Katharina Hesse: Human Negotiations (& Interview)

Katharina Hesse is a photographer who currently works in China and Asia, and has been based in Beijing for the past 17 years. She graduated in Chinese and Japanese studies from the Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris.

She has recently uploaded some of her gripping photographs of Bangkok's sex industry unto a 6 minutes-movie which she titled Human Negotiations (above), and during which she also talks about her project in a Skype-interview with Elisabetta Tripodi, and which appeared on the blog e-photoreview.

Human Negotiations is an experimental two-year collaboration between Katharina and writer Lara Day, using images and text to explore the lives of a community of Bangkok sex workers. I cannot begin to fathom how Katharina managed to gain the trust and confidence of her subjects to such a degree...and she says as such in her interview, and that the most important task in her project was to gain the trust of the sex workers and their clients. All serious photographers agree with her advice, since only full and complete mutual trust gained over months and months can make such intimate projects possible.

Katharina's has an impressive background. Not only is she a self-taught photographer (always a huge plus for me), but she initially worked as an assistant for German TV (ZDF) and then freelanced for Newsweek from 1996 to 2002. In 2003 and 2004 she covered China for Getty’s news service. Her images were featured in numerous publications such as Courrier International, Der Spiegel, D della Repubblica, EYEmazing, Zeit Magazin, Glamour (Germany), IO Donna, Die Zeit, Marie-Claire, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Neon, Newsweek, 100Eyes.org , Reporters without borders(yearbook 2010, Germany), Stern, Time Asia, Vanity Fair (Italy/Germany), and Wired (Italy) among others.

Katharina's photographs of Xinjiang, Kashgar and Urumqi are probably the best I've seen of that region....so go to her website after you watch the above movie.

Thailand: Damnoen Saduak Market

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
The troubling events in the streets of Bangkok reminded me of the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market near the capital, which is a must-stop for foreign and local tourists, as well as food lovers. I've visited it almost every time I stop in Thailand, when I'm en route to Bhutan, Cambodia or Bali.

Yes, it's a tourist trap to a large degree but the food served by the women on their floating dugouts-kitchens is spectacular. I'm told that getting there very early in the morning will ensure a tourist-free experience, but I doubt it.

I'm traveling today, hence this short post.

Gianfranco Tripodo: Wat Bang Phra

I saw the work of Gianfranco Tripodo mentioned in a Lightstalkers forum discussion, and noticed he documented the ritualistic tattooing at the Thai temple of Wat Bang Phra, near Bangkok as I did a couple of years ago. His gallery is titled Sak Yant: Thai Magical Tattoo.

Gianfranco Tripodo is a photojournalist currently based in Madrid, Spain, and is a member of Cesuralab Agency, an Italian photo collective under the artistic direction of Alex Majoli, Magnum Photos. He was published in L’Espresso, IoDonna, El Pais and worked with PhotoEspaña Festival.

I've already posted a number of posts on Wat Bang Phra and its tattooing monks here. It's worth casting an eye on the posts to understand the importance of these religious (or "magical") tattoos to the Thais.

My own gallery The Tattooing Monks of Wat Bang Phra is on my website, and I noticed that one of the tattooing monks appears in both Gianfranco's gallery and mine.

Tom Hoops: Wai Kru Ceremony

Photograph © Tom Hoops-All Rights Reserved
Tom Hoops' biography is sparse....very sparse. His website only says that he's a freelance photographer, based in Bangkok and available for worldwide assignments. That's it.

However, his work speaks for him. Mostly black & white, with a few in color, Hoops has a natural affinity for portraits...striking portraits. A few of his subjects display enormous magnetism, and his Heads gallery is a must-see on his website.

But the gallery I liked best is the Documentary one because Hoops displays his work on the annual Wai Kru (homage to the teacher) ceremony at Wat Bang Phra, a Buddhist monastery 25 miles west of Bangkok. It is here that thousands of laborers, taxi-drivers, truck drivers, mobsters, small time crooks arrive once a year at the temple to take part in ceremony known as wai kru. They receive new tattoos, refresh faded ones, and get high or drunk.

(Tom Hoops gallery via Penelope Gan's blog)

I'm very familar with Wat Bang Phra (or Phro) and its tattooing monks. I photographed the monks at the monastery, and have a blog post here.

Richard Daniels: Buddha Factory

Photograph © Richard Daniels-All Rights Reserved
Richard Daniels is a British photographer who studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute in Australia, and is currently working out of Bangkok. He has exhibited his work at the National Museum Bangkok and participated in the International Photography Best of Show 2008 curated by Bill Hunt of Hasted Hunt (NY). His photographs were also recently published in the Lucie Awards Book, and in Through Our Eyes (Thailand Close Up).

I encourage you to visit all of Richard's galleries, although my favorite is of his recent Buddha Factory.

Andaman Rising

Courtesy Andaman Rising Org
Every now and then appears a visual project of such quality that I cannot wait to get its website on the virtual pages of TTP. Such a project is Andaman Rising, and is a project of UNC School of Journalism. A sensitive, and very well-put project by young journalists.

Three-and-a-half years after the Asian tsunami hit southern Thailand , a team of young journalists traveled to the seaside province of Phang-nga to document the lives and culture of people living by the Andaman region.

As per the introduction of Andaman Rising:

"By the salty docks of Phang-nga they found stories of determination. In Buddhist temples they found tradition. On boats and in schools and on the streets of tiny villages, they found surprises, sadness, laughter and hope.

Welcome to life by the Andaman Sea."

via The Click (link)

Eric de Vries: Thailand

Photograph © Eric de Vries-All Rights Reserved
Eric de Vries lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he's been travelling since 2000. He's working on a long-term project titled 'Still Life in Khmer Style' that covers landscapes, temple scenes and Buddha statues. He has already produced several series, most of them in black and white, and published 3 books so far.

The new series Breaking The Clouds (Over Ayuthaya) was recently photographed during a trip to Thailand, while the One-Three-Six-series is a documentary about Street 136 in the heart of Phnom Penh.

Both series will be ready for publication during the second half of this year, but a preview of the two series can bee seen on Eric de Vries' website

Tattooing Monks of Thailand

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
I recently updated a photo essay entitled The Tattooing Monks of Wat Bang Phra, and revamped the photo gallery by using Adobe Lightroom's Flash gallery capabilities. Nothing could have been simpler.

The National Geographic's All Terrain blog has a new post on Thailand's tattooing monks, and I wrote on the same subject a few months ago on TTP, and linked to an identical project which had appeared on NPR

The monks at Wat Bang Phro near Bangkok are reputed to be among the best tattooists in Asia. They use a long metal rod, sharpened to a fine point, and have uncanny precision in their work. Here, antiseptics range from regular rubbing alcohol to a local rice wine, and toilet paper paper to blot any blood. I was told that the ink is made from snake venom, herbs, and cigarette ashes. The monks' talents as tattoo artists are available for little remuneration: an offering of orchids, a carton of Thai cigarettes (preferably menthol-flavored) or a few Bhats towards the upkeep of the Wat.

Beat Presser: Oasis of Silence

Photograph © Beat Presser-All Rights Reserved
When Beat Presser was in late teens, he traveled through Southeast Asia, and met with a car accident in Thailand. Healed from a serious spine injury by monks in a Buddhist monastery, he vowed to do something in return, should he become the photographer he intended to be.

Between 2000 and 2004, he returned to live in Theravada Buddhism monasteries in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and photographed the essence of Buddhism. Oasis of Silence is the resulting photographic exhibition and book.

Presser also produced an accompanying website My Oasis of Silence allows participants to post their profile and photographs, and to interact among each other and with Beat Presser, thus creating a growing community and allowing a permanent exchange.

Beat Presser's Buddhism Oasis of Silence is well produced and its background music is haunting, but the B&W photographs are too small to fully appreciate Presser's artistry.

Streets Eats In Bangkok

Image © Josef Polleross /New York Times-All Rights Reserved
To compensate for my irascible Sunday rant on Manhattan brunches, here's a slideshow from the New York Times on Street Eats in Bangkok. The photography is by Josef Polleross, and the accompanying article is written by by Joshua Kurlantzick who has experienced Bangkok street restaurants for a decade.

He writes on what most frequent travelers to Thailand know well; the best food in Thailand is served by street vendors and at small neighborhood restaurants. What I didn't realize however, is that it's because of historical reasons that Bangkok has some of the best street food in the world. It has long attracted migrants from all over Asia, so its street cuisine, both from street carts and in tiny eateries, blends many Asian and South Asian styles of cooking.

The article provides information as to the names and locations of these eateries, so the next time I'm in Bangkok, you'll find me there.

NPR: Thai Tattoo Tradition

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
In July 2005, I was traveling to Indonesia and stopped en route in Bangkok. It is there that I heard of the famous Wat Bang Phro monastery just outside the city's limits. It wasn't easy to find, but I found Bannasad "Nai" Radabutr, a taxi driver, who knew where it was and who also spoke some English. Through his intermediation, I photographed the tattooing monks at the monastery, and was quite pleased with the results. The resulting Tattooing Monks of Wat Bang Phro is probably one of my preferred documentary photo essays.

So imagine my pleasure at seeing that a similar photo-essay by Scott Carney was published by NPR's website less than two weeks ago, and doubly pleased to see that one of the photographs was almost identical to mine...in terms of subject, of composition and viewpoint. Here it is:

Image Copyright © Scott Carney/NPR-All Rights Reserved

The NPR article tells us that Thai soldiers have covered their bodies in protective tattoos called Sak Yant, and that the ancient ritual is increasingly popular in Thailand and beyond, and people are flocking to master artists to have the powerful designs inked on their bodies.

Naturally, I would've been happier had NPR chosen my photographs to publish in this feature, but that's how it is. It'll be for another time.

NPR's Photo Essay

NPR's Thai Tattoo Tradition

One Shot: Jon Ryder

Image Copyright © Jon Ryder - All Rights Reserved
Jon Ryder is a dentist, a photographer, and a teacher who uses his skills to help the children of Cambodia. He currently provides dental care at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap.

He is also involved with the United Planet Organization which provides financial and educational support to professionals in countries such as Cambodia.

I am pleased to welcome Jon's photograph of a Buddhist monk praying at the feet of a gilded Buddha statue as this week's One Shot. The photograph could have been taken in Thailand for two reasons: the Subduing Mara sitting position of the Buddha (which is common in Thailand), and the orange color of the monk's which is characteristic of the Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist order.

The Buddha's hand gesture signifies the calling the Earth to witness. It's only found in the sitting position, and is similar to the meditation position. The left hand remains in the lap, while the right hand rests on the thigh near the knee, palm inward, and fingers touching the ground slightly. It represents the moment when Buddha took the earth as testimony when he had resolved the problem of cessation of suffering while he was under the peepal tree at Bodh-Gaya.

The photograph is probably posed, but I liked the composition and the complementary colors of the robes and the gild on the statue. I would've probably photographed the scene from a wider angle, but I think it's evocative as it is...although a bit stilted. It's certainly a typical travel photograph...excellent for stock.

Jon Ryder's website is full of similar photographs, and I urge you to visit it as well as his worthwhile cause, United Planet's website.

Marc Schultz: Thailand

Image Copyright © Marc Schultz -All Rights Reserved
Marc Schultz is a Bangkok-based commercial and fine-art travel photographer. His work includes various fields of photography; corporate, travel, advertising, food and interior.

His images are published in newspapers, books, magazines, web sites, print media greeting cards, calendars, corporate literature, and billboards. Marc is collaborating with a major European book publisher on a 200-page coffee table book about Thailand. He works with a full production team of lighting technicians, stylists, make-up artists, and has access to foreign and local models.

While Marc has his own website showcasing his excellent photography, I chose a separate website that has a slideshow with his narration and a soundtrack. The slideshow (Soundslides) is titled Thai Life Through The Lens. There are a number of great frames in this feature. My favorite is one of two elderly rural Thai women laughing their heads off ...this photograph, among others, deserves a standing ovation.

Having said that, I found the narrative to have a 'canned' feel to it. Marc chose not to use a 'fade-in/fade-out' technique, which means that there are no smooth transitions between the narrative and the traditional music. Notwithstanding this shortcoming, I found the photographs to be inspiring.

Marc's slideshow Thai Life Though The Lens

Marc's website

Beyond The Frame: Tattooing Monks

From The Tattooing Monks of Wat Bang Phro-Copyright 2005 Tewfic El-Sawy
For this week's Beyond The Frame feature, I chose my image of a Thai being tattooed, his skin being pulled tautly by his friends.

I had heard of a monastery not far from Bangkok that specialized that had the best tattooing artists in Thailand. These artists were Buddhist monks who worked virtually around the clock, tattooing religious designs on Thais and the occasional foreigner.

With a taxi driver who seemed to know how to get to Wat Bang Phro, and about half an hour of frenetic driving, we got to the monastery. Before allowed in, I was first interviewed by a senior monk who wanted to be reassured that I did not intend to defame the practice in any way. Allowed then to photograph as I pleased, I walked in a room where two monks were busy. They used long metal rods, sharpened to a fine point, and had uncanny precision in their work. I watched in disbelief how fast the monk's hand moved...it was just a blur. Here, antiseptics range from regular rubbing alcohol to a local rice wine, and toilet paper paper to blot any blood. I was told that the ink was made from snake venom, herbs, and cigarette ashes. The monks' talents as tattoo artists are available for an offering of orchids, a carton of Thai cigarettes (preferably menthol-flavored) or perhaps a few Bhats towards the upkeep of the Wat.

The tattoos, as inscribed by these Buddhist monks, are defensive in purpose since they are to protect the wearer from any harm. Here in Thailand, tattoos are considered by many to have powerful powers, and to prevent bad luck in general.

It was quite difficult to find a good spot to photograph in this room. The sunlight came through two windows, but the corners of the room were dark, and I couldn't ask the monks and their 'clients' to hold a pose. This was purely a situation where one photographs as one can, irrespective of angles. I was on top of them, to their side...anywhere I could find some space.

EXIF: shutter speed 1/13 sec.- fstop 5.6 - iso 200 - focal length 28mm - no flash fired.