“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.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Friday, February 13, 2026
Thursday, February 12, 2026
4 Photos of Khun Dom
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| 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
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Some More "Under the Freeway Images"
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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.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
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!
Monday, February 9, 2026
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.
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| 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!!
Friday, February 6, 2026
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.
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.
Thursday, February 5, 2026
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.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
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.
Lee Miller Exhibition at the Polygon a Disapointment!
The Lee Miller show at the Polygon in Vancouver is big let down.
80% of the exhibition is old rather boring fashion pics. A small room has itty bitty poorly printed prints shot during World War 2, these are the strongest photographs but their presentation stifles their power.
A highly disappointing exhibition that lacks substance. This show is all about celebrity phtohrpher promotion (recent movie anout her) of a minority artist, but lacking any good art.
More and more exhibitions I view are all about the artist with shotty art.
Her 2 most famous images are not even displayed. “Dead SS guard” and “Lee Miller in Hitlers bath” (a useless 1x1 inch version is in a magazine wall display), are not even in the exhibition.
What has happened to placing the art over the artist??
The exhibition also has a British newsreel of limited interest .
Even free, this exhibition was mostly a waste of time. This is my 3rd trip to the Polygon and the third time I have been disappointed. Time to get a new curation team or have the old team wake up!
Presidential Hypocripsy
American Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Munroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Harrison, John Tyler, James Polk, Zachary Taylor and Andrew Johnson. All owned slaves.
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| PHOTO: Peter, a slave from Louisiana, in 1863. The scars are the result of a whipping by his overseer |
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