'Bangkok, though, is a rejuvenating tonic; the people seem to have found the magic elixir. Life, a visitor has not been wasted on the Thais.'
Bernard Kalb
Not every city has the power to bring about an instant visual when you hear the word. Cities with a specific feel and energy that become memorable, even to those who've yet to visit them. New York, Paris, London, Dubai and Bangkok are cities we've seen in movies, read about in books and provide the visuals to our geographical dreams. Bangkok is one of the world's most visited cities, it's architecture, ornate shrines, The Grand Palace, the vibrant street life, floating markets bring visitors from all over the globe.
Melbourne, Australia is also a memorable city, and usually when I feature Melbourne photographer Ian from macpics, he's shooting on an Australia beach, in studio, or as many FH readers may remember, his incredible, and extremely photogenic shower... For this shoot, Ian is little further north from Melbourne, close to 5000 miles further in Bangkok Thailand.
Like many photographers, when Ian travels, he researches what models he might be available to shoot in the places he's visiting. Before heading to Bangkok, Ian did a quick search on ModelMayhem and found the beautiful model Pond who was happy to schedule a shoot. I had seen images of Pond on ModelMayhem before and was thrilled to be able to feature Ian's images.
I am always on the hunt for models from around the globe to showcase on FH, but it has been challenging at times to find models from Asia who are up for a feature on the site. Ian actually had set up few shoots during his time in Bangkok, but a couple of them didn't turn out to be as reliable as Pond. .
Ian describes Pond as very pleasant to work with, friendly and chatty and most importantly, Pond was an experienced model who knew how to move and pose without much direction. Ian appreciated this, given he was shooting in an unfamiliar location. Without having to direct Pond with poses, Ian was able to focus on his lighting and framing and the unpredictable technical issues that arose in shooting in the hotel
I love the story trajectory of Ian's work with Pond. You can almost feel how their day was spent by the images and locations they shot in. After meeting and getting to know one another, they began shooting in the hotel's gym. After the gym, they headed to other locations around the hotel, with hotel guests getting an extra bonus of Pond posing in just a speedo or his hotel robe. Although he was wasn't completely nude, (until returning to his room for the last part of the shoot) Pond seemed more comfortable with the more intimate settings, than the busier areas of the hotel.
'Pond was a little shy about posing where we might be observed, but apart from that, he was completely relaxed, attentive and cooperative. It shows in the shots, I'm sure you'll agree. I wanted to shoot him at the pool, but there were too many guests from the hotel splashing around there, which was a pity.'
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