I made this ladyboy sex worker portrait back in 2008. The photo was made in a short time sex room near walking street in Pattaya Thailand. I rented the room for the normal 2 hour time limit and brought 2 different workers back for portraits. I remember when I paid for the room the hotel guy was a bit surprised that I wanted the room for the full 2 hours. Most often Westerners rent the room for sex and once they bring the first person to the room for use it goes back to rental mode even if the customer has only occupied it for 30 minutes. When I left the room initially after the first photo session and did not give back the key he was surprised, in 15 minutes I brought back a second worker to photograph, more surprise. The room renter person must have thought I had extraordinary desires and stamina! He did not know I was making pics.
I remember the worker below being very straight forward, she had the same kind of distant look in all the photos, I also photographed her against a door way with the old Banarama 4x5 camera. The pic below was made with a C330 and direct flash on Tri-x. I like the solemnity and the distance of her expression, its completely non sexual even thou it is of a sex worker in a sex room. My goal as always was to desexualize the situation. I think that's the mood in most of these customer and bought person (sex worker) relationships, even with sex being involved everything is dry, cold and distant. The workers expression conveys the proper mood I wanted. Not sure that is always the case, doubt it is, but it is the story I wanted to tell.
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| Ladyboy Sex Worker in short time room, Thailand 2008 |
