Wednesday, September 26, 2012

New Collodion Portrait Project Title

I have been working on a title for the bargirl wet plate collodion portraits (am getting way ahead of myself here!). The first title I came up with was "Gogo Girl", then "Gogo Girl: Lost Innocence" and the latest is "Lost Innocence: The Gogo Girls of Southeast Asia" (assuming I make photographs both in Thailand and the Philippines).

I want to make the title descriptive but not to haughty taughty. I think the last title choice might be a bit pretentious but it describes perfectly what I would try to capture, the loss and pain these girls go through when they enter the world of the sex tourist bars. One day she living safe on a farm with her family and friends the next day some drunk, western sex tourist has bought her for the night and uses her as he pleases.

If I could make 10 portraits in Thailand and 10 in the Philippines (never been there), I could really say something important. I could tell the stories of these lost girls, the work might help raise some awareness. I doubt any change would come as a result of the photographs but telling important stories and starting conversations about forgotten people is always what I try to do with my photography.