I have thought of a great photo series idea for the book I want to dedicate to my father called "A Promise to my Father …...". Dad always worries for children, he always told me "Why do people make babies if they cannot take care of them?" Whenever he saw a child that was poor or suffering in any way he would ask me that same question. Dad always put the need of me and my sister first over his needs, it was always "give it to the kids" with dad. Doing a series of large format portraits of children shot in the slums of Bangkok, Cambodia and the Mae Sot garbage dump, seems a perfect idea, a perfect theme for the dad dedication book. It would be the perfect tribute to Dad, he would be contributing to recording who these forgotten children are, he will be directly responsible for the making of the pictures. Maybe the book or exhibitions of the work can help the child subjects in some small way, money for aid organizations, raising awareness to their living conditions, donations of food and other essentials.
Doing a book of children poverty portraits to dedicate to a man who always loved and worried for his own children and the plight of other children, just seems right.
Maybe the book could be called "A Promise to my Father: Children Living in Poverty","A Promise to my Father: Portraits of Children in Poverty","A Promise to my Father: The Lives of Children in Poverty""A Promise to my Father: Children of-in Poverty", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Children of Poverty", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Children of South East Asia", "A Promise to my Father: Forgotten Lives in South East Asia", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Child Voices of South East Asia", "A Promise to my Father: Forgotten Voices", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Child Voices of South East Asia"
On my next trip, I will throw myself full bore into this new series idea. I can do it at the same time I do general portraits in Klong Toey slum and of the Mae Sot garbage dump families. It will become sort of a multi tasking photo shooting thing, 2 or 3 projects at the same time. Now I just need to work hard in Canada and save money so I will have the funds to produce this series.
Update* I talked to dad about this idea today during our daily visit, he smiled and like the plan, SO IT'S A GO!! The first 3 places that I will try to make photograph are Klong Toey slum in Bangkok, the slum at Poipet in Cambodia (on the Thai border inside Cambodia) and the Mae Sot garbage dump children (on Thai border with Burma). With these 3 shooting locations I can include Burmese (Karen?), Thai and Cambodian children in the project. To show their joy for living along with the struggles they face seems like a noble way to do dads tribute book. I will use a 5x7 view camera with a 120mm wider angle lens for the start of this project and then go from there, see how things develop.
Doing a book of children poverty portraits to dedicate to a man who always loved and worried for his own children and the plight of other children, just seems right.
Maybe the book could be called "A Promise to my Father: Children Living in Poverty","A Promise to my Father: Portraits of Children in Poverty","A Promise to my Father: The Lives of Children in Poverty""A Promise to my Father: Children of-in Poverty", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Children of Poverty", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Children of South East Asia", "A Promise to my Father: Forgotten Lives in South East Asia", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Child Voices of South East Asia", "A Promise to my Father: Forgotten Voices", "A Promise to my Father: The Forgotten Child Voices of South East Asia"
On my next trip, I will throw myself full bore into this new series idea. I can do it at the same time I do general portraits in Klong Toey slum and of the Mae Sot garbage dump families. It will become sort of a multi tasking photo shooting thing, 2 or 3 projects at the same time. Now I just need to work hard in Canada and save money so I will have the funds to produce this series.
Update* I talked to dad about this idea today during our daily visit, he smiled and like the plan, SO IT'S A GO!! The first 3 places that I will try to make photograph are Klong Toey slum in Bangkok, the slum at Poipet in Cambodia (on the Thai border inside Cambodia) and the Mae Sot garbage dump children (on Thai border with Burma). With these 3 shooting locations I can include Burmese (Karen?), Thai and Cambodian children in the project. To show their joy for living along with the struggles they face seems like a noble way to do dads tribute book. I will use a 5x7 view camera with a 120mm wider angle lens for the start of this project and then go from there, see how things develop.
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| Three Burmese children, Mae Sot garbage dump, Thailand 2013 |
