Found out a week or so back that a good friend of mine has cancer. It is so unfair, he is a good man who has helped so many. A great photographer as well. I wish him and his wife only the best, I and others owe them so much.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Old Photo, New Again
Found this old families pic today.
New Burmese refugee family, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot Thailand 2018
Quote: Ansel Adams
"I hope that my work will encourage self-expression in others and stimulate the search for beauty and creative excitement in the great world around us."
Comments on Old Sex Worker Series
Found this today of some old work. I shot the white background sex worker series in 2007-2009-2012. Kind of weird to read the thoughts of others. I left that world and have not returned for the last 13 years.
Sex Worker Series on SLATE.COM
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:
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!
******
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Gerry Yaum, Independent Photographer Link
Not. Hee if this was me or them. Kinda nice, they gave a link to my webpage
Independent Photographer: Gerry Yaum
Seascapes in Thai!
Was inspired by my new art book and did some seascapes with the Blad digi today. I will try to make some Platinum and Palladium and or Salt prints with the files, when I return to the land of snow snd hockey!!
Quite a different working experience than the slum/drug/poverty and families/dump picture making worlds. To be honest I prefer being with my friends. I am not a fan of the fakeness of the tourist world. I would rather be with real people, in the real world.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Manet Book of Inspiring Seascape Painting!
I never buy art books in Thailand but today I did! Only $11.48 CAD for a large, wonderful, well orinted book of seascaoes by Edouard Manet and other artists.
I am hoping this work will be an inspiration for some large seascape ambrotypes I am planning for th AMBROTOS KANATA wetplate photography project.
T-Shirts to Raise Donation Money, to Help the People in the Photos
The T-Shirts turned out better than I hoped. I will get a variety of sizes with this picture. “Burmese Mother with two babies” from the families of the dump series. Hopefully I can sell some of these to help the people at the dump and under the freeway.
I feel the white T-Shirt shows the picture better (like a matted print) but the black looks more classy.
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Tuesday, July 8, 2025
My Platinum Print Hopes for THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY
The beauty of a Platinum-Palladium print.
Khun Nit, telling me he wants to die, THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, KhlongToeii Slum Bangkok, Thailand 2025.
Note Khun Nit died soon after the making of this photograph.
Note** I want to do an exhibition of THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY in Platinum, Palladium or Salt prints and hand made wooden frames.
Will Design a THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY Book
Will use the Blurb BookWrite software to design a book around THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY project.
Not so much to print it in Blurb (low quality) but instead to have both a hard copy version and a PDF copy of the books content and design for future submission possibilities.
Recently I have come across a few book submission calls asking for a copy of your book but I have nothing to submit. If I do this I will have something to send them!!
Who knows I might finally get a book published with the help of a grant of some kind. A book would help the subjects in many ways.
Playing around today with a possible front and back cover. Will go with a cheaper soft cover and smaller size of 8x10 inches to save money. Probably do 50 pages or so.
May with Meth Pipe
May, preparing meth pipe, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025
Monday, July 7, 2025
Apple, Hiding While Smoking YaBa
Apple, hiding while smoking YaBa, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025
Apple Laughing After Doing YaBa
Apple, laughing after doing YaBa #4, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025
Dreaming of Dad, Again!
Love lives forever.
Pancreatic cancer took dad from us. I dreamed of him today in Thailand and we lost him over 10 years ago in Thailand. He still lives for me, not only in my dreams, but in countless other ways.
3 from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY
These pictures were made on the night of June 26th under available light at an iso of 25600 with the blad medium format digi camera.Almost impossible shooting conditions. I also shot in the same place with no external light sources using the flashlight from my iPhone.
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| Prem, lost in thought, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025 |
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| Prem, getting her hair done by Dao, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025 |
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| Prem, with YaBa eyeso\, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025 |
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