Today I took out my 4x5 camera for the first time here in Mae Sot. My kit was a 90mm lens along with a 150mm plus the Linhof, tripod, spot meter, reflector and 5 Grafmatic backs. The whole set up was carried in a single bag, I also took along 2 small digi cams, one for doing ID shots and one for doing short videos. I carried the camera mounted on the tripod over my shoulder. I awoke at 615am, had a shower and a sandwich, grabbed 2 bottles of water, put on my sunscreen, and ran downstairs to the waiting motorcycle driver (Khune Noy), we left at 7am. The drive to the Sky Blue slum school (our regular drop off and pick up point) took maybe 20 minutes, it is a distance of 7 km from my hotel room.
Having already established some relationships in the dump, I was created with smiles, nods and waves from several people. I started out in the early morning light doing some dumpscape style photos before people started coming up to look at and through the camera, when they came up to me I asked them to pose. One of the most difficult things to do was getting peoples name and age, Burmese names are LONG!! and the people had to repeat it to me many times. I have gotten the Burmese sentence of "What is your name?" down but I am having trouble with the "How old are you ?" thing, sometimes that is not understood.
It was lots of fun being with these folks today, my only worry is getting them in trouble with the Thai authorities I am trying not to be seen by Thais when I am at the slum and go and come from their (a pretty difficult thing to do). I photographed various individuals (young and old) along with the dump site and homes today. Some people are wary of me but I hope to break through to them eventually, these people have faced persecution for many years so I do not blame them to be somewhat suspicious. All of the people living at the dump site are illegals in Thailand, all can be arrested and expelled on the whim of local Thai officials. I was talking to one young Burmese boy in Thai today, he is from the Kamel ethnic group, he told me life here in the dump was better than being in Burma. Living with flies and garbage is better than living in your own country! How terrible must it be in Burma?
Will go back tomorrow with 3 bags of rice and some small treats, I will give the rice to 3 different families.
Having already established some relationships in the dump, I was created with smiles, nods and waves from several people. I started out in the early morning light doing some dumpscape style photos before people started coming up to look at and through the camera, when they came up to me I asked them to pose. One of the most difficult things to do was getting peoples name and age, Burmese names are LONG!! and the people had to repeat it to me many times. I have gotten the Burmese sentence of "What is your name?" down but I am having trouble with the "How old are you ?" thing, sometimes that is not understood.
It was lots of fun being with these folks today, my only worry is getting them in trouble with the Thai authorities I am trying not to be seen by Thais when I am at the slum and go and come from their (a pretty difficult thing to do). I photographed various individuals (young and old) along with the dump site and homes today. Some people are wary of me but I hope to break through to them eventually, these people have faced persecution for many years so I do not blame them to be somewhat suspicious. All of the people living at the dump site are illegals in Thailand, all can be arrested and expelled on the whim of local Thai officials. I was talking to one young Burmese boy in Thai today, he is from the Kamel ethnic group, he told me life here in the dump was better than being in Burma. Living with flies and garbage is better than living in your own country! How terrible must it be in Burma?
Will go back tomorrow with 3 bags of rice and some small treats, I will give the rice to 3 different families.
