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.
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.
