Walking Chair Lady

New city, new camera, new format. 

After more than half a year of searching, I finally managed to find someone I was excited about photographing again. This of course, is only partly true. Probably I pass a few people on the street everyday that I'm curios about getting to know or photographing. But unless I have my camera and a decent attitude, this becomes more or less imposible. When my London adventure ended in July 2012, I decided to settle down in Malmö. A small (compared to London), but very cosy city in the South of Sweden. For sure I'm going to miss the diversity of people London had to offer, but I'm even more excited about exploring Malmö and get to know the locals here. 

Eva (93) was on her way home for a well deserved coffee when I met her. Not sure if it was the contrast between her, the snowy weather and the building container, or the fact that I was a bit scared of asking and thought I would get a no, that fascinated me the most. I decided to ask anyway, and as it turned out, she kindly spared a moment of her time to stop for a portrait. I noticed how she kept avoiding my camera lens. At first I thought I was making her uncomfortable (probably I was), so I stopped photographing and went to have a little chat instead. We talked about walking chairs and her daily trip to the city center. Considering the snow and walking chair, 20 minutes is not bad for this kind of trip. After saying goodbye, I discovered it took me almost the same amount of time to walk the trip myself.

Topless Man With Bush

Still have a few un posted portraits from Thailand that I would like to share. This man came walking down the road towards me, dragging on a little mini tree. Considering the 30+ temperature, you can't really blame him for leaving his t-shirt at home. Curious about where he was going, I decided to show him my camera to start a conversation. Never got an answer to my question, but I think we talked about sun, smile and happiness.

The Bamboo Stick Man

For those of you who follows my blog; You might have noticed that CupOfPea has sadly been out of order for a while. Hopefully it's now back on track as normal, with frequent posts every other day.

After spending some time in thailand, I'm back in London, and will continue to shoot portraits in the South London area. This sweet man is actually staring in my blog for the second time. First time appearing in the far background of "Man With Yawning Dog". Blurred out in the background, it was then hard to notice his passion for the sticks, so I thought it was worth a second capture. 

Banana Bag Man

When I asked to photograph this man he must have thought I was really into his shopping habits, which is kind of true. Remembering back, I was fascinated by his white, see through bag, filled up with small version bananas, but at no point did I asked him to hold it up and show them to me. Nonetheless, I am happy he did. We walked down the street together, pointing and talking about bananas, apparently. After a few hundred meters we came to his stop. A tiny shop, where he passed on the bananas to someone else.  

City Center Pool Boy

Around Chiang Mai's city center, the old town, is a big moat. Of course, every now and then some small leafs drops into it. When I was walking along observing the city, I met the guy who's job is to clean it all up. His working tool, which I couldn't manage to fit all in the photo, is probably 5-6 meters long. Made from bamboo, makes it light weight, but I can still imagine it's pretty hardcore to maneuver it around the whole day in the burning sun. 

The Gatekeeper

Apperantly this road had restricted access. But to be honest, when I reached the gate, I wasn't sure if I was on the inside or outside of the restricted area. Non the less, the gate made me unsure about my onwards journey, so I decided to ask the guard if it was okay to pass or not. Resting in the shadow, the guy didn't understand much of what I was saying, but he opened the gate with a smile and sent me through. 

The Thai Boxer

One of the many good things about Chiang Mai is that it's full of small, narrow streets where I can easily walk around, uninterrupted by cars, to hunt for people. In this little passage, I got stopped by the man above. He was hanging out with his friends and wanted to show of his thai boxing skills when he saw my camera. I took it as an invite and started photographing. This was the last photo I took of him, and I think it symbolizes victory. After the opponent is beaten, you hush the applauding crowd.

Lady in Apron

I got eye contact with this little, old lady at a traffic light when I was about to cross the street in Chiang Mai. Since she looked so cute with her apron and plastic bag I thought it would be nice to take her portrait. I held up my camera, asked for a photograph and pointed at the green wall. She smiled, and went to stand in front of it, whilst I went out in the busy street to photograph.

Man With Yawning Dog

While walking through a back alley in Chiang Mai I met this man and his dog. From the looks of it they were going on a run together. I tried to ask, but his face was left with a question mark, so I decided to leave the subject and put my effort into pronouncing "khob-kun-Ka" (thank you in thai) correctly instead.

A Proud Man

This is not meant to be a travel blog, but since I'm constantly on the move now a days, I thought I'd include my latest location. Two days ago I left Bangkok and arrived in Chiang Mai. The people here seem to know even less english, but on the bright side, they also seem to be more relaxed and easy going about meeting foreigners. Sadly, my lack of thai knowledge and their lack of english skills results in fewer, cosy people stories. My meetings though, doesn't feel any less interesting. This man surprised me from around a street corner. I loved his outfit, the way it reminded me of a military uniform from the olden movies. Quickly I tried to catch his attention by showing him my camera and ask for a portrait.  At first he seemed confused, but without saying anything I kept pointing my camera at him, knotting my head. Suddenly he stopped and went into this position, without moving, just looking at me. I took a few steps back and snapped the photo.