• Leaving Laos!

    What was supposed to be a trip of a few weeks turned into an adventure of almost three months. I was “embedded” with an international NGO medical crew (more on that in later posts) photographing their activities. Now I’m leaving Laos. Click any image for a larger version.

    leaving laos
    Fisherman on the Mekong, my last night in Laos.

    Laos is amazing—I think I’m in love. This is one of those posts that could go on and on, and I was going to try to keep it brief and to only 20 28 or so images. However, if you are looking for brevity, this ain’t the post… I go could on for hours. I will write some more posts on certain aspects I want to delve into in greater detail in later posts, but let’s get on with it…

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  • Thinking About Composition

    I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time considering the composition of my images. I’ve been known to reshoot a still life 10-20 times until I get it composed exactly how I see it in my mind’s eye. Back in the days when I shot and developed all my own film, it was quite a long process compared with my digital workflow of today. I think that extra time was worthwhile though—it essentially gave you time to forget the exact images you had shot while you waited to have enough rolls to mandate mixing a fresh batch of chemicals, developed and dried the film, and then scanned and archived. You got fresh eyes

    Thinking About Composition
    Thinking About Composition: About 99% There. Click To Enlarge.

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  • Botanica Obscura Folio Sale—Happy New Years!

    Lao New Years, that is. The Lao celebrate their New Years or Pbeemai (pronounced pi-mai bi-mai) on April 13th, 14th, and 15th. The 13th is the last day of the old year; the 15th the first day of the new. What is interesting to me is the 14th: Sangkhan Nao or day of no day. April 14th isn’t part of either year, it’s a day of rest and fun. One of the activities is the throwing of water on friends and passersby—something of a purification ritual.

    Since this is going to be a bit of a party, I thought I’d put my Botanica Obscura folio on sale for 50% off. That’s right, for the rest of April, the print folios will be priced at $45 instead of their normal $90.

    botanica obscura folio sale
    Sale!

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  • Canon Concept Store In Laos Rocks

    So… I created a bit of an issue with my carry everywhere point-and-shoot Canon Elph 110 HS that I bought for my trip to Thailand/Laos. Let’s just say a visit to the factory will be required… don’t ask. If I mention “water buffalo” will that suffice?

    photo canon store laos ixus 125
    Ixus 125 HS, the non-North American version of the Elph 110 HS

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  • Apocalypse Now Redux, Redux. NSFS (Not Safe For Squeamish)

    I’ve been in Xamtai, Laos, waiting on authorization from the local authorities to do a photo project with an international NGO working here. So, I’ve been keeping busy photographing the very cool bamboo water wheels that the Lao use to move water from river level to the farmland above.

    apocalypse now redux

    As I wandered down the river I noticed a bunch of Hmong busy on the other side of a large truck. As I came around the truck I was briefly taken back to the scene in Apocalypse Now where the camera is cutting back and forth between Willard killing Kurtz and the ritual slaughter of a water buffalo.

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  • Feeling Apocalypse Now

    feeling apocalypse now
    Ok, ok, it’s a stretch. But the elements are there. Click to enlarge.

    Ever have one of those moments that strongly reminds you of a movie? I had one of those not long ago. I was in Vientiane, Laos, across the Mekong from Thailand.

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  • Entering Laos!

    On the move again, entering Laos. Was only, err, somewhat eventful. I’m sitting in the Don Muang Airport in Bangkok, about to board, and one of my front crowns (all four of my upper front teeth are crowns; my original teeth were all damaged when I was a kid) comes off with a bite of a granola bar. This thing has been reattached to the post several times and just doesn’t want to stay fixed. Great. I quickly clean it off in the bathroom (taking care to not drop it down the drain) and wedge it back into place. No chewing until I can get affixed back in place. Sorry. No pix of that. Would you want to really see that?

    But then on the plane things get a bit odd. We are getting close to landing at the Udon Thani airport and get the ‘sit down and buckle up’ message. As I’m in row 7, I visit the restroom just to the rear of the cockpit. But when I’m done with my business and come out, I’m not greeted by a plane full of sitting down and buckling up passengers—I’m greeted by the back side of an media circus. Three people with pro still cameras, a guy with a video camera on a Steadi Cam-type rig, and three or four assistants. I couldn’t get to my seat. I couldn’t actually go anywhere but stand by the door of the restroom in a bemused state. Turns out that the guy in charge of the whole operation is standing right next to me and spoke English. He told me that this woman was proposing marriage to her sweetheart on the plane in her wedding dress. Now that’s a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. She came on board with her dress packed in a bag and went to the bathroom, quickly changed, and as the media crew lept up, pounced on her fiancee and proposed…

    Mr. In-Charge takes the PA microphone and announces the whole thing and the entire plane starts to cheer. Much more interesting than the airline-provided in-air entertainment.

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  • Mickey Mouse Culture In Bangkok

    I’ve had a project about American consumer culture creeping around in my gray matter for some time. I don’t recall how it happened, I’m guessing I was doing something mindless… and I got the damn theme song from The Mickey Mouse Club stuck in my head. I immediately started bastardizing it (a strange habit I have with song lyrics) until it turned into M-I-SEE!, K-E-WHY?, M-O-USA! Neither had I seen an image that established the look of the project, nor had I expected to find it in Bangkok…

    micky mouse culture
    ~ Micky Mouse Culture • Click To Enlarge ~

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  • No Absolute Truth In The Universe Gallery Opening

    I went to the opening of the No Absolute Truth In The Universe gallery show at the Bankok Arts and Culture Center this last weekend. The art is a mixing of current culture and Dharma. Here are some of the pieces I liked. First, titled To Cross The Samsara 2 is by Punsiri Siriwetchapun. It is a 120cm x 240cm inkjet print on film, which is then backlit. (Click To Enlarge)

    No Absolute Truth In The Universe art exhibition

    Here are some more: (more…)


  • Bangkok Personalities: Angie In Black And White And Color

    I’ve always been interested in the spectrum of sexual identities and in Thailand observations are more easily made than elsewhere. Ladyboys, or Kathoey are quite common and are referred to as the Third Sex. Somewhere betwixt and between a male and female, their appearance can be quite stunning. As far as I can tell, anything between growing long hair and wearing feminine clothing to full on sexual reassignment surgery counts. As if someone were counting. I’m not.

    (Rollover the images to compare.)

    So, being the naturally inquisitive person that I am, I went online and met Angie and asked if we could trade her time for my photographs for her portfolio. She models, and sadly also works as an escort. She doesn’t want to be an escort, but the modeling pays very little and being an escort a considerable sum more. Especially since she is a full post-op ladyboy. I take it that that is a little bit rarer in amongst the very large population of ladyboys in Thailand. So, an impromptu meeting was set up and we shot for an hour or so. I was quite taken aback by her appearance.  (more…)


Jon Witsell Photographic Arts
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