BLUE COUP D’ETAT

dim room, narrow hallways, death threatening mirror clad elevator—ASIA HOTEL
kids
cows eating trash
peeing too
dogs for kumi
abstract dancing
little girl thinking, someone told me she was mad
airplane leaving cambodia

bought four suits, here are some self portraits
guess they don’t really show off the suits so good
oh well
and then there is an elevator in phnom penh with a very interesting sign
a cat under a table in siem reap
alain delon cigarettes
a picture on a toilet room door that reminds me of alain delon
elephant bar in siem reap but only a detail
a chinese boy who had to wait all night for his parents to get done with work so he wandered to the river front in phnom penh
views from the riverstar hotel in phnom penh
an abondoned fortune teller “stand” along sukhumvit road
a “can not” urinal

sleepers in bangkok, people standing on electric wires in the sky, apache, sheba’s, sabai lodge pattaya, cat, dogs, beach, kids, sunset, ripley’s believe it or not, mike shopping mall, pattaya night sky and neon sign, back in bangkok for one night at the drop inn hotel

watched the kids do traditional khmer dancing, singing and playing music, ate a feast and then boogied on the dance floor until sweat blinded my eyes. great time.

out on the river with the kids, smiling, laughing, looking off into the horizon, enjoying the holiday commemorating the 1979 defeat of the khmer rouge by a vietnamese led rebels. found this on another person’s blog sweetcucumber —
1979: Vietnam forces Khmer Rouge retreat
Hundreds of Khmer Rouge troops have fled Cambodia after being crushed by Vietnamese-led rebel forces.
The capital, Phnom Penh, has been seized and Pol Pot and many of his soldiers forced to retreat into the countryside.
It signals the end of nearly four years of brutal domination by the guerrillas. (bbc)

took some impromptu portraits of the kids and teachers in their classrooms. depth of field isn’t quite what i wish it was but the kids are shining even if they are a little out of focus.

show about the history of crime photography

directed by derek cianfrance (his first tv show at radical media)
editing and sound design by jim helton - all photographed effects derek and i shot together with a video camera and flashlights for the title, nothing digital except standard dissolves

yeah i worked on one of these too

surrounded by tourists but still finding the locals, a hat in the water in front of angkor wat, climbing steep steps and mountain temples, monks, buddhas, elephants, everyone waits for the sun to set as a full moon rises at their backs, deep blue black sky, night fruit shakes, traffic, fans and urinals, my hotel, airport clouds, bye bye siem reap. many many photos. end of tourism part 2.

wandering siem reap by foot, much to the chagrin of the many tuktuks and motos, everything on motoscooters, including a live pig and not a small one. workers, kids, boats, buses, clothes drying, a lonely shoe and a crust of bread, dirt alley, yellow wall, my shadow.

more temple tromping this time in color, this post and the last post are simulating the illusion that i was alone or around very few people. as you will see in the next post i was surrounded by tourists, it was intense and kind of made the experience even lonelier but sometimes funny, strange, and magical too.

these are mostly pictures from angkor thom and ta prohm, was supposed to be in color but the black and white looks so crazy i love it. i actually like the pictures better than the experience of visiting the temples. indiana jones must be one lonely dude tromping around old temples and ruins by himself, i couldn’t hack it. next time i go to see this sort of thing i go with people i know.

tonle sap means the great lake, it is also a river and it spreads out until it seems like an ocean, can’t see land in any direction, people live on the banks of the river and there are even floating villages on the river. it was the first day of the year and even though it was a really long boat ride (six and a half hours) there was no place i would’ve rather been, fresh air and sunshine cruising around on a boat into the heart of darkness. oh yeah, these photos were supposed to be in color but the lab messed it up, long story but i like the way they look so it doesn’t matter so much. another happy accident.

i find myself taking photos of my hotels and hotel rooms, maybe i’ll put them all together into one post some day, i have some great ones of the bright star in delhi that i am withholding at the moment…. but this one is the holiday villa, phnom penh in black and white and color.

went with some of the older orphans to a school that let’s them go to class for free

shot another roll of expired film, this time 1600asa. the digital transfer is crap, if i get a chance i’ll redo it but then again….FORWARD!!!

this place has been so photographed in so many ways i had no idea what to take pictures of so it is mostly details, things that struck me, designs. a few wide shots in there, mostly devoid of people.

i went to an orphanage in phnom penh to shoot some film and video for my friend and collaborator fredric king of fountainhead films. beautiful kids, great people, then the kids took me to a nearby school that let’s the younger kids attend for free and i felt like muhammad ali in when we were kings because i was mobbed by so many kids. unbelievable.