My Favourite Fanny and Freddy Pic

 

Always loved this picture of the motor home Fanny and darkroom trailer Freddy. It makes me want to head out and make Ambrotypes! Go, go, go, AMBROTOS KANATA project.

15 More Minutes

Video: Wee Kai

Wee Kai is now a young woman. In this video, the last I took of her with her father, she is with him in his shack on the garbage, 2018. Her father passed in 2021.

I often think back to this young girls life, and wonder what will become of her in the future. Here father has died, her brother and mother can only do so much. Poverty most often begets only more poverty. Will she end up back in the dump, a mother at 14, like so many others before her. Last I heard from here mom, she was in Mae Sot working.

In the video, I speak the little Burmese I know, to ask her father, his daughters name. 

PowerPoint Social Documentary Talk Improvements Continue

 

Extending and Expanding my Social Documentary PowerPoint Talk

Am working on a new revised version of my Social Documentary talk on the projects THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP and THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY. I am adding 10-15 photographs and removing 1 of the videos. Plus cleaning up a couple of title typos.

I have an extra 15 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes total) at THE IMAGES ALBERTA talk, so hope to use that time fruitfully!! 

IMAGES ALBERTA Talk to have a ZOOM Element!

The coming IMAGES ALBERTA photography club talk on April 9th will also be broadcast on ZOOM. Not sure how it all works but 2 ladies from the CAPS Red Deer photography club talk, said they would re-watch it on ZOOM.

Modern tech is rather amazing. I like the ability to do video talks but LIVE seems the better way to go. I sure enjoy speaking more to real people versus  a computer camera. 

Looking forward to the IMAGES talk, I am a former member of that group. 

LINK: Another POSSIBLE Talk

Nothing is confirmed yet but there might be another possible Social Documentary Artist Talk. The possible talk is a camera club in Kamloops British Columbia.

That makes talks in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Kamloops British Columbia as maybes. Not sure if they will be ZOOM talks or live.

https://www.copsphotography.ca/ 

Vinegar Buy

 

 

Wetplate trailer opening soon! Got my supply of diluted Glacial Acetic Acid (White Vinegar) Will use it to make developer!! $3.59 CAD (50 cents off a bottle)!!

Developer Formula

1000 ml Vinegar

20 ml Bio Ethanol

30 gr Iron

40 gr Sugar

Got a Brett Weston Monograph!!

Got a supersized book of Brett Weston’s work this Calgary trip. 131 pages/Aperture Monograph. Was a $3.60 CAD Thrift Store find. 

I like the simplicity of the design. Photographs alone with white borders and no distracting text. Like pictures mounted and framed in a gallery exhibition. The straightforward power of photography on display. Letting the photos speak for themselves.

If I ever get a book published, I would go this way.

Trying for More Talks!

The Red Deer CAPS social documentary talk went so well it encouraged me to try other clubs in Canada.

Some of these talk would have to be via ZOOM but there is also a possibility to visit the clubs personally as part of the wet plate, cross Canada project, AMBROTOS KANATA.

Contacted clubs in Lethbridge, Osoyoos, Whitehorse, Vancouver, Edson and Ottawa!!

Note* I have a talk in Edmonton scheduled for April and a tentative unscheduled talk in Halifax.

Talk went Well!

Did my hour and a bit talk and it went very well. Had maybe 12 questions during and after. 15 or 16 people attended.

4 different people came to talked after, called it moving etc. Thanked me and all that nice stuff. One gentleman even said he got so emotional that he almost left the room. He said many kind things.

All good stuff. I hope the next talk is even better at Images Alberta Camera Club Edmonton!!

Note* The emotional response in some, was surprising. I guess there is some power in the photos, videos and stories. We are on the right track.

Note** I need more talks! 

Note*** $250 to buy food for the people in the pictures

Preparing for Red Deer Talk at CAPS Photo Club

Ready for my Social Documentary talk in Red Deer for the CAPS photo club. All ready to go an hour early. Hope someone shows up!!

Earning $250 CAD tonight, will use this donation money to buy food for the people UNDER THE FREEWAY in Khlong Toei slum, Bangkok, Thailand!!!

Quote: Francis Bacon

 

Nice Free Table

Picked up a heavy, well built, wooden table today. It is quite tall and very solid. I got it FREE. Will put it in the back woodworking yard and use it this spring/summer/fall. It should allow me to work more easily. You can never have too many table worktops!

Note* I am wondering if I can use this design, or a variant of it to hold my large metal darkroom sinks, when I transfer them from the other darkroom. 

My new free and HEAVY/TALL table, 4x4 feet, 42 inches high

Link; Possible Talk in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Got some positive feedback today from a photo club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Sackville Photography club.

https://sackvillephotoclub.com/

Will work towards scheduling something that allows me to do a talk when we are in the area with the motorhome and trailer working on the SMBROTOS KANATA Ambrotypes project!!

They pay $200 CAD, which I can use to buy food for THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY.

The Importance of the Film, THE KILLING FIELDS

Sometimes movies change the course of your life. This film led to my trips to Southeast Asia. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, India, China, Singapore and Japan. 30 years of travel, photography, friends and experiences.

THE KILLING FIELDS!! Picked up a Blu-Ray copy for $10 today.

Note* The film THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY was also hugely important to my travels to Asia. The photographer played by Linda Hunt (Billy Kwan) was inspirational.

Quote: Bruce Lee

"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."

Thought on Life

 

A Bit of Money To Help the People In the Pictures

Will be earning a bit of money soon. !00% of the mopey will be used to help the people in the pictures, in the form of goods and food. I will take the money with me when I travel to directly help the subjects in the projects. 

This is a WE thing not an I thing. We being myself and the people who gave the money to help those in need.

- $200 USD from FRAMES Photography Magazine, for publishing 7 images from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY PROJECT.

- $250 CAD Social Documentary Artist Talk, Red Deer.

- $200 CAD Social Documentary Artist Talk, Edmonton. 

The PowerPoint Presentation is Ready

 I have two talks scheduled, one in Red Deer March 25, another in Edmonton Apirl 9.

Videos: Garbage Men at Work

Garbage workers in Bangkok. Thinking of doing a project on their work and lives. Maybe a project detailing 1-2 trucks or Bangkok wide. If possible both the workers street and home life. 

I would need to continue to improve my Thai language skills and my overall physical condition. These people work hard and move fast.

Videos from 2025 trip.

Some Old Photos of Workers

If and when I return to Thailand, I will start work on a new series on the garbage workers of Bangkok. Need to figure out a title yet. If I go back for a couple of months I need 2 projects, can do THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY and this new unnamed series. Will also try to do donation work.

Their story is important, needs to be told. Maybe I can visit their homes as well, and photograph the workers families. 

Shot 1 truck in 2025, but have not found or edited those photos yet. Will try to post some later, maybe the beginning of this project. The pics below, are old images. 

Vee, Dom and Champoo scavenging garbage, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Bangkok, Thailand 2016

Old images from Khlong Toey slum Bangkok, 2012

Garbage Workers Series?

Thinking more and more of doing a Garbage Workers series in Bangkok.  

I have been fascinated in a strange way to their lives dating back to the year I spent in Bangkok in 2003. I used to live in an apartment with a long soi (alley/road), that led to a bigger road.  I used to walk down that road over and over again, often walking behind a garbage truck with workers picking up garbage. The workers worked so hard, the smell was overpowering, beyond disgusting. Heat and food waste is not a good combo. There were rats, dogs, cockroaches all over the garbage. The men I saw worked hard and fast, it was exhausting just to watch them. 

Since that time, I have thought about their lives, wanted to tell their stories. In 2025, I photographed 1 group for a few hours. Thinking of gong back to do more.

Need a good title for the project, after that, I can dig in. 

The literal translation would be คนเก็บขยะ or KHON GEB KAH-YAH, a person who collects garbage. But that is too literal, need something more abstract and meaningful, more heartfelt.

Note* We could do something to help these hardworking lives, donations of some kind. Need to figure that out as well. 

Note** The garbage workers of Bangkok deserve to have their stories told. Often people in what is considered the bottom of society are ignored and forgotten. It is important to show our shared humanity with compassion and empathy. 

FRAMES Magazine will Arrive on Time?

I am awaiting my 3 copies of FRAMES magazine, that were promised me. I hope to take one of the copies along with the B&W magazine publishing of the work to the coming talks (March 25 and April 9). I also have 2 other mags with the photos, but did not want to take them.

It might be fun for people to browse the mags. 

Note* I also did some digi print portfolio images, that I might take, not sure just yet.  

Khun Oy from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY

Invoice to FRAMES Magazine Sent

I sent out the invoice to FRAMES photography magazine for $200 USD tonight. We will use the money to buy food for THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, when I return to Thailand. We need to give them more help.

Two Talks Approaching Quickly

I have my 2 social documentary talks quickly approaching. In Red Deer on March 25 and in Edmonton on April 9.

Its strange how when I was younger I feared speaking in public but now, I look forward to it, relish it, want to do more and more of these things! 

Sleeping with Art

It’s rather comforting sleeping in a room of art. 3 of the 4 are thrift store buy.

Amedeo Modigliani

Ansel Adams

Khun Prem, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

Paul Gauguin

New Thrift Store Buy

Today’s nice thrift store find. A nice large 16x19 inches professionally framed print (?) of “Lady with a fan. “ Amedeo Modigliani $20.50 CAD.

 

Always loved Modigliani, there is a beautiful peace to his art.

Interesting fact, the original was stolen in 2010, value 100 million Euro. Hopefully not destroyed.

 

Background:

 

This painting, Woman with a Fan (Lunia Czechowska), is one of the may paintings painted by Modigliani about this woman Lunia Czechowska. Modigliani met this lady one year before his death and painted this portrait at 3 years after he met Lunia Czechowska. The Polish woman and her husband, Casimir, were old friends of Modigliani's patron/dealer Leopold Zborowski. other's out-of-wedlock daughter, only his death caused the artist to cease attempting to seduce Lunia.

 

Here Modigliani shows his firm friend posed gracefully, her seated body in its yellow dress forming lithe curves against the scarlet background. Later in life, Czechowska vividly recalled sitting for Modi as he drank cheap brandy, sang, lapsed into Italian and, eventually, fell so far into the act of painting that he became oblivious to the presence of another human being. And then, there she was on canvas, left with " ... the impression of having the soul laid bare and of being in the strange position of being able to do nothing to disguise her feelings.".

 

June 1963, Vietnam, Buddhist Monk Self Immolation

Quảng Đức's last words before his death were documented in a letter he had left:

"Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngô Đình Diệm to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organize in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism."

David Halberstam wrote: 

"I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think ... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."

New Card

Got my new photo cards. They look good. 250 for $50+ CAD. Might order more from this company. Photo is of Khun Nit, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY. Am glad I have some nice cards for the talks.

 

Like the QR code on the back. It makes everything easier. Takes you directly to the website.

 

Thought

 

Quote: James Baldwin

 

New Cheapo Imac

Picked up a small iMac cheap with the gift card ($200) I got on leaving work. It is a iMac 21.5 inch screen, 2013, I7 chip, 16 GB Ram Memory, and 1TB hard drive. The cost was $175 CAD.

I will use it to surf internet and picture editing. I do not think it will work for video editing, but will give it a go. Seems like a good compute, but very old. In overall good condition. I downloaded and added a bit of software overnight, its running pretty well.

My new/very old iMac on my grand parents VERY old tables (1950s?)

Returning To Thai In October 2026?

 

Harsh Portrait Idea

Been thinking of these rather harsh heads lately. Thinking I would like to create more. Today I came upon a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Detail, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Thrift Shop Books

Today’s thrift store buys. Buy 5 get 1 free, plus 30% off old fogey discount. I know nothing about Opera, eager to learn more! The art history book is old and beautiful.

 

Quote: Arnold Newman

 

Picked up a Safety 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!!!

My $5 safety vest