Tag: photography

PHOTO ESSAY : TIME STANDS STILL

TEXT & PHOTO: PRADITCHYA SINGHARAJ

(For Thai, press here

I’ve always been interested in how moments and things around us can be captured. Rather than capturing fleeting instances that occur in just 1/100 or 1/1000 seconds, my photographs depict moments that unfold over the course of one second. As a human’s perception moves forward, a nanosecond of time cannot be put on hold, for time and things keep progressing. 

The series of photographs were taken using my own mobile phone, and the results exceeded my expectations. It can easily take a long exposure shot almost anywhere and at any time. Long-exposure photographs used to be nearly impossible to shoot at times when there was too much light or in situations where a tripod would be too impractical. 

The photographs you take reflect who you are. I’ve always thought that lenses and cameras are merely tools and that the genuine beauty of photography rests in its ability to encapsulate the world around us, capturing the very core of humans’ views and feelings. 

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Praditchya Singharaj, Managing Director of Innovative Design & Architecture Co., Ltd., who likes to take photos, listen to music, and is obsessed with building amplifiers.

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PHOTO ESSAY : HUMAN TRACE

TEXT & PHOTO: DITTA SUTHEPPRATANWONG

(For Thai, press here

We all walk and build our homes on the ground of this earth. We cultivate the land, search for food, nourish ourselves, and lead our lives. Our existence thrives on this planet’s horizontal plane, bound by gravity’s embrace. This place is filled with human traces, unsurprisingly so. 

In every moment of our lives, journeys embarked, endeavors pursued, we have left traces or fragments of ourselves, both tangible and abstract. 

I got curious. I set out on a journey to explore and unravel the depths of human nature.  I hypothesized that through documenting and linking human traces, the nature of humanity may be reconstructed, like assembling Lego pieces.  We gather fragments left behind by others, weaving them into our own, sharing pieces of ourselves, as others do with us. And there are times when we unknowingly leave parts of ourselves behind, along the way. 

This series of photographs captures human traces that have been left on the earth. Through displacement, those traces are emphasized. These images beckon you to reconsider and redefine humans and humanity, with nothing but your own thoughts and judgments. So, have fun.

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Ditta Sutheppratanwong was a student of structures, now a capturer of architectural beauty, an independent artist, and a photographer for W Workspace.

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PHOTO ESSAY : THE DISTANT EVERYDAY

TEXT: BANGKOK TOKYO ARCHITECTURE
PHOTO: BANGKOK TOKYO ARCHITECTURE AND PAKKATUS PROMSAKA NA SAKOLNAKORN

(For Thai, press here

‘The Distant Everyday’ is a visual conversation between architecture, observation, and everyday sceneries. It can be argued that architecture is a product of the convergence of multiple ideas and notions. As keen observers of our surroundings, we constantly seek out the underlying connections that exist across diverse contexts. The collection of photographs presented here is a glimpse into our extensive archives, which have been accumulating since 2016. Unordered and free from any specific arrangement, these images capture random scenes and objects in Bangkok and Tokyo. Individually, they appear unremarkable, but when juxtaposed they transform into a source of inspiration and contemplation. Furthermore, they unveil the inherent ability of architecture to bridge connections between all things.

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Bangkok Tokyo Architecture is an architectural studio founded by Wtanya Chanvitan and Takahiro Kume in 2017. We are fascinated by open-ended structures and the assembly of ordinary elements; blurring the lines between ordinary and exceptional.

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PINK, BLACK & BLUE

THE EXHIBITION DELVES INTO THE LIFE OF THE ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER MANIT SRIWANICHPOOM WITH ‘BLACK’ AND ‘BLUE’, TAKES US TO THE JOURNEY OF DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE OF HIS ICONIC CHARACTER, THE ‘PINK MAN’, WHILE DISCUSSES THE PHENOMENON OF ASSOCIATING MEANINGS WITH COLORS THAT THAI SOCIETY HAS WITNESSED OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS.

TEXT: TUNYAPORN HONGTONG
PHOTO: KETSIREE WONGWAN

(For Thai, press here)

Manit Sriwanichpoom’s photography series, ‘Pink Man’ is undoubtedly his most renowned work. The series is so successful that whenever the name Manit is mentioned, we always automatically think of Pink Man. Some people even mistake that the Pink Man in the photographs was Manit himself (actually Sompong Tawee, a poet and performance artist, is the person who took the role of Pink Man in the series).

Manit created  Pink Man in 1997 as the character of a chubby Asian man who wears a shocking pink satin suit and travels with an empty shopping trolley embellished in the same color as his outfit. Pink Man is represented the extreme consumerism that was taking over Thai society to the point where one had no care for other aspects of society that did not concern them. Manit then went on to create many more of his Pink Man series, such as ‘Pink Man on Tour’ (1998), where the character was captured in his journey to a variety of different places and incidents, both inside and outside of Thailand, with his expressionless face. Pink Man’s appearance in ‘Horror in Pink’ (2001) shows the character at the October 6th 1976 massacre and Black May, also known as “Bloody May,” two of Thailand’s most tragic and violent political incidents, with a face that looked like he was enjoying an entertaining spectacle.

In most of the series, Pink Man took the spotlight. Pink Man’s presence in ‘Hungry Ghost’ (2003) was not just as the main character, but appeared with the size of towering skyscrapers, the scale that would probably equate his giant ego. Nonetheless, in some series, such as Pink Man in Venice (2003), Manit chose to photograph the character from a distance, resulting in a miniature version of Pink Man. In some of the photos, he stood on the edge of the vast body of water, looking absentmindedly, with no shocking pink trolley by his side. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but wonder about his next journey. Will he undergo any changes? What was his fate going to be after consuming pretty much everything throughout his entire existence?

Pink Man had been on numerous adventures before arriving at the final answers to these questions. In 2018, Manit created ‘The Last Man and the End of His Story’, a series of photograph in which we saw a pink body bag lying on the side of the road in America, with a pink trolley by its side. The series was undoubtedly about Pink Man’s demise. However, when we look at ‘Dropping the Pink Self’ (2018), another work Manit created in that same year, it becomes unclear whether Pink Man’s death refers to the end of his actual life or a metaphor for him forfeiting something. Manit’s ‘Dropping the Pink Self’ (2018) was inspired by Ai Weiwei’s ‘Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn’ (1995). But while Ai dropped a Han Dynasty urn which shattered to convey the time of the demolition and reconstruction of Chinese culture, Pink Man, on the other hand, dropped a figurine of himself to the ground, causing its head to fall off.

Pink, Black, and Blue, Manit’s latest solo exhibition, reintroduces the two iconic works. The exhibition also includes ‘Afterlife So Pink #2’ (2023), an installation of a Pink Man doll on a wooden boat, a universal symbol of the human journey into the afterlife. But, being the Pink Man that he is, sitting with him on the boat is the head of a Buddha sculpture, and it appears that the boat floats inside an inflatable kid’s pool with a bold, kitsch sea animal pattern. In Heavenly Pink (2023), Pink Man makes his way into ancient Thai mural paintings, from the one where he stands amongst angels in heaven—the scene which depicts an event from the Buddha’s life story when Lord Buddha met Angulimala—to the iconic painting by Khrua In Khong (an avant-garde Thai artist in the past whose work has been featured in artworks of some contemporary Thai artists recently). As wild as the imagery that Manit created, Pink Man’s journeys in this series are open to all sorts of viewer interpretations. One might draw the conclusion that Pink Man has set himself free from consumerism, or that these photographs simply portray his unquenchable desires even after his death.

Pink Man’s story is curated as part of ‘Pink,’ one of the colors into which the exhibition is divided. The two remaining colors are ‘Black,’ which includes ‘When I Was Twenty,’ a series of black-and-white photographs Manit took when he was a student, and ‘Blue,’ which includes ‘I Saw A Blue Wing,’ a collection of Manit’s snapshots that tell the stories he experienced while participating in art exhibitions abroad. When it comes to the narrative, the two sections of the exhibition are less intense than ‘Pink,’ yet they allow viewers to learn more about Manit’s identity. His rebellious spirit (Black) was clearly visible in the works he created during his younger years, just like his slightly dark humor in the snapshots he took (Blue), and they can still be found in Manit’s artistic creation even today.

Nonetheless, the important roles that Black and Blue play alongside Pink do not end there. Manit’s decision to use more colors than just pink for this exhibition is most likely motivated by his desire to discuss the meanings associated with ‘colors,’ a phenomenon that Thai society has witnessed over the last several years, from how certain colors are used to express one’s loyalty to the monarchy or political standpoint, or to symbolize what constitutes the nation.

Regardless of the ideologies or intentions behind these meanings and how shallow they seem to be, the public has learned to accept these colors and what they represent. It is evident from the fact that many Red Shirt supporters refuse to wear a yellow shirt, and the same is true for Yellow Shirt supporters, who would never appear in public wearing a red shirt (Chinese New Year may be an exception). For Manit, putting meaning in colors has split Thai society into two polarizing ends, culminating in the country’s stagnated development, not to mention a consumerist economy. His perspective on the subject can be seen in ‘Afterlife So Pink #1,’ an installation in which he placed the Pink Man figure inside a resin block shaped like an ice cube. The piece is then placed atop two ice tanks that one is painted red and another is blue. Pink Man’s supermarket trolley is wired with IV tubes in another installation, ‘Stay Pink’ (2023), implying an attempt to keep consumerist behaviors alive. This is because while a polarized society is beneficial to the ruling class, once the effects reach the people’s consumption, capitalism becomes weaker, and that is when the upper-class and corporate entities begin to experience losses.

In Manit’s Pink Man series, Pink Man is a disgusting-looking man in a shiny, shocking pink suit. In the real world,  Pink Man exists in all kinds of clothes. He could be someone wearing a suit of a different color. To figure out who the Pink Man is, we might have to look deeper, through all the color-coated surfaces.

Pink, Black & Blue: A Solo Photographic Exhibition by Manit Sriwanichpoom is now showing at Hub of Photography (HOP), 3rd floor, MUNx2, Season Square Srinakarin Shopping Mall until April 9th, 2023.

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THAI TAXI TALISMANS

ATTRACTED BY A COLLECTION OF MESMERIZING ITEMS IN THAI TAXIS, DALE KONSTANZ DOCUMENTS THAI TAXI INTERIORS, RESEARCHES THE MYSTICAL OBJECTS HE CAME ACROSS, AND COMPILES THEM INTO THE BOOK WHICH MIRRORS THE QUINTESSENTIAL THAI CULTURE
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PHOTO ESSAY : A YEAR COUNTDOWN

TEXT & PHOTO: JITTINUN JITHPRATUCK

(For Thai, press here

A series of photographs documenting a memory of the Plan House 1 building on Sathorn Soi 10 Road in its final year as the office of Plan Architect Co., Ltd. after more than 30 years of use since its construction. As the contract for the land on which the building is built comes to an end in 2023, the day will come when this place will become nothing but a mere memory.

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Jittinun Jithpratuck is an architect who joined Plan Architect Co., Ltd. in 2012. She has documented a corner of his workplace as the days and seasons passed.

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PHOTO ESSAY : LATE WINTER RAIN

TEXT & PHOTO: CHANAPONG SRIWEERAPONG

(For Thai, press here)

A walk up to the summit of Phu Kradueng Mountain is a tough one and demands quite a lot of patience and strength. But whats waiting at the destination makes everything worth the effort. There, nature changes through seasons, and each season has its own unique beauty. 

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Chanapong Sriweerapong works as a video editor and photographer at interior design form, DUDE DECORATE. He loves art and nature. 

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PHOTO ESSAY : STAY AT HOME 2020

TEXT & PHOTO: THANACHAI TANKVARALUK

(For Thai, press here)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a direct impact on people’s daily lives with new implemented rules, regulations, and measures to prevent the spread of the infectious disease. Under the New Normal way of life, people are required to make significant adjustments. This series of photographs is a documentation of memories and a reflection of the beauty and spirit hidden in the simplicity and ordinariness of life’s mundane stories, at a time where there is a significant shift in how humans live and a society evolves. Under entirely new circumstances and conditions, people are adapting to their new way of life. And before we know it, despite all the changes and disruptions, we have found some peace and happiness. We are currently more optimistic than ever that the pandemic will end and we will be able to resume our normal lives  in the near future. 

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Thanachai Tankvaraluk, who was born in Udon Thani, Thailand, earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication arts with a Journalism Major from Rangsit University. Currently, he is a business owner, but has always had a keen interest in everything around him, as well as an unwavering love and passion for travel and photography.

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PHOTO ESSAY : 365OHMANAWAT

TEXT & PHOTO: ANAWAT PETCHUDOMSINSUK

(For Thai, press here)

The feeling of never accomplishing anything substantial, of giving up what I started after a few days became the beginning of 365ohmanawat. By taking one still life photograph everyday for 365 consecutive days, this project is proof of my commitment to do something with the kind of consistency and determination that I had never done before. With my expertise as a professional photographer, the ideas and techniques incorporated to each image I captured are different from what I normally do.

Having to photograph products and food for advertising purposes, reality is deviated to render perfection. The longer I work, the more tedious it becomes. But that dullness motivates me to try doing something I have never done; to create something that is different from what we would usually see.

Some of the images may induce awkwardness. Some may give an opposite result to what a normal advertisement tends to deliver. But the experimental approach means that there is no limitation to what contents and techniques I could create and use.The photographs in this project are highly diverse, some may even upset people, some are objects and food found in our daily life, while some are the outcomes of my experimentation using techniques I saw in the media but never had a chance to try them out before.

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Anawat Petchudomsinsuk is a freelance food photographer who loves memes and cheekiness.

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