first films in Bangkok

I feel like photography with film has become very trendy now and I had always wanted to try it as it has a very aesthetic and dreamy look to it that I'm very fond of, so when my intern partner Charlotte Clar came home one day showing me the new film camera that she bought I felt encouraged to try it out. I've never used film for photography before so this is my first time with a different take on a familiar medium. When I started taking pictures a while back my focus was on monochrome, with less going on in my captures. Comparing it to now, I like to take pictures of people walking down the streets, or of really busy food markets. I love how everybody is hustling one way or another. It's interesting to me how I can connect with my surroundings through film photography - I have a digital camera, where I can take as many pictures as I want, I can look through them and delete the ones I don't like (same with my cellphone), but this is quite distracting when I'm commuting in a busy city like Bangkok because when I take a picture I look at it immediately, I inspect if the picture turned out the way I wanted it to and this disconnects me from what I was admiring. This doesn't happen when I'm taking pictures with film, I have no screen to look back on, so I just take the picture and put the film camera away (another plus is that it's very light weight in comparison with digital cameras) Anyways, I'm not here to promote film cameras - I just want to convey how in my experience taking pictures with film creates a different perspective in how I connect with my surroundings. Bangkok is a wonderful city, I've only been here for about two months now and I feel like I've seen a lot.I definitely haven't seen it all and to be honest, even after living here for six months I don't think that I will have seen or experienced all of what Bangkok has to offer. 

Street photography has been an interest of mine for quite a while now, but it's definitely more exciting in a colourful busy city like Bangkok. I love all of the colours and there are so many plants and greenery everywhere!

Even though we may associate busy cities with being chaotic and stressful, I find it very peaceful. There is an organised chaos that I really like and find comforting, maybe it's because I grew up with this sort of lifestyle in Mexico City. A lot of aspects from Bangkok remind me of Mexico City. 

My internship placement at the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) has been challenging but offers so much growth. Everything about living in this city and the work I'm involved in has not been what I was expecting at all. I don't want to write about resilience because I'm sure there are so many blogs about how to survive and thrive in this world and so many different perspectives about it. I just want to share how enriching and privileged I feel it is for me to be able to travel and not only that, but also to immerse myself in a different culture. I love people and different ways of living are my passion. Soon I will post a separate blog of portraits and stories of the beautiful people I have had the pleasure of meeting (I need their permission first), it fills my heart with joy. And now that I'm very into taking pictures with film please expect many more pictures of Bangkok and the rest of Thailand.

I want to thank the Queen Elizabeth Scholars, the University of Victoria, and the hard work of Robyn Fila in providing me this opportunity. I wouldn't be in Bangkok writing this if it wasn't because of the generosity of great people. Thank you kindly. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------to be continued