The Old Main Drag

Chinatown, December 15, 2007

2007-12-16T02:52:00.000-08:00

Chinatown, November 13, 2007

2007-11-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

Chinatown, October 4, 2007

2007-10-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

Selling garlands in front of Wat Kammalawat, Thanon Charoen Krung

Broom-seller in the market alley of Sampheng

Moving merchandise at Sampheng market

Tuk-tuk driver, Thanon Yaowarat

Taking a break from butchering, Talaat Mai

Taking a break from... something, Thanon Phaatsaay

A Chinese temple/school near Thanon Songwat

The narrow alleyways of Sampheng are barely large enough for umbrellas

Sweeping up at Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat

Chinatown, September 27, 2007

2007-09-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

Sleeping motorcycle taxi driver

Much of life is lived on the streets in Bangkok's Chinatown

Hostess at a Chinese restaurant, Yaowarat

Selling used items

Reflections in a shop front, Thanon Charoen Krung

Looking at Buddhist amulets and used goods, Thanon Charoen Krung

Hua Lamphong, Bangkok's main train station

Chinatown, September 19, 2007

2007-09-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

Off of Thanon Charoen Krung

Thanon Yaowarat

Thanon Yaowarat

Lucky charms, Thanon Yaowarat

Waiting, Thanon Charoen Krung

Talaat Kao

Thanon Plaeng Naam

Silom/Patpong, September 4, 2007

2007-09-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

Fruit vendor, Thanon Silom

Ladies, Thanon Patpong

Man or woman? Thanon Silom

Definitely a man, Thanon Silom

Racy dinner, Thanon Patpong

Thanon Patpong

Shoppers, Thanon Patpong

Chinatown, September 3, 2007

2007-09-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

The results of yet another trip to Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown.

Near Talaat Kao

Casket maker on Thanon Charoen Krung

Off Thanon Plaeng Naam

Gold shop, Thanon Yaowarat

Porter, Thanon Yaowarat

Coke vendor, Talaat Kao

Talaat Kao

Talaat Kao

Old theatre, Thanon Yaowarat

Charoen Krung/Silom, August 31, 2007

2007-08-31T01:45:00.000-07:00

Off Thanon Charoen Krung

Saphan Taksin

Thanon Charoeng Krung

Thanon Silom

Saphan Taksin

Thanon Charoen Krung

Off Thanon Silom

Chinatown, August 30, 2007

2007-08-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

Thanon Plaeng Naam

Talaat Mai

Talaat Mai

Exiting Talaat Mai

Morning alms

Selling garlands, Thanon Charoen Krung

Talaat Mai

Preparing sucking pig for delivery, Talaat Mai

Chinatown, August 26, 2007

2007-08-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

Rainstorm, Thanon Plaeng Naam

Thanon Yaowarat

Talaat Mai

Thanon Plaeng Naam

Talaat Mai

Thanon Yaowarat

Godown

More street shots

2007-08-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Ploen Chit

Sukhumvit

Sukhumvit

Chinatown

Chinatown

Chinatown

Chinatown, August 15, 2007

2007-08-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

More street pics from the last few days to follow soon.

More street shots

2007-08-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

A few more random street shots I've taken in and around Bangkok in the last couple months.

Patpong.

Jomtiem Beach, Pattaya.

Thanon Narathiwat.

Patpong.

Thanon Charoen Krung.

Selling umbrellas, Siam Square.

Selling Buddha statues along Soi Cowboy, a red-light district.

Silom area.

Chatujak in black and white

2007-08-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

I spent most of Sunday at Talaat Nat Chatujak, apparently the world's largest outdoor market, taking photos for a newspaper article. Between taking shots that will potentially illustrate that piece, I got several fun candid shots of vendors and shoppers. Chatujak is an incredibly crowded and busy place, perfect for visually interesting juxtapositions and situations. I decided to edit these in black and white, using the now famous Russel Brown technique. If you've got PS3, there's an even easier method of going to B&W, described by the man himself, here.

Today's Pictures

2007-08-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

Magnum Heads will appreciate this feature at Slate that shows a set of thematically-similar images every day.

DxO Optics Pro

2007-07-04T03:54:00.000-07:00

I've been having heaps of fun with my new toy, Nikon's AF Fisheye Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G ED-IF DX. I was even more excited when I came across this article at Ken Rockwell's site about DxO Optics Pro, a program that allows you to correct the distortion associated with such wide lenses. I downloaded the free sample and have been playing around with some of the images I took in Cambodia.

Here's an pic from a market in Kampot, southern Cambodia, without any distortion correction:

Here's the same image after DxO Optics Pro's one button distortion correction:

And even cooler, if in Expert settings mode, you click on Max image, you get an even wider image:

I'm pretty sure I'll end up buying this, especially if they add settings for my 18-35 f/3.5-4.5 D.

A work in progress

2007-06-12T02:12:00.000-07:00

I have plans to do an exhibition at Kathmandu, the photography gallery of famed Thai photographer, Manit Sriwanichpoom. I've been photographing Chinatown a lot lately and took some of my images to Manit before I went abroad. He saw some potential in the pics I brought by, and in particular liked the following shots:

I also like these shots, so it's good to know Manit and I are on the same page. My only problem is that I don't really have a "concept" yet. I've just been walking around shooting whatever looks interesting. Also, I've been traveling so much lately that I haven't had time to go back and take more shots. Fortunately I have time--Kathmandu is booked up until the end of the year. So I get back from Cambodia, where I'm going tomorrow, I'm going make a point of going back to Chinatown on a regular basis and will to sure to share my progress here.

The EEgos

2007-05-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

The EEgos are the hottest new band of the moment in Portland, Oregon. Due to the fact that their guitarist, Dave:

is one of my oldest friends, I was granted unprecedented access to photograph an invite-only show a few weeks ago.

It was extremely dark where they were playing, so I was forced to shoot at ISO 1600 and I illuminated the shots with my SB-800 held in my left hand. If you're not already aware, the D200's built-in flash can control the SB-800 wirelessly and without the use of an extra slave. I simply changed a few settings on the flash and camera, set the strobe to slow-sync (dialing it down one stop, if I remember correctly) and fired away. I really like this effect, which freezes certain elements of the frame, but also suggests motion and action. And the fact that the light is coming from an angle makes the lighting that much more attractive.

The backstage party, as you can imagine, was totally insane, and I had to use my connections to bail Dave and five underage groupies out from a local jail.

Derby: AIK vs. Hammarby

2007-05-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

While in Stockholm I went to a couple soccer matches, including a derby between two Stockholm teams, AIK and Hammarby. My friends are hardcore AIK supporters, which gave me the idea to photograph the fan activity at an important match.

Lining up for the game outside Råsunda Stadium. The alcohol-related mess is indicative of the mood of much of the match

At the beginning of the match I stood in "knacken", the area reserved for the more hardcore AIK supporters.

Ultra-wide view from above

But the point of going was to photograph fans, so after a while I moved down to ground level.

Most interesting was the the fence directly behind the goal that, too my surprise, fans were more or less allowed to climb and stand on.

Rousing the fans

Security guards

AIK scored first.

and eventually won the match.

Afterwards, those standing in gnaget had to wait an extra 20 minutes before being released as to avoid any confrontations with Hammarby supporters.

Leaving the stadium

Shadows, etc.

2007-04-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

Interesting shadows, Östermalm, Stockholm

More wandering around central Stockholm has resulted in the pics posted here. Again, nothing terribly interesting (where are all the people??), but it was a slightly more productive wander than previous days. I'm still waiting for the nice weather to go out so I can take some boring postcard-type shots that I can sell as stock later. For now, I'm free to pursue the kind of photography I love, but am finding it hard to be inspired in this environment...

Emerging, Kungsgatan, Stockholm

Lunchtime, Sergelstorg, Stockholm

T-Centralen, Stockholm's main subway terminal

In looking back at these, I find that many of these and many of my other photos are far too symetrical, and a bit too 'distant'. I've also really been thinking about something David Alan Harvey recently said on his blog, "...to really make photographs that have the "authorship" of which i so often speak, the photographer must look inside....for it is impossible to be an author if one does not have anything to say...." I'll admit that in most cases I'm often simply observing, and don't necessarily have anything to say about Stockholm or the other places/things I shoot, which is probably my biggest obstacle...

Chess in the park

2007-04-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Taking photos here in Stockholm is literally and figuratively a world apart from taking photos in Southeast Asia. There's very little life on the streets, and the paranoia people emit when they see my camera is almost palpable. This is not to mention the cold weather and the fact that when I'm already familiar with a place I tend to have a difficult time seeing something new. Luckily there have been fleeting moments of sun and warm weather, and after the long, dark winter, people occasionally drop their guard and forget about the guy with the camera.

Such was the case yesterday in Kungsträdgården, a park in central Stockholm. The weather wasn't exactly warm (I overheard some Thai tourists complaining about how cold it was), but there were people out enjoying the sun, in particular a couple men playing street chess. I started out with this image:

The pic shows what was happening, but lacks dynamism. To make it a little more interesting, I moved to a different angle, closed in a bit, and tried to capture some of the movement of the game:

Not being entirely happy with this, I used the old trick of tilting the horizon:

and then cranked down the aperture to depict the movement:

which resulted in the best pic of the lot. I'll be the first to admit that this isn't much more than a mediocre image, but it is much more dynamic than the first, and I'm happy that I'm beginning to become more pragmatic about my photography. I also like the fact that I am slowly getting better at being able to pick out what I want to show, or what I don't want to show. Now if there was only more life here...

Tourists or locals?

2007-04-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

Saluhallen, Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sometimes you never can tell.

Bible thumpers and dreadlocks

2007-04-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

I happened to find myself on Khao San Road again last night, and although I was running to meet friends, had to stop and take a couple pics:

Christian missionaries

Hair care, Khao San-style

Face - Hand - Back - Foot

2007-04-08T00:02:00.000-07:00

Last night was the opening for Surat Osathanugrah's exhibition Face - Hand - Back - Foot. Surat is a very wealthy and well-known Thai businessman, but he's also a talented photographer. Apparently he was more or less forced to take the family business, but always harboured ambitions to become a photographer. Now he's retired and has time to pursue his true passion.

The exhibition was held at Kathmandu, Bangkok's only 100% photography gallery, which is owned by Manit Sriwanichpoom, one of the country's most well-known artists. The gallery is located in a restored Chinese shophouse, and the downstairs showcases Manit's own work:

and the upper level is where the temporary exhibitions are held:

Incidentally, in about a year from now I'm actually going to have my own exhibition at Kathmandu, but more on that later...

Ultra-freaking-wide

2007-04-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Siam Paragon taken with the ultra-wide Nikon 10.5 f/2.8 DX.

I've always liked wide lenses, but with Nikon's less-than-full-frame digital factor of 1.5 means that most wide lenses are never quite wide enough. Until now. Stick this digital-only fisheye on the Nikon D200 and you've yourself got the equivalent of a 16mm on a full-frame camera. I bought this lens mainly so I could do some insane-wide landscapes of Stockholm, but suspect it will provide endless hours of fun far into the future. After I get back to Bangkok I hope to obtain the DxO Optics Pro software to straighten out all those crazy lines. One can do the same thing in Photoshop, but apparently this program is quite sharp and easy to use. Anybody have any other software recs?

Detailed info and lots of example pics taken with this lens can be found here.

Welcome!

2007-04-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to do a photo blog for a while, and finally, here it is. Actually setting up the blog was a matter of a few moments; the hard part was thinking of a name. The one I finally decided on actually comes from a Pogues song that happened to come on while I happened to be sitting trying to think of a name... I've been obsessed with the "street" photography of masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt, and thought the name reflected something of the nature of their work, as well as the essence of the images I hope to show here. These are going to be works in progress; the pics that I snap on the way to a job, or something I'm proud of that will probably never sell, but that I like nonetheless. My main inspiration for this concept has got to be David Alan Harvey. Despite being a Magnum photographer and filing a constant stream of stories with National Geographic, the guy still finds time to add to his own blog, At Home with David Alan Harvey.

At present she's looking pretty sorry--I'll get a custom banner and add some links hopefully sooner rather than later. For now I just wanted to get it up as soon as possible, as in a matter of hours I'm to leave for Stockholm, Sweden, then on to my home Oregon, and wanted a place to post images from both of these locations. For now I'll start in my third "hometown" of Bangkok. I Happened to be down on Khao San Road, Bangkok's famous backpacker district, the other night. I was just passing through, but quickly realized that this place warrants a full-scale photographic expedition, something I'll certainly do when I come back in May.

After people watching for a while we stopped in at Brick Bar, a place where, oddly enough for Khao San Road, I was virtually the only white guy. We had come to see Teddy Ska, a Thai band that had been recommended.

The band was really fun (what other band in Bangkok has a violin soloist and a horn section?), and really got the crowd going: