Today was a long and rather incredible day, I photographed "Gai Chon" (cockfights). It started when I road on the back of a motorbike to a rural area about 30 minutes from Pattaya. After a bumpy ride down a highway and many dirt roads we arrived at the fighting ring, there were 14 fighting roosters in a nearby shed. My new friends brother G- brought his own fighting rooster on our motorbike to the boxing site. It must have been a strange site to see a Thai man a big farang man and a rooster barrelling down the road on a tiny motorbike! We turned a few Thai country folk heads I think, some people I saw did a double take, a "What the f-ck was that?" moment. I will post a photo of the three of us n the bike later.
Everyone at the boxing site, around 30 people were a bit stunned to see farang there. I tried to make friends with all, saying hello, telling them who I was and why I was there etc. Today my Thai language skills helped a lot. I spoke and spoke until my head ache. I spoke more Thai today than anytime in the last 3 or 4 years. The fact I could speak some Thai and also answer all their questions seemed to relax most everyone. You need a certain amount of charm and joking to get people ( your subjects) to relax, that happened today. It was rewarding to just fit in and be almost forgotten and just make pictures.
The actual boxing was violent for the birds, rather bloody but with no deaths. Gs rooster was the champion and he made money gambling on it. One of roosters in an early match simply ran away without fighting much to the amusement of the men present. The birds owner was rather downcast and a bit embarrassed .
The one thing I found rather surprising was the care, they gave their chicken boxers. The birds were treated like real boxers. They were washed carefully, massaged gently, fed rice and given water.
A feather was inserted down their throats after the fight to remove blood and a thick gooey liquid possibly saliva They also stitched the roosters head wounds after a fight. One thing the bird handlers did was surprising and unexpected. to remove blood (from swelling?) they would suck on the top of the head of the bird then spit the blood out They would usually do this 2 or 3 times. It was an intimate and caring act. The birds are property that are used to make money gambling in a bloody sport but you can see the respect and extreme care they give the animals as well.
It was a great day that gave me insight into a part of Thai culture I have never seen before. I got some phone numbers for a return visit, possibly to make photos with a large format camera, maybe dads 8x10 Deardorfff. I also got a couple of guys email addresses so I can send back some scanned pbotos.
I am not sure how many good action photos I got on 35mm, the birds are rather small and move fast. The portraits I got with the Rolleiflex are probably the best shots of the day. Maybe a future project of mine will be called "Gai Chon"!! I can photograph the sport in Thai-Laos-Burma-Cambodia.
Everyone at the boxing site, around 30 people were a bit stunned to see farang there. I tried to make friends with all, saying hello, telling them who I was and why I was there etc. Today my Thai language skills helped a lot. I spoke and spoke until my head ache. I spoke more Thai today than anytime in the last 3 or 4 years. The fact I could speak some Thai and also answer all their questions seemed to relax most everyone. You need a certain amount of charm and joking to get people ( your subjects) to relax, that happened today. It was rewarding to just fit in and be almost forgotten and just make pictures.
The actual boxing was violent for the birds, rather bloody but with no deaths. Gs rooster was the champion and he made money gambling on it. One of roosters in an early match simply ran away without fighting much to the amusement of the men present. The birds owner was rather downcast and a bit embarrassed .
The one thing I found rather surprising was the care, they gave their chicken boxers. The birds were treated like real boxers. They were washed carefully, massaged gently, fed rice and given water.
A feather was inserted down their throats after the fight to remove blood and a thick gooey liquid possibly saliva They also stitched the roosters head wounds after a fight. One thing the bird handlers did was surprising and unexpected. to remove blood (from swelling?) they would suck on the top of the head of the bird then spit the blood out They would usually do this 2 or 3 times. It was an intimate and caring act. The birds are property that are used to make money gambling in a bloody sport but you can see the respect and extreme care they give the animals as well.
It was a great day that gave me insight into a part of Thai culture I have never seen before. I got some phone numbers for a return visit, possibly to make photos with a large format camera, maybe dads 8x10 Deardorfff. I also got a couple of guys email addresses so I can send back some scanned pbotos.
I am not sure how many good action photos I got on 35mm, the birds are rather small and move fast. The portraits I got with the Rolleiflex are probably the best shots of the day. Maybe a future project of mine will be called "Gai Chon"!! I can photograph the sport in Thai-Laos-Burma-Cambodia.
