Every snap tells a story

Thai photojournalist Suthep Kritsanavarin has long believed that documentary photography has a major role to play in changing society.

Ten months ago, he founded PhotoJourn.net, a Thai website for documentary photography that gives space to several Thai amateur lensmen and their stories. There are also photos by photojournalists from around the world with links their articles in English.

“We consider ourselves as an institute rather than a website. The website is just our window to the outside world. We aim to educate a new generation of photographers in Asia and help them enhance their skills and approaches to creating in-depth documentary photo projects. We want to foster photographers who believe like us that photography makes a vital contribution to creating a more humane and just society,” Suthep says.

Suthep is now bringing his passion to the non-virtual world by hosting “Stories through the Viewfinder” on May 9 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, along with Paris-based Begiam curator Francoise Callier of the Angkor Photo Festival.

The website’s debut real-time event will feature photos by 20 photographers plus five Thais to be selected on the basis of their portfolios, in the form of a slideshow.

“We will project the slideshow on an external wall of the BACC and inside as well. Public projection is very new in Thailand,” Suthep says.

“We have works from nearly every corner of the world except Africa though we do have a story from that region. Many of the images have been shown at Visa Pour l’Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France and the Angkor Photo Festival.”

One of the highlights is a series of shots in the “A Quiet River: Construction of the Three Gorges Dam” collection by Paris-based French-Chinese photojournalist Zeng Nian, who revisited the Yangtze River in 1996 on assignment with the New York Times magazine.

Others include black-and-white photos from the famous “Trading to Extinction” series by Bangkok-based photojournalist Patrick Brown who spent more than 10 years documenting the underbelly of the illegal wildlife trade in Asia and won him a World Press Photo award in 2004.

Also showing will be Kim Hang-Ku’s stunning black-and-white portrait of a woman diver on South Korea’s Jinju Island of South Korea. 

The life of Emmy, a girl with Down syndrome, is portrayed in an impressive colour portrait by German photographer Mario Wezel. Titled “One in Eight Hundred”, it refers to the fact that one in every 800 live births is a Down syndrome baby.

“Our event is open to five Thai photographers and we would ask anyone interested to send us their portfolio,” he says.

Submitted entries works that most people never see before. “They must be untold stories that educate people about our world. The works should have a social impact and lead to change. And of course, both the photographs and stories must be of exceptional quality.”

The event will also feature a “Portfolio Review” by three well-known lensmen, who will share their thoughts as they review the portfolios of 30 talented photographers.

Photographer and artist Manit Sriwanichpoom, Yuttana Archariyawinyoo, former photographer at National Geographic Thailand and Suthep will lead a discussion titled “Can Photography Tell the Story in One Single Image” and the event will also feature a mini exhibition of photo books. 

 

CLICK TO PARTICIPATE

The deadline for submission of portfolios is April 9. For more information, visit www.photojourn.net or e-mail [email protected].