“Child Storage” Photograph

“Behave yourself or I’ll put you in the blue box with your brother!”

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Don’t Jog Me” Photograph

Jogging’s not for everybody. Particularly on a relaxing Sunday afternoon but I can imagine that the rhythmical sound of joggers passing by makes a good lullaby.

Photograph taken in Santiphap Park, Bangkok, Thailand

“The Governor” Photograph

“Vote for me or I’ll punch you!”

It’s Bangkok Governor election time and the incumbent is seeking re-election. To some, his campaign poster might look like he’s threatening the residents if they don’t vote for him but the residents all know he’s just not a natural in front of camera and shouldn’t try to copy the more modern, visually dynamic, publicity-savvy, younger politicians.

Photograph taken near Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Puppy Pen” Photograph

She gave the impression that she didn’t much care for her puppies. If one tried to climb out of the pen it was very roughly, almost aggressively, pushed back. She was bored and simply waiting for a sale.

Puppies like these don’t get the best start in life and therefore don’t aways make the best of pets but at this age their cuteness is a great hook to catch an impulse buy.

But what happens if they don’t sell? The older they get the less chance they have of being bought. Perhaps a few are saved to produce their own sellable offspring in heartless puppy farms but the evidence suggests that many will get dumped by the roadside or “donated” to a temple.

The "puppy mill" trade is callous, cynical and irresponsible. Please don’t support it.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand 

“Oriental” Photograph

I just like this photograph as a street portrait of a woman with a classically oriental face.

Photograph taken on Saturday Walking Street, Chiang Mai, Thailand

“Social Hub” Photograph

These gaggles of motorcycle taxi drivers at the corner of so many streets in their coloured vests can be like a social hub for an area’s community. Being there all the time they see a lot of what’s going on and know both the area and the people in it. They also get to overhear conversations such as this one between the woman and the man in the facemask. It would be no surprise if they also offered their own opinions on whatever is being discussed.

Photograph taken near Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Roadside Cleansing” Photograph

Thailand is full of little customs and rituals related to religion and other beliefs, such as blowing your car horn when passing a roadside shrine or adorning yourself in protective amulets but the guy in this photograph was just washing his hands.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Masked Tong Lady” Photograph

Sifting through other people’s rubbish is a good reason to wear a mask even on a hot Bangkok afternoon but it does give her the look of a bandit. Imagine being confronted by her down a dark street at night with her tongs threateningly poised. Weaponry like this could probably cause a nasty injury so it would be best to hand over all your recyclables without a struggle. Although being Thai, underneath the mask she would probably still be smiling good-naturedly.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Don’t Shoot” Photograph

I did shoot her, photographically speaking.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Annoying Hair” Photograph

Photographically I quite like the way this woman’s face is partially covered by the out-of-focus girl’s hair. It makes for an unusual composition and produces a surprising automatic sense of irritation in me. I want to brush the hair away from her face as if it was my own mouth being tickled.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

"Fortune Teller” Photograph

A queue of students waiting their turn as a woman has her fortune told by a card reader. If the news is not good they can always try somewhere else, but knowing this the fortune teller will probably be careful enough with his interpretations not to drive his customers away.

In this photograph I like the way the sunlight falls on the fortune teller whilst the customers remain “in the dark”.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Squeezed In” Photograph

Bangkok is a crowded place and sellers squeeze in wherever they can without wasting their space on a comfortable place to sit.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“No Story Here” Photograph

As far as I am aware the only connection between this woman and the two behind her are that they are in this photograph together. Composition and cropping of an image can easily give the impression of relationships or associations that do not actually exist. I doubt they are gossiping about her and as she is wearing ear-plugs I’m sure she isn’t eavesdropping.

It’s a bit of a recurring theme in this blog that I find nothing wrong in such implied stories as long as people bear in mind that it is not (necessarily) reflected in the reality of the lives of the people shown.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Distractions” Photograph

A young boy who probably spends a lot of time hanging around his mother’s market stall. The distractions down at his level are plentiful but not quite so distracting as they will be in a few years time.

I am always aware of the suspicions I could cause taking photographs like this and usually try to avoid pointing the camera at anything too revealing but in this case I really was focussed on taking a photograph of the boy and didn’t notice quite how short the skirt was until afterwards.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Squatters” Photograph

Perhaps the collective pronoun for street market stall-holders in Thailand should be “a squat”. They have a talent for comfortably sitting down on their heels and staying there as long as the conversation lasts.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Surrogate” Photograph

Something about this mannequin in its blue dress put this young boy in the mood for a hug. But his mother wasn’t so enamored with the idea of such a surrogate and dragged him off before he got too attached.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Training” Photograph

One of the best ways to improve your reactions is to throw darts at a board just above your head then try to dodge them as they bounce back at you. This boy was getting quite good at it. He even tried to catch one or two.

Occasionally a dart would actually stick in the board so eventually he ran out of darts and had to jump to grab them from the board thereby inventing a new version of the game as several fell at him at the same time.

Although it looked dangerous to me as an adult, it was clearly a regular pastime for the lad and gave me the impression of being an excellent way to train for life if not actually to train as a darts player.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Chatting Up Models” Photograph

Well, even if they are a bit non-committal at least it won’t be an outright rejection and he should be fairly safe from cutting sarcastic. However, it looks like the hand-holding may have been a bit rough.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Uniformed” Photograph

I liked the glow of these two uniformed ladies even if they didn’t particular enjoy having to wait for their bus in the bright afternoon sun.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Climbing Frame” Photograph

When so much about children’s games comes down to the interaction and relationship between the players the most basic equipment is plenty. A simple metal fence becomes a perfectly adequate, and fairly safe, climbing frame giving the kids the scope to invent their own objectives.

For some reason her spot was the most coveted and she wasn’t budging.

Photograph taken on Pahonyothin Road, Bangkok, Thailand

“Arm in Arm” Photograph

That’s my shadow looking the other way as I take a photograph of this woman who is hiding her face from the sun rather than from the camera. There are actually two shadows of me (well, it is my birthday!) – one on the dirty plastic bus shelter and a second on the wall directly behind. An interesting point about the perspective of these two shadows is that they are lined up according to the point-of-view, i.e. the camera at waist-level, rather than the more expected eye-level, or in other words if I had been looking directly through the viewfinder my two shadow heads would be in line with each other.

Even though she’s a stranger, I like the way our arms seem linked.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Shopper Portrait” Photograph

With eyes firmly fixed on the displayed goods the (female) market shoppers in Thailand seem to have a natural ability to move with fluid grace through the crowds. I always feel awkward and in the way even when I concentrate on just getting through the throng without bumping too many people.

Taking a portrait of a single person in these situations, such as this photograph, is not usually a realistic target but does sometimes work with a bit of luck and careful cropping.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Masked Couple” Photograph

I’m not sure why this couple with their matching bags were wearing masks as most people in Thailand only wear them alongside the main roads to reduce the intake of vehicular emission particles. The air in a large market like this can be stifling enough without masks but then again in such a crowded place it is perhaps a sensible precaution against the ‘flu season, which could seriously ruin a holiday.

Whatever the reason, the masks do make it impossible to read their expression.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Stamper” Photograph

Having collected a big bag full of recyclable (and therefore sellable) plastic water bottles, this man was taking them out one at a time and stamping them flat so that they took up less space.

He seemed to be finding it quite satisfying and perhaps it’s not a bad way to release the day’s frustrations.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Wheelchair” Photograph

Bangkok is not well designed for anybody with a physical handicap and barriers in the central reservations of roads often mean that the only way for pedestrians to cross is to use the footbridges, such as this one, with their steep and often narrow steps. Very difficult for a wheelchair to negotiate.

This woman, however, is not actually hoping to get up the steps and over the road. She has carefully chosen the best place from which to beg where her disadvantage is glaringly obvious to passersby who are more likely to feel a hint of guilt or pity and drop a few coins into her cup.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Handybags” Photographs

The days are generally cloudless and bright at this time of year and sometimes I wish I also carried a handbag to shield my face from the sun. Although it’s tempting to make a sarcastic comment about people in Thailand avoiding the sun as much as possible to keep their skin as white as possible, I have to admit on this day the sun was so strong that I was avoiding it more than anyone.

Photograph taken at Victory Monument, Bangkok, Thailand

“Temple Tiles” Photograph

The ubiquitous and unmistakable fish scale/snakeskin pattern of orange tiles on a Buddhist temple roof. For me, the older they are the better, and the more subtle colour variations there are the better. As well as colours from almost yellow to almost red, the roof in this photograph has the added texture of cobwebs and dirt. Unfortunately, that’s not always what the local community values so there is generally a desire for nice bright uniform new roofs which to my eye lack character but to the locals indicate prosperity.

Photograph taken at a temple in Pathum Thani, Thailand

“Four Arms” Photograph

I love photographs that make us focus on things that we usually pay little attention to. There is nothing special about these four men’s arms but the lack of faces make them the subject.

As a photographic composition I wish the tee-shirt of the man on the right did not have writing. It is distracting and irrelevant. A plain shirt would have worked much better. With a bit of effort the text could be removed with photo-editing software and personally I see nothing wrong in doing so but the creases make it hard to do it convincingly.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Vulnerable” Photograph

Naked, short, armless and faceless, this mannequin must feel a little intimidated and vulnerable being stuck on the ground and surrounded by men like this.

There is also plenty of living, breathing (but equally voiceless) vulnerability around our streets.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“Left Holding The Umbrella” Photograph

As I stood there shooting a couple of sneaky photographs from the hip of this man and his coffee shop umbrella he just stood there holding it so I took a couple more photos.

Eventually I realised that he was actually politely waiting for me to leave so he could take the umbrella down.

Photograph taken at Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok, Thailand

“New Year Itch” Photograph

A new year but the same old itch to scratch away at. This is just an illustration of how artificial our partitioning of time is as there is no real reason to expect today to be any different than yesterday. Certainly won’t be for this dog and almost certainly won’t be for politics in Thailand.

Photograph taken in temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand