It was planned when I finished the contract job in DC by the end of March to be able to get to Bangkok by the time of Thai New Year celebration. And I party so as if there was no next year.
13 April, Silom
14 April, Royal City Avenue
15 April, Khao Sarn Road
15 April, Khao Sarn Road
There have been some concerns, as always with decencies of water fight, the fatality of the road tolls, and this year, Southeast Asia is facing a severe drought. That would be that the killer, which bring the festival down.
Nonetheless, I go out all three days to the three major spots in Bangkok: Silom, Royal City Avenue, and Khao Sarn Road. I play with pano in iPhone that gives a jiggering effect when panning the phone around with lots of moving people. It portrays the wild scene nicely, I find. Click each image to see the details of deform humans. Continue reading Songkran Like No Next One→
This is the final post of the series. Out to Space has come to year twelve. And most posts of the year are what I’ve been looking back in those years of the blog. Why am I doing this? Not only because it reveals to me why I blog but also gives some directions where it could go next.
Instagram selfie with a rainy view at Thailand Creative and Design Center, August 2014
The previous year of Out to Space was pretty much hollow in its content, I found. But there was at least something in it. The following four years when I lived in Bangkok, the blog was almost void.
There were 141 blog posts from year eight to eleven (April 2011 – March 2015) including automated tweet posts. Whereas year four, when it was most active, there were 176 posts. To break them down:
Year Eight (2011 – 2012)
73 posts in that 53 was automated from weekly tweets. There was one series on Luang Phrabang travel in January 2012.
By April 2010, I had been actively blogging on this space for six years. It mostly reflected on the passion about the work I did so far in photography and videos. But after I finishing the school at College of Fine Arts, the big question was what next! My life became vague and the blog became hollow.
Well, I was supposed to make a living as a media artist/producer, wasn’t I? But the harsh reality was that it wasn’t easy. Even though I got a regular casual job as a video editor to live by, my career needed to be more sustainable.
Street photography or multiculturalism didn’t flare up to me anymore. There was a revisit to the urban bird and back yard theme but that wasn’t it. In fact, I hardly picked up the DSLR at all. No concrete new idea for photography.
There was one trivial series on morning toilet paper I drew on it while taking a crap and took a picture of them everyday. (What I did with them after that would be a bit gross to elaborate.) Strangely, it was somehow a part of my dealing with depression.
One moment I was in the zone was chasing shadows of people on the streets and capturing on video. That became my first entry to Kino Sydney. It was well received by the audience and I was pleased. That was it, to make another short film.
Intermission! So I reckon @apostrophepong‘s IDENTITY CRISIS is the pick of the night so far. #KINO37
That would be about anxiety, yes, and another mental issue. I put my project up for crowd funding. Unfortunately, my heart problem emerged and it was terminated before the campaign due. I had enough. My focus shifted from it to getting back to Bangkok.
So, life in Australia came to an end in December 2010 after nine and half year. While I was flying back to Thailand, I watch the Wizard of Oz on the plane. It was like Dorothy waking up from her dream. I tapped ruby slippers and chanted, “There’s no place like home”. Back then, it seemed bitter when I left but I would not trade the experience there with anything. And this blog was a big part of it.
Luckily, the day before I left, I got phone call to offer me a job in Bangkok. It was an online producer for World Bank in Bangkok Office I applied for six months earlier. The long process of recruitment made me give up this prospect. But it turned out to be such a perfect timing. The question I had for the whole year was answered. I finally had a sustainable job, a decent one.
In the other hand, that affected my time for the blog as well. It would have been filled with posts about the resettlement in Bangkok and my reflection on the native country. However, I could only do it in January 2011. Once the job started, the blog was almost completely ignored and empty.
So, I would this year seven of Out to Space was the beginning of the hollow of the blog, sadly.
The year has been huge transition for me. The moving from Thailand and to the US was a physical hectic but it didn’t compare to the mental shift I’m having right now. It is exhausting but life is like working out. No pain, no gain.
In the end of 2014 wrap up, I did hint about some ambitious goals. A new overseas job was one of them. It was a bold decision to relocate from one continent to another, to give up the safety nets I had in Bangkok, and to take an insecure pathway in Washington DC. But it’s time to shake things up in my life up, again. Continue reading 2015 Wrap up: Big Turn and Calibration→
A freak who enjoys discovering and sharing a simple beauty of life even in a strange place
