This photograph of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge soldier has been had a big influence on my photography. I saw this image years ago in an aperture magazine and it has haunted me ever since. Who was this guy? What happened to him? I found the combination of subject matter and the look of the image to be stunning. The influence of this photograph led me to making photographs in South East Asia.
Lately I have been thinking of this photograph more and more. Today I purchased 3 Burke Books online which I hope will help me focus on a series of photographs I want to make in the next few years. I will to use flash at night and in daylight along with the 4x5 razzle camera and tri-x film to do environmental portraiture. I did some similar work a few years back with a Mamiya 6 camera (portraits and street series at gerryyaum.com). I want to get the clarity that a larger format negative will give me and shoot more honest street life images as I find them.
From a technical aspect I think the tri-x and a powerful flash will give me f-16 to f-32 with a 135mm lens. I am worried abit about minimum focusing distance, hopefully it will work out. If I cannot get the new 4x5 working the way I want I will use the twin reflex which I know will work up close and personal.
Really looking forward to seeing Burkes other work, not sure why I never bought the books before, but now they are on the way!
