started slipping. Rather than help him I took a couple of photographs and hoped for a really explosive disaster with lots of froth, but, unfortunately, his colleague ran over and saved him.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok

“Hair” Photograph

Whatever it is she is thinking as she looks at him, I feel sure that it has something to do with hair.

One problem with having the camera pointing upwards as I shoot from the hip is that it quite often looks directly into lights, which as in this case can be annoyingly distracting. Sometimes they can be easily removed with cloning in Photoshop but that wouldn’t have been easy here so I left them in as an example.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok

“Icecream Girl”

“Just put number three straight in my mouth, thanks.”

Must be her birthday.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok

“Slipper Time” Photograph

Maybe it’s a coincidence that she yawns as she passes the slipper shop or maybe it’s the sight of slippers that makes her feel sleepy. Another possibility is that she actually owns the shop and as a marketing ploy wants people to think about getting ready for bed.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok

“Escalator To Nirvana” Photograph

I don’t know what it is about Zeer shopping mall in the north of Bangkok but there are always monks wandering around inside. I’m not even aware of a temple nearby (although, I suppose there could actually be one tucked away somewhere in the bowels of the mall itself). I don’t want to judge the reasons for them being there but it does always strike me as incongruous with them being surrounded by so much crass advertising.

Photograph taken at Zeer, Rangsit, Bangkok

“Crosspaths” Photograph

Our spatial judgement is amazing. Three people can pass each other in a tight space whilst being confused where to go, totally focused on a new handbag and thinking about football, without even touching one another.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Nit-Picking” Photograph

I like the way she is holding on in exactly the same way as the lice being picked out of her hair are probably trying to do.

The other possibility is that the plucking target is actually grey hairs in which case it is youthfulness being grasped tightly.

Photograph taken along Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, Thailand