Through a mobile eye

Oonce sneered at by professional lensmen, the cellphone photo comes into a class of his own in an exhibition that showcases images of Bangkok snapped by the #BMP Bangkok Mobile Photographers showing at the Neilson Hays Library.

The group, which is led by Bangkok-based Mexican shutterbug Alejandro Briones, also features four other photographers from diverse cultural backgrounds – both Asian and European – each of whom presents his or her unique views of the Thai capital captured with mobile devices.

Brinoes’ work tends to be introspective, dreamlike and sometimes eerie and dark but subtle as well. He enjoys experimenting with different technologies and embraced the mobile phone photography in its early days. His work and essays on mobile photography were published by a top Mexican university in 2013 and his book “Urbania” won a prize at the Centre of Photography in Mexico in 2011.

“Mobile photography has come a long way”, explains Briones, who initiated the show, “The latest generation smartphones and tablets can create photos that rival the image quality of compact cameras. We all carry these devices with us all the time and thus the approach to photography has changed.”

“Devices that can take photos are now increasingly connected to the Internet”, adds Phaisal Guladee, a Bangkok-born photographer with Indian roots. “You don’t have to go to a shop to make prints if you want to share your images with others. Today’s photo album is Facebook and this new kind of photo album works instantaneously!”

Paisal’s series offer his own perspective on what he finds strange and comical on the streets of Bangkok.

“It connects people,” enthuses Thai photographer DK Khattiya, “Our love for photography and the desire to try new techniques have brought us together as people, but we learned from each other through social media. They add another rich layer of connections to your photos. It’s a new quality.”

 “This also shaped the way we organised the #BMP exhibition”, continues the young Thai photographer “The devices we used to capture the images are at the same time the tools we used to communicate, to get ourselves organised, to promote it and to fund it.”

“I find it interesting that this approach is being embraced much more by Asians than Westerners,” muses Bangkok-based German Timo Kozlowski.

“In Germany people are less willing to have their photo taken because of our ideas about privacy rights. And I think this and other different cultural traits are quite apparent in our different approaches to photography.”

The #BMP Exhibition - Bangkok: the #abstract #comical #strange is the first in a series under the umbrella of the upcoming Siam Project by the Bangkok Photographers Group (BPG).

 

CELLS AT THE READY

 “#BMP - Bangkok: the #abstract #comical #strange” show runs through January 26 at the Neilson Hays Library. For more information, search on Facebook for “Bangkok Mobile Photographers (the #BMP Exhibition)”.