It’s been a long time since I’ve posted something on this half of the blog, mostly because I haven’t been taking too many pics lately. Other than the occasional photography assignment, I’ve predominately been working on guidebooks and other writing projects. It was during this photographic drought that I mentioned to a friend that I’d always wanted to check out a look thung concert, roughly equivalent to Thai-style country music. I got the hook-up (thanks, Angie!), and this afternoon I found myself at Suan Lum Night Bazaar, taking pics from the audience as well as backstage. I’ve previously posted photos of other Thai performances, from ngiw to likay, previously, and it’s a topic I’d like to pursue, so stay tuned for more in the future.

I recently spent three days in Melbourne, Australia shooting the photos for a magazine article about the city’s alleyways, arcades and lanes (an article on the same topic, written by Phil Lees, can be seen here). It was a fun assignment, and was also my first real chance to try out my new camera, a Nikon D700, and I have to say that I’m a satisfied customer. I think I rarely shot below ISO400, sometimes even shooting at ISO6400, getting excellent results nearly all the time. I love the feel of the camera, and appreciate the gigantic viewfinder. To view a slideshow of some random images from Melbourne, click on the image above — use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.

If you follow events in Thailand then you’re probably already aware of the anti-government protests that have taken place in Bangkok. I was able to witness some of the clashes firsthand today from 1-3pm in the area surrounding the Victory Monument. Although by the evening of the same day the situation appears to have calmed, the standoff was tense and occasionally violent, and could potentially have been much worse. To view a slideshow of some of the images (taken with my new Nikon D700!), click on the image above — use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.

Shooting photos in Dhaka, Bangladesh was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. There are few certifiable ’sights’ in the city, but the hectic atmosphere and abundance of incredibly friendly people combined to make it a virtual game reserve for photographers. To commence a slideshow of 25 random images from the city, click on the image above — use keyboard arrows or hold your mouse above the images to navigate through them.

The first time I was on Ko Yao Noi was in 2007 when I was assisting French photographer Eric Valli for the book project, Thailand: 9 Days in the Kingdom. For his assignment, Eric had chosen to photograph the Muslim islanders who gather swallows’ nests (a Chinese delicacy) in local caves, revisiting a topic he had documented in a film, book and National Geographic article in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the nine days we worked mostly with the new generation of bird nest gatherers, but Eric did make a point of stopping by to say hello to Sahat, a now elderly gatherer who was the superstar of his previous work. Despite his age, Sahat was still as spry as ever, at one point proving to us that he could still climb by quickly scaling a vine hanging over our boat!

Two years later find myself on Ko Yao Noi again and decided to stop by to see how Sahat was doing. I could only vaguely remember the street he lived on, but somehow found him, amazingly wearing the same Thai schoolboy’s shirt as last time! The image above shows him holding a copy of the National Geographic article that features him, an item he keeps along with Eric’s book in a plastic bag. The pages of both are worn and falling out, the victims of many viewings, and he appears exceedingly proud of having been recognized for his amazing work.

As for me, despite being on a tropical island, I am, if you’ll excuse my Swedish, jävligt upptagen at the moment, but will post some pics from Bangladesh when I get some time.