Emerging Patterns: Contemporary Bangkok 2013-Present

On Looking for Patterns and Theme

After spotting the Wat Arun obsession in my previous post, I have been working through my catalog and adding new photos regularly. Grouping photos together is easy. Tying them together with either a theme, motivation or something stronger conceptually than just similarity is harder. And on this, I had to explore deeper into my “why”. I have always known that one of my why is to document the passage of time in the city where I live and looking at the catalog I have built of Bangkok I am confident that I have a big enough body of work that I can start arranging to form a series.

Influence

To put this on-going series together I studied up on quite a few photographers from both the West and the East. I have been exposed early on to Western photographers such as Bressen, Erwitt, Lartigue, etc. But on this series, my biggest influence is Issei Suda. His photos depicts and revoles around a lot of juxtapostion, eerieness, random chance encounter and moments of reflection. He spent his entire career in and around Japan to understand the people through festivals and record Japan transformation post-war. His work became the template for how I put together this series and how I can take it further.

Contemporary Bangkok

Contemporary Bangkok is the outcome of my “why” and my influence. It is a compilation of my chance encounter from early 2013 until now. It illustrates the life of people in Bangkok throughout the years, from mundane scenes to faith and inorganic matter. Below are photos from the set presented in chronological order.