Not sure where this Canadian photographer.net story came from, the first I heard of it was when I did a Gerry Yaum search on bing.com. I guess because I am a Canadian and a photographer-security guard (thou not a big fan of nationalism thing, all people everywhere should be equal) I fit into the web pages mandate, they seem to have picked up the Gerry Yaum photo name from Slate. If they would have contacted me I could have forwarded nicer scans (the pics they chose are from gerryyaum.com) but oh well its nice to have the work noticed, to have those stories told. The interview stuff also came from slate (and possibly some other sources), like everything else online these things spread they are grabbed and re posted. I kind of like the "Forgotten People" title, I might steal that for a show in the future.
The thing I find ironic is that many of my photo acquantiances here in Edmonton sort of dogged-nagged me for years on shooting to much of the sex worker scene in Thailand, "Why do you shoot the same stuff over and over again? Why not shoot something less shocking?" "Move on get over it!"etc. Now the Sex Worker photos are the the only work that gets seen, the only stuff that gets any notice. The sex worker images have gotten lots of attention lately first at PhotoNOLA, then Slate at other sites and now at this CDNphotographer site. All the work I have done since the sex worker projects has basically been ignored, I am having trouble getting the work shown, online its going no where, grant requests to fund the projects are rejected.
That whole sex bar scene world really wore on me after awhile I left most of the sex worker photo making behind 3 years ago except for some white background 8x10 stuff shot in 2012, now I am wondering if I am missing the boat by not continuing to tell those important stories. Maybe I will take off a few more years then get back to shooting this subject again. A couple of years off should recharge the batteries, I can enter that world again with a clear eye and compassionate heart. It's important to do the work you consider is important regardless what those around you are saying.
That whole sex bar scene world really wore on me after awhile I left most of the sex worker photo making behind 3 years ago except for some white background 8x10 stuff shot in 2012, now I am wondering if I am missing the boat by not continuing to tell those important stories. Maybe I will take off a few more years then get back to shooting this subject again. A couple of years off should recharge the batteries, I can enter that world again with a clear eye and compassionate heart. It's important to do the work you consider is important regardless what those around you are saying.
Here are the links to the Canadian Photographer site Gerry Yaum sex worker story.
