Travel & Humanitarian Photos
I managed to escape for a day last week whilst scouting out possible locations for a forthcoming Photo School weekend workshop and headed towards Hua Hin, stopping at a variety of potential photo hot spots along the way. I’ve picked out a few images from the day, which proved to be great fun.
Standing in a doorway at Cha-am. The blue wall had caught my eye from down the street so when this man stepped into the doorway everything fell into place. If I’m very honest, it’s a composition that I’m not 100% happy with and, in retrospect, I should have changed my position more. Whoever said that hindsight is twenty-twenty was spot on.
A seamstress at Maeklong station. Having analysed my photographs over the last five years I have calculated the percentage of shots where I’ve used my flash. It is this: 0%. That’s zero percent. I never use flash – and it’s not as some unkind people have suggested because I’d be more likely to successfully pilot a space shuttle than I would be able to operate my flashgun with any finesse, it’s simply that… err… OK, that’s partly the reason. That sudden bright light scares me. Mostly though it’s because I don’t like the artificial effect, the tell-tale shadows and the unpredictable quality of the results. I’m sure if I understood it better, the results would be more predictable but I don’t and they’re not. Having said all of that, I’m forcing myself to use it more and had it attached for many of these shots at Maeklong, including this one of a charming lady, sewing at the station. Isn’t Thailand great? Where else could you get your boxer shorts repaired and get a photo of the process? Bit embarrassing standing on the station platform sans boxers but, you know, it’s all in a day’s work.
So, this is the market in full-swing and, yes, those are the railway tracks down the centre of the stalls. The produce lays right up against the rails and when the train arrives the overhead awnings are quickly swung out of the way but much of what’s for sale remains in place. The market traders know exactly where they can safely leave their fish, fruit and veg for it to remain untouched by the train.
And here comes the train. Note the fruit and veg lying beside the tracks and some even in-between the tracks where the train will pass right over, no doubt adding a certain piquancy to the flavour with a drop of engine oil and a dab of diesel fumes. I’d taken up my position with great care, not wanting to end my photographic days squashed like an overripe mango. I figured that where the fruit was going to be safe then so would I. Crucially, I had neglected to factor in the small detail that a basket of fruit is 6-8 inches tall and I am a smidge over 6 feet. See the problem? Fortunately, a kind lady market-trader pulled me back to where she was perched and I escaped with nothing more significant than the loss of two knee-caps. The picture below was taken with a 16-35mm lens at 24mm. Remember, this is a full-frame camera so 24mm is pretty wide. That’ll give you some idea how close we were to the train.
The train stops at Maeklong station for a while before heading back through the market and the whole process of market-traders raising canopies and snatching foolhardy photographers from the jaws of death begins again. Twice each hour apparently. But here’s the strange thing, the roads around MaeKlong aren’t that busy, it’s just not a very bustling place at all. So why is the market built on a working train line. A friend of mine asked this very question at the market recently and received a reply that’s hard to find fault with: “Because it’s fun”.
Finally, a shot from Cha-am, which we arrived at in time for lunch but in the strongest light of the day. Too harsh really but this fishing boat caught my eye and this fisherman had thoughtfully worn a red T-shirt so I felt obliged to get the shot. Well, you don’t want to disappoint people, do you? Talking of disappointment, we ended up in Hua Hin, which I had high hopes for. I’ve read much about the place and it’s often featured in the local newspapers’ weekend editions as the “Hamptons of Thailand”. Well, having seen it, let me just say this to Hua Hin: “No, Hua Hin, you are not the Hamptons of Thailand, You are barely the Benidorm of Thailand. So do us all a favour, get off your high horse and start taking yourself seriously”. It wasn’t quite what I expected. But let’s not dwell on that. There was at least a nice bar which, from the right angle, could be photographed to reveal some of the pinkish twilight sky whilst hiding the not so attractive line of restaurants behind.
It was a full but productive day and gave us lots of ideas about what we’d like to include in our weekend workshop. If you’re going to be in Bangkok around the 12th-14th June then let me know if you’re interested and I’ll send you a full itinerary – just as soon as we’ve finished writing it 
As I read the story of the train passing through the market and food stalls, that old rugby song kept playing in my head – ‘when the train is in the station, please refrain from urinating’:-)
Thanks for a great post and an interesting insight into Thai life.
DT
Gavin,
I’m glad you went down there. I had a great time when I made that trip.
Here are some of the photos I made on that day trip. http://web.mac.com/kurtzjack/jacks_joint/The_Mahachai_Commuter_Line.html
jack
Hey Jack, I couldn’t resist! Love the slideshow, especially the final image of the girl looking out of the window. That’s a really enchanting shot. When are you coming back?
As soon as I get fired
Sooner if I manage to hold on to my job 
jack
Your last two/three posts have had a wheeeeeeeeee “Released from school now I can go play” joy about them Gavin! Very enjoyable to read
Hmmmm do you think we can recreate a little of that Maeklong chaos when you come to London? Somehow I don’t think Oxford Street will be quite as magical
I really enjoyed this post. I love looking at other cultures, see how they do things and notice how it’s so different from my own. Thanks for capturing it and then sharing it. These are great.
Vanessa, we’ll do our best to reconstruct the atmosphere of Maeklong in London. I’ll bring a basket of bananas and we’ll go down to Waterloo station and see what happens.
Ashley, glad you enjoyed the pictures.