Wat Phra Non Chak Si Worawihan

TF Eric, I am pleased to welcome you here at Thailand Footprint. I have just spent the last 30 minutes looking at a file of your photographs and I came away thoroughly impressed. The hardest part of this interview, I can already tell, will be selecting the 12 photographs I plan to run. I also have many questions for you, so here goes: Tell me about your interest in photography. How it started. How long you have been doing it. Has it been an avocation, a vocation or both?

Spirit House

EN Thank you Kevin, I’m excited to talk with you today.

My interest in photography came from an odd place. As a kid, I was an avid malacologist, i.e. collector and studier of specimen sea shells and the animals in them, buying from dealers all over the world. I wanted to do a slide presentation using the specimens I had in my collection at the time. My dad had a 35mm camera and tripod so I did a simple setup and photographed them. My interest in photography grew and the relationship between photography and shell collecting was a symbiotic one for a time till photography became my main interest. I no longer collect, and haven’t for over 40 years as the ocean needs all it’s animals intact, but I still have an extensive collection.

Photography has been both a vocation and an avocation, but for the last 30 years it’s mainly been a vocation and I’ve worked in many parts of the photo industry from commercial labs to photo journalism to studio, location, and stock photography and lastly owning and operating a custom B&W lab service in Chicago for 21 years, Archival Custom Printing- (ACP).

Bangkok barber and mom at shop

TF  I was particularly struck by your photographs of Thailand and neighboring countries. I’d like to focus on three: Thailand; Myanmar and Cambodia. How are they similar and how are they different? How much time have you spent in Myanmar vs Cambodia?

Buddhists Monks proceed in Myanmar 

Noodle shop located on Sukhumvit 101

Michael Moore lookalike at Fisherman’s Canal – Chicago

EN The key, I believe, is to get out each day, and see things with new eyes, like one newly arrived.  I don’t believe it is a bad thing at all as it keeps your vision fresh and one’s self interested.

Bangkok and Thailand for that matter is a great shooting destination.  Personally, I’m not that interested in shooting well known spots. One should go to the Grand Palace and so on once in their life for sure, but I’ve no inclination to return to well known “family vacation” destinations for my photography.  I find that almost any street here will do nicely.  There will be someone or something one can shoot.  People here are genuinely cooperative if not downright happy when I ask to take their photograph.  All one has to do is just go for a walk in your neighborhood and you’ll find fascinating things to shoot.  I’ve just moved to a new neighborhood and I’m looking forward to getting out and shooting here as there’s a large Muslim population and diverse groups of people living all around me.

Modes of transport here also fascinate me.  The boats and motocy taxis aren’t found in the US and where we have them (specifically boats) they are not utilitarian and geared more often to tourists.  In S.E.A. it’s just another way to get around and I love it.  I don’t drive here and hate even being a passenger in a car here.  I much prefer any other method to get places if it’s safe.  Those are opportunities to see the streets  and life in general in a different way instead of in an air con car w/tinted windows.  That and the fear-inducing traffic and driving styles here makes the trains and boats and walking much more appealing to me.

I try to keep myself open to as many subjects as possible whether it be people, places or things.  I do enjoy photographing people as there are some unique looks folks have here and in other countries in S.E.A.  People are much more approachable here than in the US where they don’t have time to stop for you or are just suspicious or irascible in general.

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Bangkok Motorcy Taxi Drivers near BTS Stop

TF How has the digital age impacted your profession, both positively and negatively?

Siem Reap, Cambodia

TF What is the best photographing advice you have ever received?

Bicyclist in Cambodia

EN Best photographic advice is my own as well, which is to keep shooting.  Whatever it is you want to shoot, whether film or digital, just keep at it.

Buddhist Funeral

TF Do you have any projects in the works? What is your ideal photographing assignment? Do you prefer freelance work over model shoots or is it a balance that you strive for?

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EN I have two teaching projects in their early stages right now both requiring my darkroom + digital.  The first is to teach some folks here how to do wet plate photography.  The major stumbling block I’ve run into there is the chemistry.  Shipping from my suppliers in the US is very expensive and it’s arrival is iffy at best.  One supplier told me of a shipment he made to Singapore that took 3 months to arrive.  So I’m in search of companies that have the needed chemistry here in Thailand.

The other project is to teach alternative photo printing techniques such as cyanotypes or salted paper, using negatives made with a digital printer.  These historical processes require the negative to be the size of the image you want as the negatives are printed in contact with the paper.  Working from scans or digital files to print onto overhead transparency material allows one to easily make these large negatives.

Actually still life and product shoots interest me more than model shoots as those depend heavily on the talent and support people such as hair and make up.  I enjoy model shoots for a sideline as I can do pretty much whatever I want.

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Bangkok Shop House

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TF If you had not been a professional photographer, can you imagine what other profession, in the arts, you might have liked to try?

EN I’m really at a loss to think of any profession other than photography!

Bangkok photographer Eric Nelson ponders what other profession he might enjoy as much as photography … detective, perhaps?

TF Thank-you, Eric for sharing your pictures and thoughts on photography at Thailand Footprint. Continued success to you in the great city of Bangkok, Thailand.

EN My pleasure, Kevin. I enjoyed it.

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You can reach Bangkok based photographer Eric Nelson at his email address: Eric Nelson <emanphoto@ameritech[dot]net for information about his photographs and services or at the links below: