16/02/2019 - A days photgraphy at Chatuchak Market

Chatuchak Market (or JJ Market) is a place I have been before. Billed as Thailand's biggest market and also as one of the biggest in the world, its sheer scale is sure to impress those that aren't used to such places. Its website states that it is set over an area of 27 acres that has been divided into 27 sections with over 15,000 booths and stalls.  It perhaps isn't a place for the tired, weary or faint of heart. I was starting to wonder whether I should be leaving it for another day.

http://www.chatuchak.org

Whilst the market on the weekend opens at 9am, I didn't arrive until just after midday. The benefit to this is that the market was in full swing by the time that I arrived and being that it was nearly lunch time, there was going to be plenty of food to choose from. The negative side however is that by this time it was also 33 degrees c. The outside loops is a long, wide oval where it is easy to get disorientated and think that you are at a different point then you actually are. Venture inside at any time and you are faced with a confusing warren of maze like corridors meaning your chances of accurately predicting your position based off your own sense of direction is even further reduced. At each juncture there is a marking point giving you a location reference, so if there was something you were desperate to get back to you probably could with a little bit of map reading, but I have wandered around here several times in the past, and there's still sections that I am sure I haven't seen yet.

The first few moments with the camera are always a bit slow. I find it takes me time to zone into what it is I want to capture, a challenge perhaps that is a little bit amplified by my now familiarity with the place. There was little of that sense of wonder that I often feel on my first visit somewhere new, somwhere that you don't know what is coming next or what to expect. The other side to this is that this familiarity does give you the experience to ignore a lot of the side shows and distractions, the bombardment of sights, sound and smells all vying for you attention. Being able to detach from these things even a little maybe might lose you some of the energy that is sweeping you along, but it can also allow you to focus your attentions on finding the details in the chaos that you might otherwise miss.

I was asked by someone recently what kind of photographer I am, and oddly It's one of the toughest questions I have been asked of late. I consider myself a street photographer really, reacting and capturing snippets of information as I try to tell a story of a place visually. Street photography may be sneered at in a professional sense, and whilst I wouldn't want to limit myself to just one field or discipline, I have to be truthful and say there is still that part of me that when I am out, just wants to take over. Sometimes you need to suppress it a little and focus on the task at hand. Other times I just have to allow myself that little indulgence, otherwise I will go insane in a place with so much going on. With that particular itch scratched, I could then can carry on to other things.

Inside the market I looked for things to focus on, something that would show the details, capture a mood or essence. There were rows upon rows of tiny units an booths, with different amounts of lighting or lack of it, but there was very little that I felt would help tell a cohesive story. Nothing that could make a good picture or series of images that could be a interesting way to define and capture the place that I now found myself in, until I saw a mannequin staring menacingly down at me. Then another one, and then another. I decided today this would be my hook and i spent the next period of the day just wandering around looking for more. As a kid I remember finding Dr Who a little bit scary. If I had witnessed some of the things here during the same period of my life, I can only imagine how i would have reacted. I started to find these things a little bit fascinating and I make no apologies for ending up with what is a wealth of images based off of these curios. I filled my boots until I had literally exhausted all avenues.

Back outside in the blazing sun I was approached by a bunch of school kids who asked me if they could do a video interview with me as part of their school project. As always I was happy to oblige. As they set up and started rolling, they asked me a series of questions about why I was in Bangkok, how I knew about Chatuchak Market and whether I was going to be buying anything in particular. The easiest question they asked however was what I thought about Bangkok. "Hot" I stated, "yes, hot" they cheerfully agreed. It was a short 5 minute period out of my day and it's moments of interaction like this that can really add so much to a trip. It's too easy to brush off approaches in places like this as just someone trying to sell you something and if you take this dismissive approach to anyone that talks to you, you risk missing out. Incidentally buying and selling in Thailand is treated as something of a game. It's not one that I am any good at to be fair, but engagements with sellers even when you are saying no can be done in such a way that in enjoyable for both parties. It's something that everyone can have a bit of fun with and by refusing to engage with it, you have to wonder what you have actually experienced.

I left the market in the late afternoon and the station for the rail line was heavily packed with a long queue to get a ticket to ride. I then decided, rather foolishly, that as the temperature had cooled a little I would walk the 3 miles back to the hostel. Now, I like walking, especially in new places. It allows me time to take in the surroundings and notice things that I wouldn't ordinarily see. By going straight from "Point A" to "Point D" I would potentially miss out so much between, however my feet were telling me they were tired before I even started off. During the next 2 hours they forced me to stop several times, to rest and ease the burning sensation in them just a little before moving back on. Points "B" & "C" both provided moments to capture and I could have caught a train easily enough at these points but I always want to explore a little more. By the time I finally got back to the hostel decided to leave the editing of the days photographs and the write up of my experiences for another time. Besides I could do without having the mannequins of the day invading my rest and recuperation. 1970's Dr Who had nothing even close to the visual impact of these things.

Absolutely Nothing.