Brief
Create at least two sets of photographs telling different versions of the same story. The aim of the assignment is to help you explore the convincing nature of documentary, even though what the viewer thinks they see may not in fact be true. Try to make both sets equally convincing so that it’s impossible to tell which version of the images is ‘true’.
Pattaya from 2 Angles
Locals
Tourists
Assignment Notes
I’m a relatively new resident to Pattaya, Thailand a holiday destination of the eastern coast of Thailand, 2 hours south of the capital Bangkok and I have tried to illustrate within these 2 sets of images a slice of life for both the tourist and the locals.
Now as a tourist destination Pattaya can have an unseemly reputation in the eye of western, however, it is a major destination for Mainland Chinese and Indians tours, so I have tried to weight the images in this way and avoid obvious night scene. Also, as we are currently in “low season” the town is relatively quiet and has the slightly sad feel that all seaside towns have in their closed season.
Pattaya is also a large town with local Thai’s going about the daily business however, much of this is dependent on the tourist trade as many of the workers are economic migrants from other areas of Thai and they case the tourist money where they can often lead many people doing the same thing and involving long waits whilst the tours return in the afternoon to the buses.
The sets were shot simply with a Canon 5D3 and a 50mm and 24 -70 lens not that equipment is important. And post-processing was kept consistent throughout the sets with overall slightly cool white balance and only minor adjustments to individual images. A consistent 10×8 crop is maintained throughout. Each set is a slice of how I see both sides as someone who involved in the tourist industry on a daily basis. They wide without being eclectic and the images for example the unhealthy-looking westerner should raise enough with in the viewer them to look at the images within the set and pull together a story for the average person in both groups.