Bangkok Street Photos & Overcoming Resistance
When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us
Mae Klong, Cha’Am and Hua Hin
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 [...]
Wai Kroo Tattoo Festival: Wat Bang Phra, Thailand
It’s been a case of going from the sublime to the ridiculous this week. I left the tranquility of Ko Samet and returned to Bangkok in order to photograph the annual Wai Kroo Tattoo Festival at Wat Bang Phra.
Devotees gather at the Wat, about 90 km outside Bangkok, every year to pay respects to their [...]
Postcard from Ko Samet: On working hard and dunking monks.
I fear that this post might not do much to dispel the myth that travel photographers have it easy. Those who know no better assume that we swan about on tropical beaches, stumbling over the occasional shot before retiring to sip piña coladas beneath palm-fringed canopies with the warm, turquoise water lapping gently at our [...]
Nong Khai Railway Station, Thailand
Crossing the border from Laos to Thailand was straightforward and relatively swift so there was time to play at Nong Khai station before boarding the overnight sleeper back to Bangkok.
This seemed to be the only train coming through the station that evening and it was there hours before departure time, giving me the opportunity to [...]
On the night train to Nong Khai
The overnight sleeper train from Bangkok (Hualamphong Station) to Nong Khai is a popular and inexpensive way for people to travel from Thailand to Laos.
The First Class sleeper consists of just two fold-up beds in a lockable compartment with a small sink and firmly locked windows. Unfortunately, it’s winter in Thailand at the moment but [...]
Bangkok Insider Photo Workshop
I’ve enjoyed leading a few Bangkok Photo Workshops recently and have invariably been impressed with the level of the participants’ expertise and especially with their level of enthusiasm. Most recently I spent the morning with the effervescent Suzanne exploring the Pak Klong Talaat market, photographing the impressive reclining Buddha in Wat Pho and, finally, capturing [...]
A Year in Pictures: November 2008
November saw me starting an association with the Bangkok Refugee Centre, an association that I’m sure to expand upon in future blog posts. For now, suffice to say that I’ve taken pictures at several events at the Refugee Centre and am never failed to be impressed. I’m impressed by the commitment of the volunteers who [...]
A Year in Pictures: September 2008
“You can’t come to Thailand and not photograph elephants”, somebody told me recently. Quite so. This elephant is employed in Ayutthaya, carrying tourists around the central temple complex. I never quite get over the fact that something as large and powerful as an elephant can seem so apparently friendly and docile. They really are the [...]
A Year in Pictures: August 2008
August’s photo comes from Ayutthaya, once Thailand’s capital city. Although the ruined temples and shrines are extremely photogenic, it’s frequently the activity surrounding them that catches my attention. I had planned to get to one of the main temples shortly before sunset and these boys were playing right outside the main entrance. So engrossed in [...]
A Year in Pictures: July 2008
This red wall is just two minutes from my Bangkok apartment. Although it looks like it’s in a wide, spacious area it’s actually on the corner of a busy intersection of back roads and there’s barely enough room for one car and a pedestrian side-by-side. It is always busy with traffic and catching a space [...]
A Year in Pictures: June 2008
This image shows Bangkok’s Wat Arun shortly after sunset. I stayed in a hotel by the Chao Phraya river when I first arrived in the city and the sight of Wat Arun on the opposite bank was clear evidence that my surroundings had changed drastically from the bluebell woods and placid lakes of an England [...]
Travel Photographer of the Year 2008
The winners of the 2008 Travel Photographer of the Year competition have been announced and my hearty congratulations go to Canada’s Darwin Wiggett who wins a trip to Everest and a Linhof large-format panoramic camera as well as some other tantalising prizes.
I had a couple of portfolios shortlisted, one of which is Commended in the [...]
Lumen Dei Thailand ‘09: Itinerary
I’ve had a busy but very rewarding few days. A number of projects are taking shape and I’m really enjoying the sense of anticipation that comes from making plans – especially when they involve the sort of work that I know is going to be really inspiring. More details will follow as projects come to [...]
Lumen Dei: Thailand 2009
I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be teaming up with the incomparable David duChemin and Matt Brandon next year for what promises to be a very special photo workshop.
Regular readers will already be very familiar with Matt’s and David’s work and will understand why I’m excited at the prospect of working with them. They both [...]
Photos: Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) training centre
Muay Thai is Thailand’s national sport and no visit to the country would be complete without some experience of the sport. As a spectator I mean. There’s going to be trouble if bus-loads of tourists start climbing out of their air-conditioned coaches and climbing into a Muay Thai boxing-ring.
Having said that, the training centre I [...]
Pictures & ideas flourish at the flower market
I met up with Mike Robson this morning and we spent a few hours wandering around Bangkok’s fruit and flower market, taking pictures and pausing occasionally for a cuppa and a chat about photography in general and photo tours and workshops in particular.
Mike’s an ex-Marketing guru and a terrific source of ideas, all of which [...]
Movie: Bangkok Lightning
The evening thunder clouds came straight over the city, making a bee-line for my apartment tonight. I can’t resist trying to record storms but still images weren’t any good this evening as the lightning flashes were mostly above the clouds rather than bolts striking the ground and so didn’t record on even the longest exposures. [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper: October 2008
The free desktop wallpaper for October is a shot I took at the very charming Baan Lotus Guest House in Ayutthaya. As the name suggests, the guest house is situated next to a large pond and the lotus flowers open early in the morning, slowly closing until they have all but disappeared by lunch-time.
I’ve re-introduced [...]
Return from Ayutthaya
The more observant amongst you will have noticed that I’m alternating between the Lonely Planet spelling of “Ayuthaya” and the more common spelling of “Ayutthaya”.
I usually stick with the Lonely Planet spelling of place names just for consistency but in the case of Ayutthaya the double-t option is more commonly seen. There’s something more pleasing, [...]
Return to Ayuthaya II
Whilst I wouldn’t claim that this is my most creative or unusual interpretation of the Buddha Head in the Bodhi Tree, I thought you might like to see it whilst I’m working on something more “outside the box”.
The Photoshop Merge function is extremely clever. Can you see the joins?
Talking of Photoshop, Check out Rob Galbraith’s [...]
Return to Ayuthaya
My first visit to Ayuthaya was in 2003 when I photographed this Buddha statue head that, whether by accident or design, has become embedded in the side of a tree.
Thinking back, I remember that it was actually quite a tricky thing to photograph in anything other than a very straightforward way. Although I’ve added a [...]
