Tonight, I am thinking on the look I want in the portraits for the possible return to the night scene in Asia and the LOST INNOCENCE project. The idea would be to use the recently purchased Hoya close up filters in conjunction with the Blad X1D cameras to great extreme tight, intense color, highly detailed portrait heads that would then be printed super large for exhibition.
I am thinking in line with this 2003 shot of Nit. This photo was taken on film with a Mamiya C330 twin reflex camera in a shortime room. Nit was a long-time sex worker who had started her life in prostitution as Go-Go dancer in the bars of Patpong, Bangkok during the Vietnam War era. I photographed her at least a dozen times over a number of years. A kind woman who went to work in the farang (Western) bar areas every night, driven there by her son who drove a taxi. Each night over the many years I knew her she had a harder and harder time attracting customers. I miss talking to her, hope she is living a good safe life now.
If I go back to do these portraits for LOST INNOCENCE, they might look something like this. I think the new heads might be a bit different, less tight to the face and more distorted than this image. We shall see how it goes. Not sure I can enter that world again, terrible place. The dumps and slums of Asia, have more joy.
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| Nit sex worker, Nana, Bangkok Thailand 2003 |
