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!!
