Thai-lights
The slideshow below is some highlights from my recent 3 months around Bangkok and the north of Thailand for Insight Guides.
The assignment was to give a fresh new look to the photos for their upcoming 2010 books. It’s interesting how quickly some photos age. Even if you’re not into the technicalities of what to look for, we all have a highly tuned sense about it. The colours, the things in the background that look out of date, even the perspective, angle, the way it was shot. If the photo was made more than a few years ago, it’s highly likely it was shot with film, and this shows in the slavery to colour temperature and balance, and take-it-or-leave-it graininess that colour film used to lock us into. Take a look at the make of vehicles and the shop signs in the shot, and think about how long ago it was that things looked like that. 5, 10, 15 years ago?
I think travel media producers do a disservice to a rapidly changing country when they keep re-hashing all the old imagery in a desperate attempt to keep selling tickets and tours to places that don’t exist anymore except in the imagination (I saw a travel website the other day use a photo of the Bagan temples in Burma to represent holidays to ‘Indochina’ – talk about mixing your memories!) Times, people, cultures move on, and so should the travel media. One good example is the cover of the previous Vietnam Lonely Planet book – the girl at the train window. Beautiful photo, but it’s been about 15 years since they put grills on all the windows, making it impossible to lean out like that. Then there’s the girl’s hairstyle and dress. And finally, why would a supposedly progressive company like LP put such an old photo on the cover of their supposedly up-to-date book?!? Nostalgia for things long gone, anyone? (Incidentally, that same photo had been used as a double-pager in Insight Guides’ books for years before LP put it on their cover.) But let’s move on…
I’d spent very little time in Thailand before the assignment so it was a big learning experience. Pluses would be the fun and friendly people, the great weather, the fact that most things work and actually get done in the same century – unlike some other places I shouldn’t name 
, motorbiking all over the hills, the diversity of things to do and see all over the country, and it’s extremely affordable! Minuses would be way too much Pad Thai , and not enough time to really get to know the country and make more friends.
These photos are just a brief sampling, and soon there will be a lot more photos from Bangkok and northern Thailand for purchase on my online image library at www.IndoChinaImages.com
Look out for the new Bangkok and Thailand books, due out in 2010. Thanks for viewing!
Thailand highlights - Images by Peter Stuckings
