Khun Apple, Smoking YaBa (Crazy Medicine)#3

Khun Apple,  smoking YaBa (crazy medicine) #3, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

Asking for Food!

Asking for food under the freeway,  THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

Video: Apple Smokes YaBa (Crazy Medicine)

She places a 1 baht coin in her mouth to help with the heat.

After lots of use, she would begin hallucinating and talk non stop.

Apple after YaBa use

Link: Story on Paul Alexander...STOP SPREADING VACCINE FEAR!

What a courageous man. The iron lung is an artificial lung that allows polio survivors who are quadriplegic to breath. Paul Alexander learned a difficult breathing technique (he called frog breathing), that allowed him to leave his iron lung for short periods of time. He became a lawyer and wrote books. An amazing person and life.

Mr. Paul Alexander

Story by J Schwanke

"Paul Alexander, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 78, was one of the last people in the world to live inside an iron lung—a towering, tube-like machine that kept him alive for over 70 years. At just six years old, Paul contracted polio during the devastating 1952 outbreak in Texas. The virus paralyzed him from the neck down and left him unable to breathe on his own. Doctors placed him in an iron lung, telling his parents he might not survive the night. But Paul defied the odds, beginning a lifelong journey of survival within the humming, steel confines of the machine that would become both his prison and protector.

Despite his physical limitations, Paul lived a life of astonishing courage and determination. Using a plastic stick held in his mouth, he taught himself to write, eventually earning a law degree and becoming a licensed attorney. He also authored a memoir, *Three Minutes for a Dog*, typing each word painstakingly with his mouth. Paul never allowed his condition to define his worth. Instead, he became a symbol of resilience, dignity, and the power of the human spirit. Friends and followers from around the world drew inspiration from his story and admired his sharp mind, wit, and unwavering strength.

Paul’s passing marks not just the end of a life, but the closing of a chapter in medical and human history. His decades spent inside an iron lung are a sobering reminder of the devastating reach of polio, and the miracle of modern vaccines. But beyond the machine and the diagnosis, Paul Alexander leaves behind a legacy of perseverance and purpose. His life—brave, difficult, and deeply meaningful—touched thousands, reminding us all that even within the harshest limits, hope, intellect, and humanity can flourish."

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Thankfully Polio vaccines have ended the disease in many countries. The fight goes on thou and with all the vaccine lies/misinformation and stupidity on the internet, more children will get this terrible disease in the years ahead. Vaccines, work. Science is important!

PLEASE STOP POSTING STUFF (LIES) THAT RAISE, FEAR OF VACCINES.

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the CDC work on, STOPPING POLIO WORLD WIDE

Ocean Quadtych Ambrotypes, Idea

The view from a restaurant I was at here in Thailand. The tide movement changed the view/feel of things, quite quickly.

I could have set up a view camera on this spot and over 2-3 hours created a variety of photographs. It would be an interesting experiment. Do a Triptych or a fourtych (what are those called?, quadtych??), of images from the exact same camera position, as the oceans water progresses or recedes. Maybe can try that on my wet plate collodion project in Canada, AMBROTOS KANATA.

New ideas are always coming in, need to remember this one. OCEAN AMBROTYPE QUADTYCH!!

Tree in the ocean, Thailand, 2025

Quote: Gordon Parks, Create Until You Die!!

Get out there and create folks!  I am very happy at 61, that I am doing m a bit during this trip to  Thailand. Life is too short, the hourglass is running out of sand for all of us. Hope i can do more creating at 71-81 and 91!!

Quote, from the great Gordon Parks.

Medusa?

Khun Apple seems Medusa like in this photograph.

Medusa facts:

“Medusa, in Greek mythology, the most famous of the monster figures known as Gorgons. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes; unlike the Gorgons, she was sometimes represented as very beautiful.”

Apple with some Medusa's

Link: Bumped Into This!

 I do not read the things that have been written about me in the 3 magazine stories and other places. It always makes my skin crawl. Still this was nice, found it today by accident. Maybe from one of the mag stories, not sure. Possibly "Analog Forever Magazine"/

Analog Forever Magazine Story on Dump Photos and the Lives of the People

"Photographer Gerry Yaum investigates the Mae Sot Thailand garbage dumps where more than 50 Mon and Karen refugee and immigrant families live. Displaced by poverty, war, and political instability of Burma (Myanmar), Yaum doesn't just tell their story but has become a part of it."

The Damage YABA Causes

These photos were taken about 10-20 minutes apart. First Khun Apple smoking YaBa then after. YaBa is called “crazy medicine” in Thailand as it destroys your mind. YaBa is a form of meth. This drug is ugly and brutal

From the series, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY.

Khun Apple,  smoking YaBa (crazy medicine)#2, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025.

3 stages of YaBa use.

Apple Smoking YaBa

Khun Apple,  smoking YaBa (crazy medicine)#2, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

Equality, the Important Word!!

 

More Editing Today, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY

More editing today.

Khun Apple, laying on a pallet after doing YaBa (meth), THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

Jack Smoking Meth #2

Khun Jack  smoking nam keng (meth) #2,  THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

A New Edit from Today

Khun Apple (Bun) With head scarf, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Khlong Toei Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2025

More Submissions

Note* Many of the submissions came back because of an invalid email address, only a portion got through. Submitting work to galleries is a very frustrating process. At least submitting is free to do now with digital uploads.

T-Shirt Choices

T-shirt confusion, time for decisions.

Trying to figure out out which pictures (4 possibilities) , what color (black or white), which style, how many and what size T-shirts to order. 

In  the pic, the left is a cotton shirt 6xl (250 baht), right polyester 5xl (280 baht).

Note* If you buy 20 shirts any of 1 type (different sizes ok), you save 20 baht per shirt (84 cents CAD).

Coton 6xl and Polyester 5xl

Will put them on my website to raise money to help the people in the pictures or I might sell or give them away at artist talks. I like the larger polyester pictures, I am not sure how I will deal with that in the real world.

Cotton 6 xl

Polyester 5xl

Improving Submission PDF for THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY

Gosh the updates to THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEEWAY PDF file keep coming. Now every time I add a photo I like, I wish all the galleries, all the clubs, all the schools, all the curators I sent work to would have the most recent, better version. 

As I add newly found and edited photographs the submission (galleries/talks) PDF keeps improving, so I guess thats a great thing!

Note* The same thing is also happening to the PDF book design

Part of my Submission PDF for THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY

THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Book Layout, So Far

Been resting the legs (3 minor injuries) of late, hope to get back shooting soon. I am running out of time on my time in Thailand extension. Soon will have to return to the land of snow and ice hockey.

Am working on my PowerPoint presentation, my new pic editing and my wannabe PDF photography book layout. The idea being that when there is a grant opportunity for photo book production I can send in the PDF and maybe get some help to publish a book.

A book has been a dream of mine for 47 years or so now. Anyway here is what I have so far.