Lost in Bangkok

seastack

Lost in Bangkok

This is ... not a travelogue, more of a strange vignette ... perhaps it doesn't belong here in "Journeys," or it does in only a metaphorical sense ... no captions, only impressions ...

These are pics taken during a recent workshop i attended in Bangkok, Thailand with 27 other photographers from around the world where i was given total freedom to go wherever i wished ... conceptually, technically (actually technical issues or equipment were never discussed in class, it wasn't about that), physically ... from Chinatown, the railway station, street, slums, malls, temples ... i wandered on foot, in tuk tuk, rail, cab, skytrain, subway, boat ... through rich and poor, which often exist side by side in Bangkok, searching for texture outside the box ... trying not to make postcards, if that makes sense, trying to do something at least a little "different" ...

Very mixed reactions to these photos ... i wonder if this is the right forum for this ... so much technical and gear talk, obsession with technical perfection, too little raw emotion or instinct sometimes i think ... my apologies, it's just an observation ... so, now that i've irritated you ;-) ...

love it, hate it, fine wine or vinegar ...

cunarder534

#3 is my fave. Good work.

Ann McRae

Fabulous, totally fabulous!

The first 4 b&w are amazing, the rest pretty damn close!

ann

Tee Why

Nice series. I would have liked to get a little narration for more context to the shots. But even without narrations, they are nice environmental portraits/street shots.

schmoo

I don't think these need captions. Each one tells it's own story. I am glad that you claim to be getting back into the photojournalism realm because I am completely speechless when I see your photos.




One more for good measure:

Elaine

You are a very talented photographer, sir! This set is inspiring and visually packs a punch! There is something interesting to consider in each one. Thanks for sharing and I hope we get to see more!

saurora

That my friend, is one the most beautiful journeys I have yet to take in this forum. Thank you for not narrating, but instead allowing my eyes and mind come to their own conclusion.

Arvan

My lord!!! this is just mindblowing! Ive bin to thailand myself but i was young back then. Guess i will post my brazil trip on here. But this is just great!..

Thanx for postin! Love the one with the elephant foot and the human foot

Awais Yaqub

I have no words to explain how much i loved these photos

Chrissiebeez_NL

fine wine! definitly! #3,4,5 and the last one are my fav.

this is the creative inspiration that is sometimes forgotten by photog., but something we should all try to hold close to our hearts!

keep up the good work!

seastack

A few more ...
And a few more from Bangkok )

Travis

You have really outdone yourself (and I didn't think that was possible) with this series. The first set were great but the second set just blew me away. Its that feeling you get that you feel like you are part of the photo.

schmoo

I'm still in awe, not only of the subject and composition of your images but with the beauty of the processing. How do you do that? So much contrast and color without losing any details. So apparent in the first one in your second set. Wow!

leaforte

Exemplary series. BRAVO!

DoctorIt

1. stunning images. really. stunning.

2. My favorite by far is the pink Mercedes juxtaposed with the bamboo wielding monk.

2. I'm not letting you off that easy though!

seastack wrote:

so much technical and gear talk, obsession with technical perfection, too little raw emotion or instinct sometimes i think ... my apologies, it's just an observation ... so, now that i've irritated you ;-) ...

I'm more than happy to leave the gear and pixel peeping out of this. I completely agree that sometimes dgrin needs a good infusion of art and emotion. But now that you've gotten your (well deserved) pats on the back, care to share more about this workshop? It sounds intriguing, did it at least have a name/premise?

seastack

DoctorIt wrote:

I'm more than happy to leave the gear and pixel peeping out of this. I completely agree that sometimes dgrin needs a good infusion of art and emotion. But now that you've gotten your (well deserved) pats on the back, care to share more about this workshop? It sounds intriguing, did it at least have a name/premise?

Okay, that's only fair i suppose.

I hesitate to write too much about two heroes of mine for fear i won't do them justice ... it was an honor and a privilege to meet and talk with both of them, to be a student of theirs. It was not, however, easy ... and that was a very good thing. I came away with a new sense of what makes a "great" photograph ... the workshop challenged many of my preconceptions ... and i developed an even better understanding that it's incredibly difficult to make a "great" photo as opposed to a good photo ... and even more difficult to do it consistently ... and an understanding that in today's marketplace, it is also incredibly difficult to distinguish oneself ... there are so many really, really good photographers today ... saying you're a photographer today is almost like saying you breath air ... so authorship, authorship, authorship as David Alan Harvey likes to say.

I attended a week-long photography workshop hosted by both David Alan Harvey (Magnum and National Geographic) and James Nachtwey (VII and Time), two very different photographers in terms of style and subject matter, one war and one peace so to speak, one predominantly a black and white photographer and the other color but both similar in their uncompromising commitment to quality, photo essays and humanitarian pursuits, and both longtime friends. They are just wonderful people, committed, visionaries, kind, hopeful. I applied to attend and was surprised to be accepted for the class which was held in Bangkok. This is the first and perhaps last time these two legends teach a workshop together. The class was composed of photographers from around the world, some already well published internationally, shooting a wide range of styles and subjects - from fine art to photojournalism - and hailing from France, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Australia, U.S., Britain, Thailand, Chile, and a few other countries. It was all very ... intimidating, at first.

As David Alan Harvey likes to say, all great photographers have "something to say" with their work and the class was about authorship, developing a style, story telling (but not necessarily in the literal sense, conceptual as opposed to didactic), thinking and seeing, taking that next step as a photographer ... Students came up with their own "assignment" or photo essay concept, discussed it the first day in class and then went out on their own everyday, and sometimes all night, to shoot it. None of us got much sleep. Edited work from each student, no more than 10 photos, was presented the following day in morning session classes projected on a screen ... ruthlessly honest daily critiques in class, in front of your peers, of the work shot the day before ... some picks might be chosen for a slideshow at the end of the week where each student had a short photo essay, or Harvey and Nachtwey might say, "you've got nothin' here," offer advice and lots of encouragement, and kick your butt out the door to pick yourself up and do it again.

Some essays were straight ahead photojournalism, sort of ... a prostitute with her john, homeless kids huffing glue, construction of skyscrapers in bangkok but all done in a particularly artistic or unique way, individual to the photographer and their vision, their style ... both a window and a mirror ... and some were more esoteric. I had perhaps the most freedom of anyone in the class ... both a blessing and a curse ... to do something more esoteric on Bangkok life ... and to completely throw off rigid concepts from my literal journalism background. They told me to go nuts, move beyond the didactic, get loose, let go, get close and just make good photos. Often I'd come to class with what i thought was a great photo to have them skip over it, or say, "too camera club" ... ouch, lol ) I failed a lot, struggled with demons holding me back, and pushed on through ... as did everyone ... and i learned nearly as much from my friends in class as i did from Harvey and Nachtwey. I think i may now have couches around the world to crash on, and any of them can crash on mine ... )

I should say that the class was also incredibly inspiring ... you can't look at James Nachtwey's and David Alan Harvey's work without being inspired and they both gave several personal presentations ... simply incredible from two of the world's greatest photographers ... you can see rules of composition in their work but it goes way beyond that ... broken rules to add tension, layering, three dimensional thirds, multiple "decisive moments" on different layers within the same photo ... but to talk about composition takes away from the feeling you get, the impact, from their work and the extra intangible, undefinable splash that defines great art ... man oh man ... transcendence of the medium. We also had presentations from, among others, Patrick Brown who presented his work on the illegal Endangered Species trade in Asia. The guy has risked his life as much as any war photographer to shed light on the frequently unseen and horrific trade of endangered animals. Really inspiring. Also present was Stephen Dupont, who just won the Eugene Smith award to continue his work in Afghanistan, and his slideshow, where he mixed both still and motion pictures, took everyone's breath away. That happened a lot actually.

The workshop ended with a slideshow of students' work, a series of our photo essays, set to music, and a big party on a hotel rooftop in Bangkok. Good times, hard times, really low lows and high highs, a rollercoaster, and an invaluable experience.

So, that's the story, a small piece of it ... and i'm now more than ever committed to do something "important" with my work, self assigned and on my own if need be, likely, ... still searching for my windmill, "getting my head on straight," as it were. I've enjoyed exploring different photo genres over the last 18 months, from travel to landscape to more fine art and even a bit of commercial ... all good learning experiences and i think i've incorporated a bit of each into my overall work, certainly technique, but most of it just went out of my portfolio and into the round file ... it's time to settle down again. I'm frankly torn between more "artistic" photojournalism on social issues versus more esoteric work on a given subject, say "the blues" as just an example, maybe a bit of both, but i'll figure it out ... and then i'll stick to it, fail a lot, then pick myself up and do it again )

More than you wanted to know perhaps ... ;-)

DoctorIt

seastack wrote:

More than you wanted to know perhaps ... ;-)

Not at all! Thanks mate, that's an excellent read and sheds some light on the journey I took through the photos last night.

jdryan3

Great images. I too like #3, #4, #5 the most from the first series, and the second series is fantastic - at first I was drawn to #2 & #3, but #4 just seems to suck me in the more in look at it. #3 has lots of stories in that one, great composition and camera angle.

And definitely not TMI on the background story. I read thru it a couple times. I'm not even there and find it inspiring. I've been to several Santa Fe Workshops, and looking at the instructors AND the other participants work just leaves me awestruck every time! I'm glad you were willing to take the time to share.

Nikolai

I'm speachless! Wow!

nightspidy

Pictures
I love your pictures and am so inspired by them!!! They are so unique. I looked over them several times and I'm just speechless. Great work. Thank you for shedding light on your experience, it was an excellent read. Share more please!

paddlerx

b/w process?

seastack wrote:

And a few more from Bangkok )

Can anyone please fill me in on the b/w processing that was used in these...i'll memorize them and promise to never not use it. Stunning images and lighting...brutally stunning. and thank you.

schmoo

seastack wrote:

Okay, that's only fair i suppose.

I hesitate to write too much about two heroes of mine for fear i won't do them justice

Thank you for sharing your story!

I will have you know that to my untrained eye, seeing the results that you got from this incredible workshop moved and inspired me as much as I think you were by your teachers.

We can all hope to be as lucky to experience such a life changing experience, when a great master teaches you personally. But I think an almost equally rare gift is seeing a work of art that pushes you in the same way.

DavidTO

Seastack,

Awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing your images, your experiences and your knowledge!

seastack

paddlerx wrote:

Can anyone please fill me in on the b/w processing that was used in these...i'll memorize them and promise to never not use it. Stunning images and lighting...brutally stunning. and thank you.

It was an underexposed raw file with good pooling light and nice selective focus converted using channel mixer (in Aperture, although same can be done in PS), seasoned to taste, and then adjustment layers (curves) applied selectively using layer masks in PS to boost contrast without losing too much tonal range. Some selective sharpening was used as well to pop texture in certain areas. Beyond that all i can say is lots of playing around .. practice makes it a bit easier ... but the initial file has to have lots of contrast and range to get this stark result. I tend to prefer stark images with lots of texture ... reminds me of underexposing and pushing film, Tmax 3200 was once a favorite of mine as well before i went all digitial. Sometimes as a final step, i'll add a little monochromatic guassian noise (maybe 3) to my black and whites to simulate just a touch of film grain.

hope this is helpful )

paddlerx

seastack wrote:

It was an underexposed raw file with good pooling light and nice selective focus converted using channel mixer (in Aperture, although same can be done in PS), seasoned to taste, and then adjustment layers (curves) applied selectively using layer masks in PS to boost contrast without losing too much tonal range. Some selective sharpening was used as well to pop texture in certain areas. Beyond that all i can say is lots of playing around .. practice makes it a bit easier ... but the initial file has to have lots of contrast and range to get this stark result. I tend to prefer stark images with lots of texture ... reminds me of underexposing and pushing film, Tmax 3200 was once a favorite of mine as well before i went all digitial. Sometimes as a final step, i'll add a little monochromatic guassian noise (maybe 3) to my black and whites to simulate just a touch of film grain.

hope this is helpful )

its a tad beyond what's natural for me now in PS but i'm going to print this out (like a recipe card i guess....) and practice till my eyes bleed.

thank you very much.

LiquidAir

seastack wrote:

Very mixed reactions to these photos ... i wonder if this is the right forum for this ... so much technical and gear talk, obsession with technical perfection, too little raw emotion or instinct sometimes i think ... my apologies, it's just an observation ... so, now that i've irritated you ;-) ...

At the same time, I would describe the photos you post as very technical because they appear to be shot with a keen awareness of the unique way a camera views the world.

Some reactions:

#2 A very striking composition. I like it despite the double image of the trunk and foot rather than because of it.

#3 This shot is remarkable in its intamacy given the fact that there is an elephant in the room.

#4 The out of focus face in the background of this shot is amazing. If I had taken this shot it would be very dear to my heart. If it were mine, I think I would crop it just inside the smoker's ear.

#5 I see this hand and say ouch. Great texture here.

#7 Great framing on the run; it is almost too perfect.

#8 This keeps drawing my eye but I don't know why.

Set 2:

#2 Wow. A great take on the clash of cultures.

#4 This shot really places me on the streets of Bangkok. You've packed a lot in here.

digitalpins

seastack wrote:

And a few more from Bangkok )

Awesome photos thanks for sharing and this one is my favorite from the bunch

JenGrace

seastack wrote:

I love this one. I think challenging one's preconceived notions of how a photo should be taken is one of the hardest things to do, and it sounds like you've made some successful steps in that direction. Very impressive set.

Panther

What an amazing journey you've been on, the trip itself would have been an incredible things to most of us, but the reason and details of the trip took it over the edge of what most of us could imagine. Thanks so much for sharing your inner thoughts and soul with us. It was very interesting to hear the ideas and directions your Mentor's gave you, so much of it applies to each and everyone of us, we get wrapped up in other's pre-conceived notions of what an image should be, and how to go about achieving it. For that insight, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!! For all those times when other don't appreciate the time and effort or see what's the intent of the image was.

Your images reach out and grab people, the colors and tones are wonderful, well seen and thoughtout, leaving the viewer wanting more and more. The richness of your B&W images have so much depth and detail in them, to have put those images and feelings together shows your journey was well rewarded.

Thank you again, this has been one of the best posts I have read on this forum, it brought in not only photography, but the heart and soul of making an image.

Kindest Regards,

Craig

Awais Yaqub

Wow wonderful
Loved that cross photo

tobers

Stunning!