Happy New Years from Thailand!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Greetings from Thailand! Now that wedding season is over I'm going to be working on my documentary photography here in Thailand until heading back to the US for Valerie and Brett's wedding out in Palm Springs CA next April.
The guise of photographing fishermen has also provided me a good excuse to live on a secluded beach for the next month! About a year and a half ago I was visiting my father in Thailand and decided to take a little vacation by myself on the island of Koh Phangan in Southern Thailand. After settling into my $10 a night beachside bungalow, I decided to explore the area and discovered a small fishing village that was still thriving on this island that is nearly overrun with resorts, scuba tours, and "bar-beers".
By the time I acquainted myself with the village I only had a day and a half left on the island (my senior year at NYU was beginning in a week) but the fishermen were so friendly and warm with me that in just a day I was able to go deep-sea fishing with Lung Naap, come back and eat the fish he caught that day, spend a night drinking rice whiskey with members of the village in their hut on the beach, and even attend the wedding of P' Dum's niece the next morning. So this is where I will begin my next few months photographing. I'm hoping that with a visit that lasts more than 48 hours, I'll be able to make some photos that do justice to the serene, simple, and contented life of these fishermen and their families, because it is a special way of living that is in serious danger as the forces of tourism and globalization begin to alter even the most remote locales of this country.
Here's a few of my photos from last year:
P' Tawee, a squid fishermen, brings in his boat as the sun rises on Chaloklum Beach. Squid fishing has to be conducted at night because the squid are lured into the nets by an artificial purple light.
At the same time, Lung Naap gets ready to head out for a day of deep-sea fishing. He had been sleeping in his boat and is pulling me towards him by a raft in the second photo.
The fish that are deep in the ocean are huge, and Lung Naap really only needs to catch one or two of these a day to make a living. During the rainy season he'll sometimes go a week without a catch, but later on around Feb-May he can catch 10 large fish a day.
Lung Naap showing the days catch.
Because it gets so hot outside the fishermen only stay out at sea until around noon. In the afternoon they'll take a nap in the hut on the beach. In the second photo P' Dum watches the sun setting with his granddaughter.
Grilling up some of the small fish that we caught in the shallow part of the sea earlier that day. They simply put a fire under a piece of scrap metal and grill the fish whole... this tasted amazing. I have never eaten something so fresh and delicious.
At night we sit in the hut by the beach, drinkig rice whiskey and smoking some kind of local tobacco rolled in bamboo leaves.
P' Dum's niece and her groom at their wedding the next morning. This was a REAL country wedding! Wish I had better pictures of this so you could see how modest yet joyful the wedding was - essentially just a gathering of the entire village with enough food (and whiskey) to feed an army. Unfortunately I had to catch the ferry back to Bangkok but I should have many more opportunities for photos over the next month.
I look forward to sharing more photos after my trip.
Happy New Year everyone!
The guise of photographing fishermen has also provided me a good excuse to live on a secluded beach for the next month! About a year and a half ago I was visiting my father in Thailand and decided to take a little vacation by myself on the island of Koh Phangan in Southern Thailand. After settling into my $10 a night beachside bungalow, I decided to explore the area and discovered a small fishing village that was still thriving on this island that is nearly overrun with resorts, scuba tours, and "bar-beers".
By the time I acquainted myself with the village I only had a day and a half left on the island (my senior year at NYU was beginning in a week) but the fishermen were so friendly and warm with me that in just a day I was able to go deep-sea fishing with Lung Naap, come back and eat the fish he caught that day, spend a night drinking rice whiskey with members of the village in their hut on the beach, and even attend the wedding of P' Dum's niece the next morning. So this is where I will begin my next few months photographing. I'm hoping that with a visit that lasts more than 48 hours, I'll be able to make some photos that do justice to the serene, simple, and contented life of these fishermen and their families, because it is a special way of living that is in serious danger as the forces of tourism and globalization begin to alter even the most remote locales of this country.
Here's a few of my photos from last year:
P' Tawee, a squid fishermen, brings in his boat as the sun rises on Chaloklum Beach. Squid fishing has to be conducted at night because the squid are lured into the nets by an artificial purple light.
At the same time, Lung Naap gets ready to head out for a day of deep-sea fishing. He had been sleeping in his boat and is pulling me towards him by a raft in the second photo.
The fish that are deep in the ocean are huge, and Lung Naap really only needs to catch one or two of these a day to make a living. During the rainy season he'll sometimes go a week without a catch, but later on around Feb-May he can catch 10 large fish a day.
Lung Naap showing the days catch.
Because it gets so hot outside the fishermen only stay out at sea until around noon. In the afternoon they'll take a nap in the hut on the beach. In the second photo P' Dum watches the sun setting with his granddaughter.
Grilling up some of the small fish that we caught in the shallow part of the sea earlier that day. They simply put a fire under a piece of scrap metal and grill the fish whole... this tasted amazing. I have never eaten something so fresh and delicious.
At night we sit in the hut by the beach, drinkig rice whiskey and smoking some kind of local tobacco rolled in bamboo leaves.
P' Dum's niece and her groom at their wedding the next morning. This was a REAL country wedding! Wish I had better pictures of this so you could see how modest yet joyful the wedding was - essentially just a gathering of the entire village with enough food (and whiskey) to feed an army. Unfortunately I had to catch the ferry back to Bangkok but I should have many more opportunities for photos over the next month.
I look forward to sharing more photos after my trip.
Happy New Year everyone!
