After many, many visits to Bangkok’s Chinatown in the last year, my seemingly aimless wanderings have culminated in this; beginning on December 6th, 15 of the images I captured there will be exhibited at Kathmandu, the Bangkok photography gallery owned by famed Thai photographer, Manit Sriwanichpoom. The official press release:

The Last Chinatown

A photographic exhibition by

Austin Bush

6 December 2008 – 25 January 2009

[Opening party on Sat 6 Dec at 6.30 - 9 pm]

American photographer Austin Bush spent a year exploring the back streets and main drags of Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown. His cinematic images depict the realities and oddities of life in one of Bangkok’s oldest neighbourhoods: the tiny alleyways with creepy old men and smoking teapots; the clacking of Chinese chess pieces and choppy conversations in Tae Chew; tired prostitutes and lotus bud-shaped coffins; bespectacled dogs and beggars. Unlike other Chinatowns around the world, which often seem little more than culturally-themed shopping centers, Bangkok’s clings to its roots and continues to be a living, breathing, albeit gritty community.

Austin Bush

After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1999, Austin Bush received a scholarship to study Thai at Chiang Mai University, and has remained in Thailand ever since. Austin photographs for various publications and writes guidebooks for Lonely Planet. Samples of his work can be seen at www.austinbushphotography.com. This is his first photographic exhibition.
Kathmandu is located on 87 Th Pan, virtually across the street from the Hindu temple on Th Silom (see map below). Additional details can be obtained at the Kathmandu website. I hope those of you in Bangkok who read this blog can all make it to the opening!

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A Chinese temple in Phitsanulok. I like the colours and the reflection of light off the puddles and the bus.

In addition to the previously-mentioned writing work, I did the photos (but not the covers) to two new Lonely Planet guides, Phuket Encounter and Bangkok Encounter.

Buy them at Lonely Planet or Amazon.

A performer waiting to go onstage at a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

While in Kamphaeng Phet I was lucky enough to come across a performance of likay. Lucky because there’s not a whole lot to do in Kamphaeng Phet and also because likay is incredibly photogenic. Likay is, (taking from the upcoming Lonely Planet Bangkok) ‘a colourful mixture of folk and classical music, outrageous costumes, melodrama, slapstick comedy, sexual innuendo and sociopolitical commentary’. It’s quite a bit like ngiw, the Chinese drama which I’ve shown here previously.

The light was very irregular and it was at night, so I shot everything at ISO 800, the first time I’ve really shot that high with any of my cameras. The results seem to have come out OK, with less noise than I expected, and I actually kinda like the contrasty, saturated look of the images. I didn’t get too many pics of the actual performance, as I found the backstage action a lot more interesting.

Getting reading for a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

Musicians playing at a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.

Getting reading for a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

Performing and offstage at a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

Performers waiting to go onstage at a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

Getting reading for a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

Performers waiting to go onstage at a likay performance, Kamphaeng Phet.  

Definitely an pic that requires a bit of explanation…

The above is a camera obscura image of Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, a 700-year old temple compound outside the northern Thai city of Lampang. On the grounds of this temple is tiny elevated room with a small hole in the door. A white sheet hangs inside, and the light projected through the hole creates the (upside down) image shown at the top. For some reason, women are not allowed in this particular part of the temple.

Here’s what the temple looks like:

For larger version of this image, go here.

I put my camera on a tripod and used a 15 second exposure (at ISO 400, f/4.5) to get the pic at the top. Would be fun to put a piece of photographic paper in place of the sheet; I’ll bet the colours and textures would result in a fascinating image, perhaps something like this: