Most people don’t mind being photographed, but there are a few who don’t seem so keen; hookers on Beach Road for example. And hookers have pimps, and pimps have drugs inside them and assorted weaponry to hand (based on the movies I have seen); so it is best to be cautious.
In pursuit of stealth, I spent $25 dollars (including postage) on eBay for one of these:
A transmitter with an aerial in case you happen to be standing a long way away, and a receiver which dangles from the side of the camera, unless you modify like I did and add a hotshoe mount. Press the transmitter button half way down to focus and all the way down to take the shot; and it works perfectly.
Holding my camera in my left hand and the transmitter in my right, I took a little walk down beach road. If you are going to be stealthy you can’t look at the rear screen of the camera, so composition and focus point are very much hit and miss, and usually they are miss. Still, I got this which made the outing worthwhile:
Panasonic GX1 with Leica DG Summilux 25mm lens
More practice required.
Comments 🔗
2012-06-12| Clive saysAnother textured, nuanced shot: I like it. I am a little intrigued by the pale stripes across your subject’s left forearm, and wonder if they are an artifact, shadowing, or perhaps physically present?
In the interests of transparency I should mention that it wasn’t until last year, when I happened to notice something similar on the arm of one of the regular crew of a Phuket dive boat, that I actually noticed the prevalence of self-harm in that specific location. All generalisations are dangerous, but I began to get the idea that in these odd cases local Thai would find themselves in a curious no-man’s-land between two cultures… Lacking the skin tone [lobster!] or affluence of farang visitors to join that set, treated warily by those more comfortable with a more traditional Buddhist way of life, I did come to appreciate the very real challenges of those locals that us tourists got to know and befriend during our visits.
I guess that being stuck between two worlds is never an easy place to be…
2012-06-13| Spike saysThey are actual marks. One can only speculate on the life this lady has lived, which has ended up with her having to hang around a tourist resort trying to sell her body in order to survive.; but some attempts at self-harm along the way are not surprising.
2012-06-13| Chang Noi saysBeach road …. for some the the last road and sadly sometimes a dead-end one. Try to imagine that she was once one of those beautiful girls with a gracious smile. Beautiful shot …. still I am not sure if you should make it public without the permission of the person in question.
The marks are very probably self-inflicted as fake suicide attempt or done under the influence of yaba (to test if one still has feelings). Not only in Thailand popular but yes you do see it here many times.
2012-06-13| Spanky saysI’m back to reality now and will be checking in again since I’m no longer single handedly supporting the San Miguel Brewery or Pattaya Music Scene. I got slick with my G3 and would set it on the bar or table and aim it towards the street or whatever I wanted and then flip the screen down so I could see what I shot. Easier than the walking shot but the handy remote would make things easier.
My girlfriend now considering taking up photography herself thought that I was just being too much like a farang would just grab the camera, frame the shot and take it regardless of how potentially angry these people could be about being shot. I was sure at one moment my camera was doomed to be smashed when she shot a couple with an obviously barfined Thai gentleman; yes, gentleman. I finally just grabbed the camera from her.
As for your subject, I avoid Beach Rd. While a target rich environment, its a depressing one if you know what you are looking at. Regardless of if the scars are self inflicted or not, some of the humanity you see down there isn’t pretty.
2012-06-17| GG saysHaunting.