Friday, January 31, 2014

Gonna Get Me Some Tri-X Sooner Than Expected

I am not sure how this whole advertising blog thing works but I had a great month in January so it looks like I will be ordering my Tri-x 35mm sooner than expected. Most months I earn between $5 and $8 dollars but for whatever reason (PhotoNOLA?,Slate feature?) this month it's $16, so that puts me over the $100 mark which means my check will be sent soon. Thanks everyone for clicking on the ads and helping me to buy free film. I will try my best to create some important photographs with this gift.

I should be posting more scans next week, now its off to the darkroom to do a bit of printing before bed, got to work tonight!

Hot Swabbing?

Today I was reading a story in an old photo mag and came upon a brief reference to a darkroom technique called hot swabbing. I searched online for how its done with limited results, I guess it was very popular in W. Eugene Smith's darkroom (I am a huge fan of Mr. Smith). I did manage to find out a tiny bit about the technique, I guess it involves taking heated developer and swabbing (what do you use to swab with?) it onto the print during the development process. 
 
I bought a laboratory style type hotplate to use with my wet plate photography so I might use it to try give this swabbing thing in the coming days. I guess what I will do is take a beaker of straight Dectol and just heat it up. I will develop the print normally then do some of that swabbing stuff to selected print sections and see how that goes. This new technique might be a added valuable printing tool, it can't hurt to try. It is pretty cool to be doing documentary photography on Tri-x, in the darkroom and be swabbing and bleaching the prints just like one of my idols did, Mr W. Eugene Smith!!
 
"Ain't Photography Grand!"

Nice Email, More Talks?

I might be doing more talks in the future at the UofA, will see how it goes. I would enjoy doing more of these, they get easier as they go along and I am getting more experienced at it. It is also encouraging to show your work and maybe have a bit of teaching impact, maybe showing the work and doing a bit of talking will lead to something larger, maybe a domino will fall that leads a student on an meaningful path in their lives.
Here is a bit from the email I got related to the last talk:
----------
Hi Gerry,
Sorry for the delay and don’t mention the small gift.  You made a huge impact on my students and I would love to invite you again next year to share your images.  I admire your faithfulness to the historical and conventional photography…..
S.....

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Quote: Penn Jillette (Magician)‏

"..for better or worse, all geniuses have to work their asses off."
 
From a good read CNN article, it speaks to the need  that everyone has to work extremely hard at their craft.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/29/opinion/jillette-creative-genius-beatles-vermeer/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

30 Possibles

My darkroom work today involved using the Fotovix to find possible negs to print. On 2 sheets of negs I ended up with 30 possibles, thats a very high number for me, about 1/2 the exposures are intriguing. Gosh I wish I could shoot like that all the time, I guess I just got lucky with he mixing of the negs in these negative sheets. The 30 possibles are a mixture from the dump, the people who live under the freeway and the slum boxer projects.

Tomorrow after work I will make some 11x14 RC prints of these maybe selections and narrow things down further. The RC prints will eventually become burning masks for any fine art fibre print selections.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Black & White Photography Magazine Submission

Am starting to work on a submission to the portfolio section of Black & White Photography magazine. It might lead to nothing but I could get published and win 100 or 50 English pounds of photo supplies.

The 90 day work schedule continues, yesterday I did up some RC prints for an hour or so and today I am doing some mask cutting, neg selection etc. On my work days I can only do so much because I only have 2-3 hours a day to work, and that includes having some food and preparing for bed. As long as I am doing darkroom related work daily, especially work related to printing I am on the right track.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

AFA Grant Submission

I made a quick grant submission for the February 1 Alberta Foundation for the Arts last night. This will be my forth AFA grant attempt and my third related to Burmese refugee families living at the Mae Sot garbage dump. All three previous attempts have failed, hopefully this try will have better luck! I asked for $4500 to buy large format film and photo paper. My grant would be to create 40 16x20 archival photographs for the "Families of the Dump" project.

I will make submissions for an AFA art acquisition and two Edmonton Arts Council grants in the coming weeks, maybe some of them will pan out, I could sure use the money.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

And Now The Hard Part

I have completed 5 of my 90 days in a row in the darkroom, now for the HARD part! Printing on my days off is one thing but doing it after a 12 hour security night shift is quite another. I will try to do at least an hour in the darkroom each and everyday over the next 7 days. Maybe on some days I will just do up a bunch of masks, maybe some enlarged contact sheets, maybe I will try some fibre fine print stuff, I just got to keep working! The only way we all improve at anything is through dedication and hard work, its time I became a better more devoted, consistently working printer. No excuses, it's the work that counts, in the end it's all that matters. If the work is strong it will be remembered and have a lasting impact if its poor, trite, common place it will be quickly forgotten.

Child In Dump

This little child was working in the dump, just as a young boy pushed his bike by I noticed the young girl. I am trying to decide which 5 pics to submit to the art by acquisition program this year, I want to do at least one child in the dump image. Here is the picture that I made today on day 5 of 90 in the darkroom. It was printed on Silver Eagle paper, I do not like this paper as much as the Ilford warm or neutral tone. I also have a bunch of Oriental warm tone I want to try in the coming days.

This photograph involves edge burning, dodging of the figure and bike and a mask burn at a -1 filtration to bring back some of the bright white bags. I will try one or two more prints with this negative then move onto something else.

300 000 Page Views

I hit the 300 000 page view mark this week, thank you everyone for visiting and spending a bit of time with my photography. Please click on and visit the ads if you can, all the money earned ($100 CAD every 9 or 10 months) goes towards the purchase of new film for my various photo projects. Let's all make pics and create! Thanks again for taking the time to view the blog.

Gerry

Canadian Photographers Network Facebook Link To Slate Feature

Here is another link to the slate.com thing. The site might also be of interest to Canadian photogs lots of useful info, shows, Canadian photographers work online etc.

https://es-es.facebook.com/CanPhoto.Net

Saturday, January 25, 2014

60mm Shot

Here is a photo of one of the few girls in the "Street Kids" series. The photo is a closeup of the girl holding up an empty wallet with her favourite picture in it, this image was made with the R6 and the 60mm lens.

I struggled printing this photo and eventually moved onto another pic. This version is printed on Eagle FB (darker more contrasty paper), and uses 2 burning masks along with some dodging and burning with cards. I tried to bring out the pic in the wallet more by burning it in with filter 5. Might take this photo up again at some future date, am not sure. I have now moved onto a picture of a child in the dump.

Extra Good Shit

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Street Kid With Dog And Kinda Alive Crawfish

I had some problems printing the last "Street Kid" negative so I have moved on to the photo below of a street kid hugging a dog. This young man had bad burn scars on his face and was missing parts of several fingers. Whenever I was near him thou he was always smiling and joking with his friends. I wish I would have more time and film to work more on this series, there are lots of photos to be made and its an very important subject.

On a side note, I did something rather strange this afternoon. I found some Lake Tahoe kinda alive crawfish at a local Chinese grocery store. I ended up buying $5 worth and split them up into my 2 fish tanks.  I am not sure any will survive but they were dead soon anyway so I thought I would try the Buddhist release make merit thing and give them another shot at life. So far some are running about and some not moving at all (probably dead). It is quite a strenuous journey from Nevada, to a grocery store, to my tanks but who knows some might live. Thought I would give them the chance.

Here is the print from tonight, day 4 of 90 in the darkroom. There are 4 different burns and 3 different dodges in this print. I will try to bleach the dog to bring it out more, am not sure if the contrast is right. Shot with a 21mm, which gives it that nice distortion I would like to get into more of my negs, maybe I should leave the 28mm home next trip and go with 3 cameras and 3 lens only, 21mm-35mm-60mm. If I cut down to 3 lens it would help with the weight and simply my shooting more (something I try to do). The only problem is in the past many of my favourite shots were made with the 28, it is also a bit faster than date 21, F2 versus F2.8.


Friday, January 24, 2014

More Negs Selected Using The Fotovix

I went through another 4 film negative sheets last night using my Fotovix II-SX which is turning into quite a valuable tool for me. Fotovix were expensive units that are old tech and now sold cheap on eBay. With this machine I am able to view my 35mm and 120 film on a large LED monitor quickly and easily. I can also adjust exposure and zoom in and out, this allows me to choose whether I should make a quick RC work print of the neg or not. The work print might lead to a final finished archival fiber print.

Today I found a high percentage of possible printable negs (often variations of the same subject). Hopefully my good shots per roll of film is going up. My problem is not having enough negs worthy of printing, my problem is finding the time to print them all. This 90 day push, this 90 day test is my attempt to force myself to make the time needed. Finding the time is a matter of choice, we choose how to spend our time, the people who say they have no time for photography simply choose to spend their lives in different ways. We live by our choices, hopefully this 90 day choice will lead to a more disciplined darkroom regimen in the future. I need to dedicate more time and effort to my photography.

I am happy enough with this recent 35mm work to take 150 rolls of Tri-x next trip along with probably my whole 35mm camera kit (3 cameras 4 lens). This means I would be carrying extra weight next time around as I also plan on shooting 5x7 and maybe 300 sheets of film, I will probably have to cut the large format kit down to 1 lens, 1 meter, 1 of everything. Five weeks to shoot 150 rolls of Tri-x 35mm and 300 sheets of 5x7, am not sure that can be done.

Here are some links to the machine mentioned above:

FOTOVIX Blog

http://www.pnwvideo.com/Fotovix.html

First Street Kids Negative

I struggled a bit with the last Cambodian migrant worker print but I think I managed an OK photo. I have now moved onto printing my first "Street Kids" neg. I got to do some chores then it's back to the darkroom tonight. I am not sure if I should burn down the background of this print or leave all the values high, two very different feels.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Second Print Of Day 2

My second print of the day is a unique choice for me and a difficult negative to print. Most times in the past if part of the image was un-sharp I would pass on it. This photograph has two young male figures sitting bare chested deep in thought. The right figures face is not sharp probably the result of subject movement and a large aperture, the left figure is sharper. The grain of the Tri-x gives the illusion of more sharpness than there is, something I noticed in much of Salgado's work in the book "Africa". I am making a consciences effort to try to include more motion, more blurring during both pic making and pic printing. The negative is hard to print because there are both deep shadows and strong highlights in the image, the neg exposure looks adequate to create a print of substance but it will probably take lots of work.

The photograph was made in a Cambodian-Burmese migrant worker huts. The workers are brought into Bangkok to be a cheap source of labour for heavy labour intensive projects like construction sites. The migrant labour is more desperate and will do jobs Thais might not want to do and at a cheaper rate. I went to this area 4 or 5 times and made a few photos I liked, the people were great and after I told them of my adventures in Cambodia, and spoke a few words we quickly became friendly. I am not sure if these men were illegally or legally inside the country. Many times migrant workers are smuggled in and work illegally at other times bribes are paid to allow them to stay, sometimes it might be 100% on the up and up. When they spoke of home their eyes lit up, most people I spoke to were away from family and their homes for many months.

Here is my first attempt at this print, I will try a less contrasty version, to bring out more of the shadows and burn the bottom edge an additional 20 seconds in the next print.

Got To Love Tri-x

I love the way 35mm Tri-x interprets the world, it creates such a unique look, even landscapes look cool all grained up with that higher contrast tonal range.  When I get my next advertising check for $100+ (within the next 2 months) I will combine that with the $50 from the UofA artist talk and buy 3 boxes of bulk 100 foot Tri-x. Two boxes will be free, the third I will pay for myself (to save on shipping). I have tons of this film (50+ bulk boxes?) but with Kodak's shaky status I want to buy as much of as I can, as long as I can. I used up 8 boxes last trip, so this stuff can go fast, especially as I tend to overshoot my subjects.

Darkroom Day 2

Well I have a bunch of negs I want to play with selected, time to start playing!

The first negative of the day is a landscape shot on 35mm Tri-x, yes a landscape! I have been studying the work of Sebastiao Salgado for years and I wanted to follow his example and incorporate some straight no people landscapes in my projects. Landscape-cityscapes help tell the story of the people who live and work in the buildings and the environment they populate. I think to tell a proper overall story that communicates a more complete message its important to include some of these types of pics.

The shot I am working on was made on my last day of shooting this last trip, I used up the last of my Tri-x that day (was sad to see it end). It is a shot of brick making factory buildings and a stack. The light was soft and fairly low when I made the photo with a distant fog, it was quite an amazing day to be making pictures. I just walked through the coolish brisk morning and clicked away, life does not get much better than that! That day is a wonderful memory for me, one I hope to repeat many times before I leave this world.

Here is todays  print:

Quote: Ansel Adams

Speaking about the meaning of his images and his lack of ability to verbalize what his photographs are about.

"I prefer to say that if I feel something strongly, I will make a photograph that would be the equivalent what I saw and felt."

Today's Second Photograph

I had taken a more relaxed attitude to printing, I choose a neg, make a couple or three final images after testing then let them dry. If I am unhappy with the print after it dries then the next day I can do more work on it. When I am happy with it I will do the final printing process which involves bleaching and toning.

Here is the second negative I worked on today. The photo is of a young Burmese girl in the dump, she has on a turban head cloth and her eyes are downcast. I have many photos of this same girl smiling, she loved to have her photo taken and had a beautiful sweet smile. The main difficulty with this print is getting the contrast just right and burning in all the bright white garbage to include some tonality. I am using 2 different burning masks that were made on RC paper and had different areas of the white garbage cut out. I will try one one more version tonight before sleeping, maybe a 10% less exposure overall print.



These are the steps I have taken so far in making this print.

1) Basic exposure, 70 seconds F 5.6 at filter 3 3/4 (4).
2) Dodge face -15 seconds.
3) Burn corners 10 seconds each
4) Mask 1 burn in garbage 50 seconds at filter -1
5) Mask 2 burn in garbage 30 seconds at filter -1

- Developed in dectol 1/1 for 2 minutes (trying 2 minutes instead of my regular 3 minutes).
- Photo paper is Ilford  11x14 FB neutral tone.
- Enlarger, Saunders 4x5 LPL with multigrade head.
- Negative, Tri-x film 35mm

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Glorious!!!!

Am on a real high right now, spent the last few hours in the dark, what a joy!! Am working on a shot of a man washing himself in the landless peoples area of Kathmandu Nepal. I remember he let out the scream when he poured the freezing cold water on his body that had been taken out of a nearby well. The guy is laughing in the shot covered in soap with a large stone wall behind him, its a fun joyful type pic.

Does it get any better than this? creating print work in the darkroom is a true joy, its like your bringing something to life. I have no show pressure, no deadline worries, its just take your time enjoy and make something beautiful.

This is f-ckin great! The highest of highs!! "Ain't Photography Grand!"

Got to get some food, then will spend the rest of the night printing. Day 1 in the 90 day printing thing is a success.

A Day Of Printing Ahead

After yesterday's tough day with no sleep I got into bed at 630pm and out of bed at 7am! I ended up sleeping 12 hours and still feel a bit strange. Today thou will be a different kettle of fish a variety of household chores and a full wonderful day of printing is on the agenda, this will hopefully be the first of 90 straight darkroom sessions. I will try to post some digi snaps and maybe a few videos of the printing being done, this is going to be fun!!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

ESP Meeting

On Monday night before my late night terror call I had a very nice meeting with the guys in my new photography group ESP, The Edmonton Society of Photographers. We are getting to know each others work and to that end we met at Owen's home and viewed his photographs from Egypt. Owen works with various groups documenting the ruins of Egyptian history, 4000 year old buildings and columns covered with beautifully carved hieroglyphics. It was an fun night filled with intelligent conversation, shared experiences, some top notch imagery and tech knowledge. What I loved most was learning more about the Egyptian people, the history of the country, gods, hieroglyphics etc., great stuff.

We plan on meeting in 2 months to view Jonathan's work, he is now professionally represented by a gallery. This group could really accomplish some things it is filled with ambitious hard working photographers eager to make their mark.

2 Hours Sleep, 12 Hours Work!

I had just come off my regular work week, a 7 day 12 hour shift night security guard schedule. So there I am ready to start my 90 days of straight printing, I had had my good meeting with the Edmonton Society of Photographers group. I had set up the darkroom, selected some negs and turned on the darkroom heater. I thought I am a bit tired so will take a short nap then get up and print. Then the phone rang! "Can you come in tomorrow to work, we have no guards for the day shift." "Tomorrow morning? Dayshift? What time is it?" "130 am" "But I haven't slept and I would need to get up at 430am to go to work." "We have no one else to call, your our only option" some painful thinking then I thought I have to go. "OK I will come in." A rush upstairs to make some kind of lunch, a rush around the house to prepare my security uniform, to bed at 230am up at 430am and off to work for a 12 hour day shift. So much for printing!

Am going to go home in 15 minutes, crash until I feel better then wake up and print! I have nothing to wine about it's not like I was digging ditches all day or some other very difficult physical work like in the dump or on the the fields in Nepal but gosh do I feel like crap right now, 14 minutes more work then I am off home to bed, the darkroom awaits! Looks like my 90 days will be January 22 to April 22 now.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Email To A Friend

Sent this to a friend today, thought I would share it.

----------
Child Working

L....

Not sure you can see this...it might look better in a large print..photographed this small child out alone in this hill of garbage..landscape of waste...last trip.

This kid was not in school but instead out working to help his family as best he could...maybe 8-10 years old..

It was hot as hell and smelly as I walked out to make his photo (did some closeups also)...I remember slipping and sliding in the hills of garbage and that I was covered in flies making the image.

Gerry



No Copyright Crap Worries

People that put their work online sometimes get to hung up on their work belonging to themselves only. If it's just a one on one thingy with other creative people why not share? Who cares about the copyright, ownership crap. I guess if it's a big company with lots of doe that is using your work they should pay you something but with smaller folk that just want to create art, why not share? The Internet is a big wild west type place and once you put your work online you lose the "its only mine, no touching" stuff.

Here is a nice email I received today and my reply to the artist.
----------
Hello Gerry,
my name is Steffen W.... and I'm from Germany.
I found your Photo "Slumshack 4a" on the Internet and I love it!
I want to make a pencil Drawing in 50-70 cm from this Picture!
My Question is: Do I have your permission to do this?
That would be nice!
There's an example of my drawings in the attachment.
Thank's a lot and
best regards

Steffen
Sorry my English is not the best!
----------
No problem Steffen have fun with it, use it anyway you want. I have no problem with you using the image, make lots of great art. Good luck with your future work as well.

Gerry


Slumshack 4a

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Thaivisa.com, Sex Worker Slate Story, Sex Tourist? Sexpat? Expat? Regular Tourist? Comments

Gosh, I was wondering if this would happen. I have been following Thaivisa.com for several years, they have great stories on whats what in Thailand, news stories, language stuff, helpful travel hints etc. One of the things I do not like about the site is that the comment section can be a bit harsh at times. I especially hate when the commentators run down Thailand and the Thai people (a very common practise).

These comments about my sex worker portraits on slate.com come from farang (Westerners) sex pats who live in Pattaya (where the photos were made),  farang expats who are long term Thai residents not involved with prostitution and sex tourists and regular tourists to the land of smiles.

Anyway its nice that they took notice, its a terrible thing when you invite people to the party and no one shows! I posted the link and some of the more INTERESTING both positive and negative comments below.

Check out THAI VISA if you some time, its a great resource site for everything the foreigner needs to know about Thailand. Thanks to all those who posted comments on the work, its greatly appreciated. All opinions are helpful your thoughts will contribute to the development of the work in the future.

The slate story has certainly raised the "know about" level on this project and raised a bit of awareness into the lives of the people in the photographs, THANK YOU slate.com and thaivis.com

A link to the thaivisa comments:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/697200-pattayas-most-famous-industry-workers-explored-by-canadian-art-photographer/

A link to the story they are commenting on:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/01/09/gerry_yaum_photographs_sex_workers_in_pattaya_thailand_in_his_exhibition.html
----------
OK, these are some pretty amazing and moving ART photos of a subject most Pattayans are well familiar with either superficially or deeply -- the world famous sex workers of Pattaya, female, male, and ladyboys.
They ALL look so very SAD in these photos. These photos are clearly NOT about titillation! (So if you're looking for that, wrong place.)

While I recognize these photos as genuine photographic art (by GERRY YAUM of Canada), I do wonder what people who actually live in and visit Pattaya actually think about the agenda of the artist.

As follows, he clearly does have an agenda:

Quote
Over the years, Yaum said he has struggled with how to photograph his exploited subjects without exploiting them himself. “The conclusion I came to after talking to others and thinking about this for some time was that I needed to understand why I was making the pictures, what my goals were, what was the reason behind it all, what was I trying to express,” Yaum said. “In your inner heart you know why you’re doing something, you know if it’s right or wrong, you know your true motivations. If you’re doing something for the right reasons, for a greater good, then that's the path you want to be on.”
While Yaum hopes that his photographs can serve as an agent of change, he said he fears that the sex industry in places like Pattaya has only grown since he started shooting there. “As long as there is poverty in places like Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines, there will be workers for the sex tourist bars of Southeast Asia. The only hope for the bar worker, as I see it, lies in education,” Yaum said. “Education can lead to other opportunities that might keep the worker from coming to the bars in the first place. No Thai girl or boy dreams of becoming a prostitute. No one dreams of selling their body for a living. Most work the job purely out of economic necessity. Give them other ways to make decent money and maybe things will change.”


Surely, of course, many of these workers are as SAD as they appear in these photos. But this artist ONLY shows sad. Does that represent the reality or not?

On the chance that the artist, a regular visitor to Pattaya might see this thread, I'd like to express my admiration for his talent and also a welcome to comment here as well!
----------
Those photos are what he was specifically going for and doesn't tell the whole story at all, only what he wants to interpret it as.  Just as easy for a photographer to have happy photos to contrast the story.  In other words, it is an artificial representation of his thoughts on the matter and not the full reality of it.
----------
These photos do not represent the reality of Pattaya, they represent the photographer's feelings.
---------- 
Pretty bog-standard portraits. Nothing special at all.
I would have much preferred the pics in situ showing the good, the bad and the ugly.
----------
These photos do not represent the reality of Pattaya, they represent the photographer's feelings.

next...
Yes, I see that aspect, but I think you'd have to be made of stone not to feel similar feelings from those faces in the photos. Behind the smiles, as it were.

So those feelings, I don't really think were projected onto the subjects. He captures something very real about the subjects. I guess my feeling is that this realness he shows is part of the truth of the industry, but not the entire truth. In the link, the artist questions himself about whether he himself is "exploiting" these subjects which he clearly sees as unambiguously exploited workers. That's an interesting question too. Is he?
----------

These photos do not represent the reality of Pattaya, they represent the photographer's feelings.

next...
Yes, I see that aspect, but I think you'd have to be made of stone not to feel similar feelings from those faces in the photos. Behind the smiles, as it were.

So those feelings, I don't really think were projected onto the subjects. He captures something very real about the subjects. I guess my feeling is that this realness he shows is part of the truth of the industry, but not the entire truth. In the link, the artist questions himself about whether he himself is "exploiting" these subjects which he clearly sees as unambiguously exploited workers. That's an interesting question too. Is he?

There are questions worth asking and others not - not because the question is worthless in itself, but because the question doesn't have useful answers.

"The truth" - Western singular ?
----------

Sadly once the money starts flowing the reasons they entered into industry gets lost very quickly. I think the photos are very limiting. It would be an interesting photo study to take pictures on first day starting vs 1 month, 6 months, a year , multiple years as a time lapsed photo essay. I think that would have showed what he was trying to depict. Unfortunately these pics fall short of the true impact.
----------
I love sad girls and I would love to see them cry !
----------
he paid them to say what he wanted them to say and look how he wanted them to look, nothing wrong with that but its his viewpoint and not theirs, and its obviously a view point that he thinks others will share with him, but I don't and I find it uninteresting
----------
I love sad girls and I would love to see them cry !

would love to see Jill Greenburg do a series like that, snatching the money back out of their hands and then photographing them, would be much more interesting and revealing
----------

These photos do not represent the reality of Pattaya, they represent the photographer's feelings.

next...
 "the reality of Pattaya" or your reality of Pattaya? ...their are many realities everywhere, so why not the feelings of those models too whistling.gif
----------
Twelve persons depicted, one of them supposed to be female (on the low end of the scale) and no smiles.
Highly distorted.
----------
These photos do not represent the reality of Pattaya, they represent the photographer's feelings.

next...
 "the reality of Pattaya" or your reality of Pattaya? ...their are many realities everywhere, so why not the feelings of those models too whistling.gif

because I think you can be pretty sure they were saying whatever it takes to get the money, if he really wonders if he was exploiting them he should see how far he gets without paying them, pretty sure no photos and no sad stories
----------
I followed all the photographer's links to this project. The photographs are great. But his choices offer a very very one-sided view:    impoverished, unattractive, untidy and desperate participants at the bottom of the heap. A tiny percentage of active participants. He also never touches on the fact that some very high percentage of such services are demanded by local nationals. If he pictured participants from the entire spectrum, providers and customers, I might applaud his search for the truth. The truth was definitely not his goal. 
----------
1) Yes I only see 1 female out of all those photos.
2) If you had ever seen my face working in Northern Canada in -57 degrees without the wind factor you might say these people look happy compared to me
3) I think in general most of these workers are not happy with their jobs. The only time they smile is when a customer buys drinks and they start to get drunk.
4) You might look sad too going to work with the thought that you might have to spend the night with a 78-year-old man that weighs 260lbs.

As far as Canadian Artists/Photographers go, this guy doesn't compare.
----------
OK. I don't think the POV he portrays is deceptive for what it is as an artistic vision but I do question the truthiness of his interview statements. I think the images don't need an editorial message and the one offered sounds a little preachy like coming from a Western save the natives missionary.
----------

Twitter Link And Russian Link To Slate.com Feature

Never used twitter before but this is nice, thanks to the folks who posted (tweeted?) it.

https://twitter.com/photonola/status/421379771340046336

This link has a nice layout and some nice photography on it, I think its some kind of Russian site but mostly in the English language. Wayne Lawrence's work on the link is great, powerful pics, I need to study him more.

http://ru.pinterest.com/arianneroxa/photography/

Here are some of Wayne's photos:

Wayne Lawrence

November Trip Scans 11

Still more recent trip photos, I will add to each of these type blogs until their are around 15 photos per.

"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Brick Makers" Series, Nepal 2013
"Brick Makers" Series, Nepal 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Language Progress

With my new system of buying Burmese language apps and putting them on my mini tablet I am now finally making a bit of progress learning some of the language. Over the last year I have been trying to learn via CDs but that proved more difficult, with the apps I can listen and re-listen to different words and sentences until I get it right. Slowly but surely these Burmese language apps will help my vocabulary grow, this should also help with communication, understanding and eventually better pics. As a bonus I can take everything with me on my next trip to Asia.

I also got Khmer and Vietnamese apps, but that's for another day : ). Hmm just thought of something, I wonder if they have Nepalese apps?

November Trip Scans 10

More of the latest scans, I am looking forward to printing some of these images.

"Leprosy" Series, Nepal 2013
"Leprosy" Series, Nepal 2013
"Leprosy" Series, Nepal 2013
"Leprosy" Series, Nepal 2013
"Leprosy" Series, Nepal 2013
"Leprosy" Series, Nepal 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Street Kids" Series, Kathmandu Nepal 2013
"Families of the Garbage Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Garbage Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Garbage Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
Car Klong Toey slum, Bangkok Thailand 2013
Truck windshield Klong Toey slum,  Bangkok Thailand 2013

 "Slum Boxers" Series, Bangkok Thailand 2013

Thursday, January 16, 2014

November Trip Scans 9

Some more photos from recent scans. I have a huge back load of film to scan, only 2 rolls from last trip remain undeveloped. I should be able to start my 3 month printing marathon on January 20th. Not sure how I will handle printing after my 12 hour security night shifts, sometimes I am very tired when I get home from work. I will have to push myself through, find the desire and work ethic I need. When I get in the darkroom and see the prints my tiredness usually disappears. The trick is to get into the darkroom when I arrive home tired. No more wimp out excuses, make photographs, only the photographs matter.

"Street Kids" Series, Kathmandu Nepal 2013
"Brick Makers" Series, Nepal 2013
Injured Man Walking, Katmandu Nepal 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Klong Toey Slum" Series, Bamgkok Thailand 2013
Cambodian migrant worker, Bangkok 2013
"Brick Makers" Series, Nepal 2013
"Migrant Farmer" Series, Nepal 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Families of the Dump" Series, Thailand 2013
"Migrant Farmer" Series, Nepal 2013
"Brick Makers" Series, Nepal 2013