From Thailand with Love

I am just back from Thailand and it is officially 6 weeks until spring in Johannesburg. And soon, those who have been waiting out the cold, planning their weddings, will have their special day.

I’m excited about the weddings that I will be shooting and am feeling inspired with some new ideas I brought back from my travels.

Thailand was wonderful. Years of fantasy turned into reality in June when my partner and I decided we have to go to Thailand for at least a month, and as soon as possible.

I packed my Mac and too much of my Nikon gear into a bulging and battered Lowepro bag, excited about the chance to shoot for pleasure. And the challenge of capturing moments and images in a country so well-known for its beauty and diversity.

A woman in a traditional boat rows down the canals of the Damnoen Saduak floating market

My love of photography began when I was 15 on my very first trip outside of the US with my family.

We shot seven rolls of film on that trip to England. I took a lot of photographs of doorknockers against brightly painted doors. My eye was drawn to the lines and shapes of buildings, statues and the very British assortment of strange small cars.

My family keeps all the albums we have made together from that trip – with napkins, sugar packets and brochures – and from the other trips we have taken together. They live on the coffee table in my family home in Alexandria, Virginia.

We caught this agile old lady quite by mistake while wandering along the decks of the stilted homes of the Damnoen Saduak floating market. She was doing the dishes, it was just past lunch time.

Nothing happens in Thailand without ice. It is remarkably available almost anywhere. This little boy was cooling off in the waste water of the ice box of his Mother’s religious flower offering shop. It was right next door to the river and Bangkok’s famous flower market.

This Thailand trip, nearly a month long of unscripted travel and almost 20 years after that first adventure overseas, Nicky and I both instinctively saved all the little scraps of paper, the maps and scribbled directions that accumulate when you travel. And an album is being planned!

Traveling has changed for me and I am a different person to the excited teen wanting to record everything possible. My eye is drawn to different things now.

This was our very dapper train conductor. His uniform would have done some bygone dictator very proud. He was congenial and as neat early in the morning as he was the night before.

During our month in Thailand, I realized again just how much what I like to photograph has changed and evolved. Shooting every day, in temples, in streets and alleyways and night markets, I reconnected with the real pleasure that comes from shooting my favorite subject now, people.

These little boys were waiting with their parents to take the train from Bangkok’s beautiful old fashioned train station to somewhere. Killing time, they roared around and fell into bouts of play Muay Thai boxing.

I like to shoot wide and close when I can. You can see something of someone’s story in the space around them, the way they move through the world and the way they relate to others.

This is one of my favorite photographs of the trip. This man was selling hot steamed buns filled with a delicious and unusual combination of spicy minced pork, and crab, with a surprise quail egg in the middle. He had parked his motorbike stall outside a school in the old city of Chiang Mai and was doing a steady trade, as all the parents had come to fetch their kids.

A little girl sleeps next to a fan in the Silom night market in Bangkok

Watching people and capturing them in moments that tell stories is also my favorite part of photographing weddings.

I love catching the different stories that unfold on what is always an extraordinary and special day for the families that are uniting and the friends who are there to celebrate and bear witness.

The way I approach a wedding now is similar to the way I shoot travel images. A wedding day is a roller coaster of emotions. From the nerves, excitement, emotions, love, it’s often the first time everyone who means the most to both of you is in the same room together. Interesting things always happen at a wedding.

It’s important to have personal projects. They give you freedom, they inspire you, and they make you look at your world in a different light.

On this trip, my camera was permanently attached to my hand. I pushed myself creatively. Seeing things from new angles and trying new and uncomfortable things like shooting from the back of a motorbike on small Andaman island roads – initially terrifying but ultimately super fun.

A shopkeeper grabs a packet in a tightly packed shop in the famous Warorot Market in Chiang Mai

A couple burn an offering of paper money on the front step of their stilted home near the Damnoen Saduak floating market.

I have returned to Johannesburg feeling renewed and inspired. I am looking forward to the weddings that I will be shooting and the moments that I will be capturing for my clients on what is always a special day.

I have a few photo essays from my Thailand trip that I am working on which I will be sharing and I hope you enjoy them. Join my newsletter if you’d like an update when I post them.

Fellow travelers from Germany share a taxi after taking the night train to Chiang Mai from Bangkok.

Nicky and I take a break from our hour long winding bike trip to appreciate the view at the top of the mountain Doi Suthep outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I’m a destination and LGBT wedding photographer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. I also shoot in Cape Town, Washington D.C, Alexandria Virginia and worldwide. You can see some of my wedding and portrait photography on www.laurenbarkume.com. Want to work with me? Get in touch on info@laurenbarkume.com.