Burmese Refugees Mae La Thailand by Photos and text by Kevin Hayden | Make Your Own Book

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Burmese Refugees Mae La Thailand by Photos and text by Kevin Hayden | Make Your Own Book

Whatever the weather

Well my second day on the beach at le Houget was much more testing, the rain was as always wet and cold and being blown from the east brought with it a lazy wind that went through you rather than around you. Fortunately I had remembered to bring my camera "coat", a light waterproof material that wraps around the lens and did a great job of keeping my gear dry, and allowing me to continue to work in really bad conditions. Unlike yesterday the tide was only on it's way in so I was safe enough. I've also been reminded that wearing wellies, and carrying a camera on a tripod with a rucksack full of gear on your back is a recipe for disaster! If you try and walk over rocks with all the aforementioned you are looking for trouble. Insure your gear!

The sun did make an appearance, and then left once more.

The weather definitely helped to get me thinking outside the proverbial "box", and had me looking at more abstract images. I really didn't want to leave empty handed, though sometimes I do. I don't take images for the sake of it! If there's nothing inspiring or outstanding then I pack up, albeit reluctantly and head home.


That said I seldom leave any beach empty handed. If you are passionate about something, or feel very connected to something the image will find you or vice a versa. Having a tripod and a shutter release cable are essentials in this light and weather.

I didn't use graduated filters because the rain was really too heavy, so I stuck with a circular polarising filter. In order to get some movement in the photos I used the lowest possible ISO of 50 an aperture of F22 and shutter speeds between 1/30 to 1/5 of a second. I like to experiment with the speeds and apertures to get varying amounts of blur and movement in the images. Sunrises are not my preferred subjects but here in Normandy the light and colours can be irresistible so I have to remember to look around sometimes. It can be amazing! So now I have a stock of sunrise images to choose from, and they have sold well for me.

So what's the point of this short dissertation? I guess it's to say there's always something to photograph if you are well equipped and connected to your subject, whatever the weather.    

Canon Histograms

Well it's cold December day here in Normandy, I am here for the week-end to continue my "water series" project.
It's one of those projects that never ends, just like skies, walls and all sorts that I start and sometimes never finish!
This time I'm determined to make something of these images as I really enjoyed making them, cold an all as it was.
It was a good reminder that I can never rely on the lcd screen on the back of my 5D! It really does brighten up the image, and the resulting image is not what comes out eventually as a print. This has been an expensive lesson in the past for me, and one I don't want to repeat!

Burmese Refugees

It is said of wars that no side wins, there are no winners?

Well in today's world war is big business, not only for arms dealers etc but also for aid agencies and governments who "care" for the refugees of war torn countries.

I recently visited friends in the Maela refugee camp on the Burmese/Thai frontier. It was just a visit to see old friends from Burma, and no more than that. However what I witnessed and heard over the following five days was too much to keep to myself. It is impossible to imagine people living under such conditions in 2012 and some of them have been living there for twenty years, and still they are told they cannot construct their homes with anything but bamboo and leaves because they are temporary dwellings.

They have no running water. They have little or no sanitation. Unless you call the hole they dig next to their "home" sanitation. They live in a stench of raw sewage that after six days I was ready to run from!

The rivers and streams are black and blocked with plastic bags of rubbish. Children as young as four years old walk around barefoot in search of plastic bottles to sell to recycling businesses. Yes there is business amongst the sixty thousand inhabitants, some are wealthy business people who drive cars and live as normally as possible under such conditions. Most of the other plastic waste is burned in the evening. The kids ignorant of the dangers of breathing in the fumes sit next to the fire and play games. Poultry and pigs meanwhile rummage through the rubbish.

The rations are 12.5 kilos per month per adult, and 7 kilos per child.  Half a litre of cooking oil per person, a small amount of dried beans and corn make up the rest. If you don't show your face on time at the ration shed you get nothing for the month and must rely on the kindness of neighbours. And their rations are slim enough without having to share. The quality of rice is not what is originally sent. So where does the good rice go?

Since 2006 over thirty thousand have been relocated, the majority going to the USA. However the rations for these thirty thousand refugees still arrives at the camp, or somewhere in the region? This I cannot prove! But the question needs to be asked and answered!

Those who have electricity pay up to 18 baht per unit for electricity excluding 21% Thai VAT where as Thai people only pay 3 baht per unit.

The UNCHR have made no registrations since July 2006 so there are thousands of refugees without rights or hope of a new life in a new country. Those who have registrations can either choose their preferred countries, but take the chance of being separated from the parents or siblings. It's not uncommon for some family members to be sent to different countries causing more upheaval and distress. I met one man who came back after three years in the USA. He said it was too difficult to be away from his wife and children. I met one young lady whose family were sent to America but because she was "outside" working she missed the registration. She was forced to go "outside" in order to support her family because the UNCHR rations are not enough to live on. She is now left alone in a camp where there is no law enforcement and rape and other crimes are common.  In another sad case a 13 year old was left alone in the camp when her mother died, and her next of kin were all in the USA.  In one area of the camp locals told me of one man who has raped at least three women and is still at liberty.  So this young lady not only has the misery of missing her family, she also lives in fear every day of being attacked. She is not the only lone person!

The so called security officers have no power, and are often inebriated.  

Most of the farm workers I saw leaving the camp are women with young babies who go to work in the fields for 70 baht per day, the men get 100 baht. The national minimum is 300 baht per day. These workers have to navigate carefully when returning to the camp because when they're outside the camp they are at the mercy of the Thai military, who can threaten them with prison or deportation unless they pay a fine ie hand over their days wages.

The young people born here have no rights to a Burmese or a Thai passport, thus there are ever increasing numbers of "Stateless" people.

So it seems slavery is alive and well in Thailand, and even promoted.  This story is not unusual or rare, but it should not be allowed to continue. Who can stop it, and how?

Don't Miss the Shot!

I've been focused on being passionate about my art/work/business whatever you'd like to call it?  I'm not melodramatic or over romantic about photography, or anything for that matter!
Today however I am painfully frustrated. It was a special day for my daughter Clara Louna whose school were hosting an open day to exhibit all their work so far this year. The art was impressive, the sculptures and paper designs incredible.
I was more than impressed and certainly inspired from what I saw. My frustration stems from my professionalism and over-developed sense of perfection.
I followed Clara Louna and my ex partner around the school with my camera in hand

waiting for the perfect look, or the nice smile,


and of course flattering light. Well there was too many kids in the way, other blind parents who could not see I was trying to take an effing picture, and proud teachers who wanted to say how wonderful my daughter was. I know! Now just let me take a picture svp!
I now realise my desire for perfection ruined my chances of getting any pictures. I took some and deleted most of them.
The light was wrong, she wasn't looking at me in the right way, some ass had his arm in the way, another kid walked into the picture  etc etc.
So a word of warning!
Your photos don't have to be perfect!
The perfection of imperfection comes to mind.
I've meditated on things like this, and I know better.

I just thought I'd share it.
  My tip : Just take pictures no matter what!

Woodman of Jenzat

 The church to 508 inhabitants of Jenzat, regionale Auvergne

                 Passion and your photography/career?

        I recently visited a small village in the department of Allier. This charming untouched for centuries little village saw the beginnings of the musical instrument known as a vielle. First made by Jean Baptiste Pajot(1863-1935). It has a comical translation into english...hurdy gurdy. In Ireland the hurdy gurdy was a fairground attraction that swung you around so fast you'd think your head would land some distance away from the shoulders it was attached to. 

  

    Now what has all this to do with the word Passion?      

   Well in the same village lives a man who has so much passion about his trade that it has left an impression on me. I was touring the village of Jenzat with my friend Pascal when Mr Méténier appeared at his front door. Pascal and himself exchanged the obligatory niceties, and then Pascal asked if we might visit his workshop. His face changed as he answered positively, and without hesitation turned towards the door of his workshop.

 

   It was a woodworkers paradise, an Aladdin's cave containing every kind of wood cutting or carving utensil imaginable. I did my best to follow his explanations,but I really didn't need to. It was his life long passion for what he does that was remarkable, as was the delight visible on his face as he described how every piece came to life in his workshop. And his enthusiasm for his work even at the age of 89 was powerful.

    It provoked me into asking myself 'Am I this passionate about my work at the age of fifty and will I still be if I'm lucky enough to see 89'?

   No point in that kind of projection, but a good question that needs an answer!

   To be a photographer is somewhat grandiose, a job of prestige you might say, but not one most photographers get financially rich from. It certainly is rich in fulfillment for me though. I believe you must have passion!

   This is just my point of view of one artisan to another. Thank you Mr Ménétier!

 

 

Paris Portrait Workshop

Paris Portrait Photography & Fine Art Nude studies with Kevin Hayden & Seamus Costelloe. Paris April 29th 2012.

Well it's all over 'bar the shouting', as they say. So I'm here to shout about it.

This week-end's workshop was a brilliant success from every point of view!

Everyone one bar none had a great time, and we all came away with great images thanks to our super talented and charming model Dyana.

The months of stress and now looking back on it the unnecessary anxiety were all worth it. This fine Sunday evening in Paris I feel fine and satisfied having put this workshop together without any real glitches. For someone who's not so so very well organised I did a friggin great job!

I'd like to thank Seamus Costelloe for his expert help and patience.

http://www.photographyatseamuscostelloe.ie

Our wonderfully talented and charming model Dyana

http://www.dyanamodele.book.fr/

A huge thank you goes to Jim Kezman who helped and advised and posted

our event on meetup.com

http://www.meetup.com/photo-68/members/964049/

To the Lord of Kerry Mr McGillicuddy

http://www.damianmcgillicuddy.com/

And last but not least myself Kevin Hayden.

http://www.kevinhayden.book.fr/

I now have a comprehensive resource of model and studio information, and if you need anything photographic from needing to know where and how to find and book a studio, model or photographer I'm yer man!

Paris Photography Workshop

Paris Photography Fine art Nude workshop

It's the early effin hours of April 28th. It's Paris on a cold and unspringlike day. I know it's not a word but I don't give a notch. This is not about grammar! I awoke at 04.56 squinting thru reluctant to open eyes, the gros mots adjectives came instantly to my mind when I saw the hour on the digital clock on Hélène's side of the bed.  Luckily she can sleep thru my restlessness and typing at such unGodly hours.  

http://www.kevinhayden.book.fr/

In the other room of our diminutive Paris apartment it's evident that my visiting friend Seamus Costelloe is sound asleep and that he needs his adenoids or whatever you call them removed because the walls are not thin and I still  thought he was next to me in bed when I was woken by his nasal Harley Davidson roar, not snore. I hear movement upstairs and downstairs, and I'm guessing my neighbours are not isolated from his primal alarm. 

Seamus is here in Paris to do a fine art nude workshop with me. I have been occupied many months in preparing for this week-end, from emailing and meeting many models who said "oui je peut parle anglais".  That part of my searching ended when I met Dyana. We met at metro Grande Boulevard and I knew right away that she was the one!  While we talked over coffee and I explained to Dyana what the work-shop would entail my enthusiasm grew and I just knew this girl was perfect for fine art nude studies and glamour photography. She was also very professional, and unlike myself always on time for our appointments. Next search was for an affordable studio. Space by the square meter in Paris doesn't come cheap! I was beginning to think I was crazy for having this idea having visited several studios and on hearing their rates per hour or per day I needed to sit down and rethink my sanity or insanity. I was restored to sanity when I found a small studio in one of the most expensive areas of Paris, the 16th arrondissement no less. Tony & Julien couldn't have been more helpful even by Irish standards they shone! Their studio is in the former Argentine embassy just five minutes from the Champs Elysée. Another stressful part of the process was over at last. Now it just remained for me to get paying and enthusiastic photographers. Now that's another story...
http://www.privateeventfrance.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PrivateEventFrance?ref=tn_tnmn 

Now fast forward to the evening of Saturday April 2!th and five hours since we took our last photo of the beautiful Diana. Diana has to be one of the most charming, alluring and sweet models I've ever had the pleasure of working with. http://www.dyanamodele.book.fr/

You should take a look at her book!

And mine too while you're there! You can also invest in my fine art prints on museum quality paper.

http://www.kevinhayden.book.fr/

Seamus has a fine body of work, and is one of the most laid back and easy going photographers I know.

http://www.photographyatseamuscostelloe.ie

The man known as The Big Dog and Lord of Kerry Damian McGillicuddy has a sense of humour, some sense of style and a fountain of talent that he shares for a price. And well worth the price. It's the damn Eurostar I can't afford it unless I can get a special offer like... http://www.eurostar.com/FR/fr/leisure/latest_deals/londres_88.jsp

Have a look at the man who's got more awards than most have hot dinners in a year and you'll see why on his website.

http://www.damianmcgillicuddy.com/

Paris photography is all the better for having great teachers like Seamus, Damian and dare I say myself.  I've had the spuds and I've uploaded a few photos to Facebook  now I'm ready to hit the feathers .  Looking forward to seeing Diana and all the gang again tomorrow. Happy Days!

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.hayden1

Khmer Rouge et le non violente and more...

Invitations to the cinema are too rare to refuse no matter how tired one may be! I'm nackered!

Plus it's a gentle way back into the hustle and aggression of Paris living or subsisting what ever way you look at it life's a bitch. I'm so confused these days as to whether I love or hate Paris or France period? I say that having spent a very enjoyable and peaceful week-end on the Normandy coast of the Cotentin. There really is nothing like the first fresh virgin breath you take on opening the window of a crisp almost Spring like morning. Even if it is a "soft day" as we say in Ireland. That means you're getting soaked without noticing it by the way.

Then add to this the sound of cock crow and church bells, and seagulls and croissants and more sex if I'm still dreaming, well what more could you want?

 That's just me! One of anything never fixed me.

Okay I still want more!  Almost forgot to mention the grub! The filet de beef and the lamb from the salt marches of Normandy kick the bollox of Wicklow lamb any day! And the new spuds...I'm never goin home!

I make more tangents and digressions while trying to write a blog than a bull in a  herd of hot cows. I sincerely don't do it with intention. Maybe it's the unearthly feckin hour I decide to write it at. Go and see Young Adult with Charlize!

Okay I'll retrace my thoughts. Now that's work! I'm laughing at myself. I've just realised I only need to read the beginning of this dribble to find out what I hope to write about.

Seriously.

I got invited to see a documentary, a very disturbing docu about the trial of "Douch"  the man who made the instruments of torture in S21 and who over-saw the torture for the Khmer Rouge and was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of more than 12000 men, women and children. His defence lawyer was François Roux a very thorough and fair man, and who has also coincidentally represented José Bové the great man (for me) who has fought so much to protect us all from OGM foods and the cosy cartels like Monsanto.

http://blog.cinemadureel.org/2012/03/23/journal-du-reel-2-le-khmer-rouge-et-le-non-violent/

The film, or I should say François Roux in his defence brought up the question of civil disobedience, and also quoted Gandhi on civil disobedience. After all "Douch" as he was referred to in the docu was only obeying the laws of his superiors, and carrying out their orders. You could call it military obedience. Having now read some of Gandhi's philosophies and quotes on civil disobedience, I enjoy the thoughts of it and thought I'd share it here too. We need more of it! I'm thinking Ireland...

Civil disobedience is the assertion of a right which law should give but which it denies.

Civil disobedience presupposes willing obedience of our self-imposed rules, and without it civil disobedience would be cruel joke.

Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes lawless corrupt.

Civil disobedience means capacity for unlimited suffering without the intoxicating excitement of killing.

Disobedience to be civil has to be open and nonviolent.

Disobedience to be civil implies discipline, thought, care, attention.

Disobedience that is wholly civil should never provoke retaliation.

Non-cooperation and civil disobedience are different but branches of the same tree call Satyagraha (truth-force).

It's a documentary worth going to see!

Now all this talk of Gandhi and civil disobedience  reminded me of this book by Stéphane Hessel that has sold millions of copies around the world. I guess at 91 years of age you don't give a shite, and have no fear of reprisal from any quarter and this man in his book says it as it is, and how hoodwinked we are. 1984 here we come.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Hessel

Indignez-vous

If you can afford this book get it, read it and pass it on.

Tonight Paris I love you!

To Flash or not to Flash

I've nothing to say tonight. I thought I'd start like that but then that would be the end. I'm exhausted having done almost nothing. I picked up my daughter Clara from the nanny, we cycled along the seine for a few kilometers until we found the ducks I'd promised her. We fed them and ourselves and then got fed up and came home. I'm faced with a week of domesticity, I know it's nothing. Well it's nothing to women and some men, but I'm not some of the men. Clara is sleeping now and I'm tiptoeing around and cursing myself when I drop something like the lid of a saucepan. I hold my breath and wait for the dreaded word papa. Phew I can breath again, she didn't wake up. I turned my camera onto the orchid today, armed with a macro lens and a reflector I played around none too seriously, but enjoyed the flower and it's challenges. I took out the flash and Elinchrom skyports to play around with the flash from different directions, up close and diffused. I hate them. The flash just doesn't do it for me. I say I hate flash, but that's only because I've never really got to know it. To appreciate flash and to make your pictures look as though they were taken using natural light is an art in itself, and I confess right now I can't get it! I am working on it but as is often the case I want to give up before I've begun. Do you do that?

Natural Light WINS!!!

I will persevere this time as I'm getting more and more corporate work where I have to go into offices where the light can be less than ideal. I'm in a bankers office tomorrow to do a portrait of the CEO so my flash is ready to go. Though I will use natural light if there is any.

Paris Photography what?

It's a Wednesday I think? I'm in Paris I know for sure, and it's March 14th because someone called to wish me a happy St Patrick's day, I had to think fast (that's painful) It's not the 17th Ida is it? I know my body is going but I didn't think my mind was so far gone that I'd forgotten my beloved St Patrick's day. The only day in the year when every one wants to be Irish. Many years ago I was in LA for March 17th and I'd never seen so many black  and Hispanic Irish people in my life!
The day outside of my prison looks glorious, the sun has put smiles on the faces of the Parisians passing by (ok I exaggerate), they are almost smiling, that's miracle enough. Well done my sun!
http://www.kevinhayden.book.fr/
I sat down here to write about being once more lost in my photographic world. I lack so much confidence when it comes to being asked to do something photographic, I've only been doing this for thirty two years so what do you expect! Yes I'm a slow learner. I've been asked by someone I respect and consider as a friend and agent, friend first agent second. He has asked me to put together the details of a two day tour/workshop around my usual haunts like the Latin Quarter, Montmartre and the Marais, well he may as well have asked me to extract my kidneys sans anesthetic and fry them in red wine. I don't know where to start? What do I know?
http://www.kevinhayden.book.fr/
I've only been reading, drinking, eating, and sleeping photography for donkeys years how the f... can I do this?
Now the sun is starting to reflect off this lovely picture of mine, a sunrise. I used to despise photos of sunrises.
This one is special. I took it! Now I feel I should be at my cafe reading about Hemingway, imagining I'm Hemingway

 These girls were happy to pose

and writing like Hemingway. Now I can smell the coffee, f... this for a game of soldiers I'm out of here! Now better save this for later. Wait a second the sun has stopped reflecting off my f.....g photo. Panic over the sun is still there! So now I'm off to my terrace au soleil, and to say "bonjour mes amis, ca va"! That's about my vocabulary before they start laughing at my pronunciation. Which reminds me, I was in Moret famous for being once home to Alfred Sisley and for making Poppy ice cream. Can you say coclico? Coclico is french for poppy. I don't know how they screwed it up to this? Well I can't, not for all the tea in China can I say coclico. I say clo cli clo. So I had chocolate f.....g ice cream instead. Yes I was and am pissed off I still can't say it after 8 years.
I'm supposed to be gone for coffee, see I forget even the nice things in my life. And I'm supposed to be blogging about photography. I've a great memory but it doesn't last long!  I presume if I click on save that this diatribe will be here when I get back? Why the f... did I start this? Jaysus I need a fag! He was bewildered!

 Bewildered

Back again! Now where was I? Oh yes photography work shop for two days. I'm thinking... macro, portraits, architecture, maybe not architecture cos then we'll have to go into photoshop unless we use tilt and shift lenses, street photography is great, but nobody like doing it because it's outside their comfort zone. And it is tough in France because they are so aware of their rights and "le droit d'image" is more than ever present thanks to all these social networking sites like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. When I approach someone on the street I tell them how handsome or beautiful I think they are and keep talking while they make up their minds, my french being what it is they generally give me a look of bewilderment and by that time I've got the picture, and say merci au revoir, bon journée bon everything and leg it!
After sacrificing hours of bullshite on my cafe terrace I expect my business to flourish now...the phone hasn't rung?

Paris Forest

Sunday in the forest of Vincennes...

I plan to blog every day and every day something else pops up, or my mind wanders (yes it's age related), even at 50 I sometimes forget my own name. Deliberately! Please don't remind me either. I'm doing my damnedest to forget. So it's Sunday evening, I've just come back from discovering another part of the Parc de Vincennes. I ventured further than normal. This old boy gets around you know! I managed to find the jardin Tropicale with the help of my girlfriend Hélène I must admit I'd never have found it otherwise. Even she had a job to find it, and we did take some wrong turns. But that reminds me of something else. You see my mind wanders, and wonders. Are there any wrong turns? Looking back as far as I can without wanting to kill myself again, or at least to the age of five what has passed thru my life has always been "right", and I've never really been lost, I'd say just suspended in a learning bubble of nothingness sometimes, and that can be a dark and worrisome endroit, but now I know it was all meant to be. Like the mouse holding up the bar of the mouse trap, if it doesn't kill you it will make you stronger. Now when you're in the midst of a black period and someone says something like that to you you suddenly go from suicidal to homicidal. I didn't.

Anyway back to my cycle around the bois de Vincennes. It took two hours, the hours of 7 and 8pm to be exact to set out, get lost and found and find the tropical garden. We passed the hippodrome of Vincennes which is huge and impressive by it's enormity. I do love racehorse tracks. If you want to make a small fortune on the racetrack, start out with a huge fortune.

Again I'll try and get back to what I set out to write about. What was it? Now I can't friggin remember?

It was photography as always on my narrow mind. It was the light that struck me.  The cyclists spokes were glistening in the golden light. Kids and parents with buggies and push chairs were annoyingly there too! In my way.  This is my path now piss off!  The sun was sloping behind the trees, and caressing them with a gorgeous light as it slid down behind the lake between the trees.

So I attempted to stay in the moment and zen. It didn't last, I just can't stand the unpredictable nature of kids on forest paths, and I hate using my brakes when I've used up all my energy to work up to this speed and then to have it wasted to avoid cutting a child in half. 

I'd better stop before you get the wrong impression. I love kids but I wouldn't eat a whole one.

Where was I? 

Oh yes ff..ing photography.

I love it really!

I saw many photographs to take, but again couldn't bring myself to touch the brakes, I'm flying now!

I was with my girlfriend but so alone it was bliss! The smell of Spring fresh air(well as fresh as you'll get in Paris), birds singing gleefully, and strangely a flock of swans that were flying around very agitated as if they had wasps up their arses or something. They are loud bastards swans. I was struck by gratitude that they didn't crap as they passed over me for the umpteenth time, swan crap is huge in case you didn't know. There is no luck attached to it I can assure you. I pissed my trousers having seen it happen to another unfortunate in Buckinghamshire years ago. He's probably still cleaning himself poor man.

That reminds me of a point and shoot camera for some reason. An old Canon G9. That's what I had in my pocket on my bike as I breathed in the less polluted air of a wooded Paris suburb. Nogent is lovely quand meme!

We then passed the French olympic athletes training centre. Forgettable.

The lakes, streams and waterfalls make the forest of Vincennes a must visit.

In all earnestness my/our cycle was inspiring. I will go back with my medium format camera and tripod and hope for light half as good as I saw today. It won't ever happen, it never does. But that's what makes photography such great therapy, a little like fishing you have to wait for everything to be right before you strike. And it's an inside job. It's known to some as the zen of creativity. To be still, centred and quiet and to wait for the photo to come to you. To wait until you are touched or until you can no longer feel your arse, and then take that Tate gallery worthy picture.

Don't give up!

I may, so take my advice I'm not using it anymore.

Don't let the sunset stop you.  

PAINTING PARIS: AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

PAINTING PARIS: AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU