Picked up Safely Vest!

Picked up a Safety vest for $5 at a thrift store sale (closing out). I will wear it when making Ambrotypes and near any roadway or other dangers.  It is heavy duty, well made.

Safety First!!!

New Photo Card

Ordered a new photo card today. Got 250 cards for $41 CAD, plus shipping and tax. Probably do not need 250 cards but 100 cost 33, so for $8 more I thought it was worth it. I can hand these things out in mass bushels! 5 to a customer!

I will have them for the two coming photography talks and can also hand them out when using the trailer when making Ambrotypes. The 2 blogs, the website and an email address are all on the card. 

Note* Khun Nit, the old man who has passed away in the slum, from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY is the pic.

Note** There is also a QR code on the back, which is a first. The code leads to my main web page. 

Video: My Lovely 14x14 Inch Chamonix Camera

 

DJI Mic 2s

Am using the cheaper Mic 2s for the DJI Osmo Compact 3 camera. The Mic 2s in white cost $85 CAD each, the Mic 3s are $149 each.

They seem to work quite well. I have 1 and ordered a 2nd today.  

Note* I will bee using these 2 mics with my new Osomo Compact 3 DJI camera. I should be able to record, great and simple audio for my YouTube Channeel vids. 

Playing with the New DJI Osmo Compact 3 Video Camera and Mic 2 (Bluetooth connection)

 Been learning my new tool. I like the camera, very small, 4k video and you can wear a Bluetooth mike with it. It allows high quality non shacking video (gimble) and pristine audio. It should be great for doing video blogs, and on my YouTube channel.

Some stills made with the camera

Making Some Larger Digi Prints

 

Today am working on some larger digi prints from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY Thai project. 

 

Hope to have a portfolio of 22 prints with me to show folks at the coming artist talks.

First 2! Khun Apple and Khun Jem.

 

Note* After thesse 2 images I had trouble]e with the printer. It would not load the paper and when it went through it did not print, just ran the paper right through empty. I think this is a result of my cutting the paper to the wrong size. In order to save money I bought paper in rolls but now am having problems printing thee cut down and curled paper. 

 

Will keep working at it. 

 

A couple of images for the new portfolio

Evils of Racism Quote

Watching and amazing documentary THE CIVIL WAR. It has so many parallels to 2026. This quote came up, from the Supreme Court Justice of the United States, 1857. It was part of a decision to not grant a black man his freedom, even thou he had lived for many years on free soil.

Note* This came from an educated man, a man who on the Ameereican supreme court, the chief justice of that court. I just can't get my head around such racism and ignorance.

Tweeking the Social Documentary PowerPoint Talk

Minor tweaking the social documentary PowerPoint talk tonight. Adding and fixing up images. 193 slides including 9 short vids of 30 seconds or less. 2 projects, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP and THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY. Did several run throughs, around 1 hour long each time.

2 talks scheduled in March and April. I sent out some begging emails for more today.

Blogging-Youtube Camera, DJI Compact 3 Osmo

Going to get a camera. Have not bought one for quite a while. This tool will help with my non existent YouTube channel and this blog. It will do 4K video, with steady cam and allow for top notch blue tooth audio. I will need to buy a separate microphone set up,  $385, for 2 microphones and a receiver.

Note* I am hoping this new camera will encourage to tell the stories I want to tell on my channel. and allow for much easier and faster video production for the wet plate AMBROTOS KANATA project.

Note** I am also hoping to use the camera to document my social documentary work. Which will also help to humanize people and their stories.

Quote: Angela Lansbury (Actress)

 

Quote: Salman Rushdie

“The moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it’s a religious belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.”

Found Dump Group Selfies

Some found images with the kids in the dump!

In the dump

4 Photos of Khun Dom

 

Khun Dom from 2016, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand

Prem High, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY

 

Khun Prem, high, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

Some More "Under the Freeway Images"

Self-portraits, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025 

 

Refining The Social Documentary Power Point

Note* I have a video that might be a bit shocking for the average old person in a photo club, used to pictures of sunsets, birds and flowers. Not sure I should include it in the talk. It would make the talk memorable and wake up those in the back row!! The video was made in the dump back in 2013. A family living on the garbage had a small black baby pig, a piglet. The mother of the piglet had died. So the families human mother (Burmese refugee family) was feeding the piglet from her own breast, trying to keep it alive. What do you think? Include it in the talk? About 40 seconds long.

Thoughts on Shakespeare!

Today’s Thrift Store find, a hardcover biography of William Shakespeare.  After the old geezer 30% discount, $10.50 CA. Quite a bit cheaper than Amazon. 

Am eager to learn more about Willie’s life!

Social Documentary PowerPoint Presentation Slide Count Climbing!

How will I keep this talk to only 1 hour?

The Importance Of John Thomson To Asia

John Thomson was such a strong and important photographer in Asia at this time, 1866. I have never seen this work before, from a wet plate collodion negative. Shooting wet plate in that heat must have been extremely difficult.

A wonderful book, picked up for $10 CAD 

Thai Learning and other Thoughts

In retirement I am trying to get back to learning to speak Thai. I have found understanding the language and the culture is an absolute necessity for my social documentary photography within Thailand. It would be so wonderful to be fluent!! Or at least speak 50% better than I do now.

Thai people have often spoken from their hearts to me when I photograph them but I only understand a portion of what they say. Sometimes it’s 80% other times maybe only 10%. To be able to understand everything, every word, what a gift that would be. 

 

When I was photographing in the bar world “Body Sellers”, many woman workers would cry and tell me their life's story. I would get more and more lost the longer they spoke. The same thing happened last year when I photographed the people “Under the Freeway”. Old women in their 80s would tell me long elaborate stories of their lives and I only understood maybe 40%. It was extremely frustrating. You listen as hard as you can but so much is missed.

 

My hope is that more language skills will lead to more understanding of my subjects, my friends, and lead to better photography. 

 

When I return to Thailand in 2026. I will continue working on THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY but will need to find a new secondary project as THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP seems complete. What project? Several come to mind. Possibly covering the lives of "garbage workers' in Bangkok. That is something I shot for a few hours last trip. I think their stories are important, they seem forgotten within the society, that makes me want to shine a light on their meaningful lives.

 

Note* For me one of the keys to learning to speak a language is to be able to read and write in that language. Thankfully, many years back, some Thai monk friends at a local Edmonton temple taught me to write in Thai. Am trying to remember all that as well!! 

 

FRAMES Magazine Promotion Shared Talk

 

New Music Choices

Picked some new music to listen to while I TRY TO WRITE MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY. These are from the Dennis H classical music collection.

More PowerPoint Work

 

The War Before the War, Fugitive Salved and the Struggle for America's Soul

Reading this sad book. Mans inhumanity to man is always so difficult to accept and understand.

Larry's Help with my Social Documentary PowerPoint Presentation

 Got some good advice on talks and PowerPoint presentations from my friend Larry yesterday. Will rework some of my PowerPoint and add other things. 

Thanks Larry for your help and suggestions.

FRAMES PROMOTION Time/Zoom?

 

Quote: Louise Bourgeois (Artist)

 

Missing Photos from "The Polygons" Exhibition of Lee Miller

Miller made so few outstanding images, you gotta use them all. The shocking drowned SS guard image and the photo of her in Hitlers bath HAVEE TO BEE INCLUDED in any of her exhibitions. The Polygon Gallery in Vancouver failed to show the work at their exhibition. 

Here are the missing images.