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.

Shy Looking Man

Since early Januar 2012 I've been mostly shooting my portraits in the southern part of London, Peckham and surrounding areas. The beauty of the people there is hard to compete against. However, a few days ago I left for Thailand to work on a people-project in Doi Saket, Chiang Mai. On my way, I've stopped in Bangkok and spent the whole day roaming around looking for subjects. Without a map, without a plan and without a clue on where I was going, it sure was a hot and interesting experience. Chalit, in the photo above, was one of the few people that actually agreed to be photographed. I thought Thailand, The Land of Smiles would be an easy target, but it turned out that people here are quite shy and more than average sceptic to curly haired foreigners with glasses. It didn't help that most people I felt like asking couldn't understand a word of what I was saying.  

Man With Scarf

From a distance I noticed John's outfit. It instantly intrigued me because it seemed like he still lived in the olden days, only this was Camberwell 2012. The 81 years old was fashionable,  old-school looking and classy all at the same time. I got closer to him and was about to stop him to have a talk, when I noticed what looked like tears running from his eyes. For a second I questioned myself if it was okay to ask a crying person for a photograph. We got eye contact and I decided to ask anyway. On a second thought, it might just have been the wind in his face, that made the tears, but I'm still to this day not sure. 

Woman in Yellow

In front of this partly painted wall I met Sandra. I instantly fell in love with the combination of colors and her beautiful head piece. I wanted to photograph her so bad that I think it made me a bit extra nervous when I decided to stop her. In general people are sceptic when I approach them, and Sandra was no different. She even confirmed this in an email she sent me today. After some stumbling, I kind of explained to her what I was doing, whereafter she made my day and agreed to be photographed.  

Man in Black

Tommy(69) had just exited the pub and came walking straight towards me. At the moment it felt like he was about to ask me something, rather than the other way around. This is always a good feeling to have when I'm out shooting, as I then kind of know already that he's up for being photographed. And as I thought, he gave me the thumbs up. Tommy was very interested in learning from me what to do, where to stand, how to smile, etc. I told him he was perfect as he were and asked him to hold his position. 

The Red Glow Man

It was early morning and I was walking around for hours receiving plenty of rejections from people too busy, on their way to work. The frustration was getting to me, but then on a small street just of the main road, this man got trapped between the wall and myself. I guess he felt the pressure, and kindle gave me a yes to be photographed. When I showed him a preview of the photo, he raised his voice in excitement, yet it didn't stop him from walking of. In a desperate attempt to maintain contact,  I shouted; 'what is your name?' With a turn of the head, I received the answer; 'Michael'.  

The Passport Man

This is the second Frank I meet in only a few days. Does the same name mean same look and personality too? In this case I would have to say no. Whilst the previous Frank was very neat and tidy, the new Frank had a more rough look going on. Long hear, beard and an old leather jacket. Our meeting was very short, yet we got to know each other quite well. He told me in anger how he had just spent £6 on new passport photos, and showed me them together with an empty wallet. I told him that I would be happy to send him some copies of the photo I took of him for free, and asked for his email address. Unfortunately Frank wasn't that much of an internet user and didn't have an email, so he asked if I could send it by post instead. After some writing problems, I got the address and hope to send the photo soon. 

Old Man Covering Face

Of Frank's 80 year old life, 50 of them had been spent living in Peckham. Clearly he knew a lot. As for me, having lived in Peckham less than a year, I felt inexperienced talking to him. Yet the more interesting it became. Myself I would describe Peckham as a very multicultural, up and coming area, filled with young people and artists due to the low prices (compared to Central London). Frank however, ensured me that it wasn't always like this. Over the years he had witnessed a lot of changes to the area, both in terms of local residents, culture and environment. If it was for the better or worse, he kept a little bit secret, but I didn't get the impression that he wanted to move anytime soon. 

The Seated Man

Derek(77) was just hanging out on a bench with his friend, when I noticed his characteristic face. It looked like he was about to say goodbye, so I felt okay with interrupting. At first he told me no to be photographed, but he didn't ask me to leave. Instead he asked me where I was from, and he seemed quite interested in what I was doing. After some quick lines about Norway and photography, Derek had changed his mind and felt comfortable enough to sit for a portrait. We ended up spending the next 20 minutes on the bench together, talking about his coach trip around europe, the Second World War, and a very lucky dentist appointment.   

Seemingly Tall

I was waiting at a corner in front of this wall, when John(83) came from his grocery shopping. Fascinated by both the wall and him, I asked if he could stand in front of it for a moment, whilst I took a photograph. Sometimes it impresses me how kind and helpful people are after a bit of explanation. For a man of average hight, not much taler than me (I'm not very tall), it intrigued me how tallish John looked. Happy with the photo, I gave him my CupofPea web address and asked if he could have a look online. John told me he didn't use the internet and then asked how to pronounce the three first letters i had written down. I willingly agreed that my handwriting isn't the best and explained it was the letter 'W' times three. He looked at me and said; 'Ah, World Wide Web!?'. I said; 'Exactly!'. Felt my whole body smile, thanked him and walked off. 

Help for Heroes

Believe it or not this will be my first post without the person's name. Maybe it was her sad story that threw me off. Or was it the lovely jumper that I thought suited her so well. She had lost her mums pills (some medicine) which she had just purchased from the chemist, and now she was desperately walking around trying to find them. As she said; pills can be expensive if you don't have a job. When she told me this I almost felt bad for taking up her time, but she explained how she used to do photography as well, and was more than happy to help me out.