Darren Melrose Photography

A little over a year ago, I was lucky to come across a celebration at a temple very near my home.  Well, yesterday the blaring traditional horns and explosive fireworks let me know that something was happening again.  Following a short parade, they ended up back at the same temple. I was told they were celebrating the temple’s anniversary; I am not sure why there was year and a few weeks between the events.  I am guessing it is due to following the Lunar Calendar.

This will be a pretty photo heavy post, not really much commentary I need to add.  I will separate the shots between those taken during the performance and those taken in the preparation area backstage.

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Auto repair shops are quite different here in Taiwan than what I was used to in Canada.  They are much smaller and most importantly, most are centered around around motorcycle and scooter work, as opposed to cars and trucks.  Given the traffic make up of Taiwan, it makes perfect sense.

One shop is pretty much the same as the next.  In front will be a big drum for recycling oil, in and around the shop are enough petrochemicals to soil the environment for years to come.  They are staffed with mechanics with blackened hands and betel stains and there are tools strewn about.  What they all also seem to have in common is they are home to a shop dog.  These dogs are remarkably consistent as well.  Always large of mixed breed, they are, like their owners, covered in a film of lubricants.  Unlike most of though, these dogs are fat and lazy.  You will never see one which is fighting trim and you will rarely see one who will even give a visitor a passing glance; it is just too much work.  Certainly, they are not there for security, as that would require effort on the dogs part.  Mostly they are there for company I guess and to provide a bit of a mascot for the shop.  Being a bit big and lazy my own self, I have always felt a certain affinity to these passive mutts.

Here, I was lucky enough to catch one in action.  When walking past the shop, this fellow actually ambled over to give me a once over sniff.  He seemed curious enough about my camera as well and immediately after the shot was taken, his nose hit my lens, leaving a big smear of dog mucous.  This shot was taken years ago, when I lived in another neighbourhood; the dog was always there, usually sleeping.  Makes me think of making a trip to the old haunts to see if he is still around.

This morning, I had the chance to go see the David LaChapelle exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei.   One of the great things about being in Taipei is that you can see these exhibits for very, very little money.  Admission was only 50nt and you could get a small program for 30nt.  That meant that for less than $3 Canadian, I was able to see a really well laid out exhibit, in a fantastic venue, of one of the most famous photographers in the world today.

LaChapelle was first brought to prominence by Andy Warhol, and like Warhol, he works in lots of mediums and freely borrows from artists of the past.  Here, the inspiration clearly is from Michaelangelo’s La Pietà, with Michael Jackson subbing for Jesus.  As I understand it, LaChapelle never did actually photograph Jackson; I am not sure of how it was created, though photorealism is not a big thing for LaChapelle.

The huge portrait of Andy Warhol was without a doubt the most traditional “photograph” on display.  It was also one of my top three favourite pieces on display.  A simple black and white headshot, shot on large format film, I am sure.  It was really nicely done. At the left, you can see one of LaChapelle’s riffs on Warhol’s famous Marilyn silkscreens.

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I know this post is coming too late, things in Bangkok have settled down for the time being and for that I am thankful.  Hopefully calm will prevail, though I have my doubts.

Like many, the city of Bangkok has been on my mind for the past while. I know that I am by no means alone in my feelings, but like many expats living in Asia, Thailand has a special significance for me. Like millions of others, Bangkok was my first ever stop in Asia and other than countries in which I have held residence, I have spent more time in the Kingdom than any other. There is no doubt at all that without first visiting Thailand in 2000, my life would be very different than it is today. Most obviously, I doubt very highly that I would be living in Taiwan had it not been for my first Asian adventure. I felt at home there; more so now that I have been through a dozen or so times.

My feelings are different now; and I am not doing well at sorting them out. It would be easier to sort things out if I better understood the politics and sociology in Thailand; but the fact that I don’t doesn’t lessen my feelings. Violence always saddens me, but this case has been even worse. Usually when there are clashes, I feel pretty comfortable in at least siding with one side who I view to be in the “right”. Two years ago, when people took to the streets of Yangon, I had no problems at all siding with the monks and against the government. During the protests in Iran, I was clearly on the Green side. In the past month or so in Bangkok, I am really ambivalent. I don’t like the Red Shirts methods; they seemed to step past civil disobedience towards purposefully violent chaos. I don’t like that they seemed to be manipulated by Thaksin, whom I have very mixed feelings about. On the other side of the coin though, I can’t help but feel the government and army didn’t diffuse things as well as they might have and I realize that the government is backed by the wealthy vs. the rural poor of the Red Shirts. Finally, I feel very saddened that the King, whom I once quite respected as far as monarchs go, was ineffectual at best. All of these things just leave me cold and sad. I know this has been some time in coming and I realize that I had been looking at things through rose colored glasses, but somehow I feel that my innocence has somehow been lost. That makes me feel sad and not very hopeful.

Most importantly, I hope for better times in Thailand ahead. Not important to anyone but myself, I hope that I can soon have the same warm feelings for Thailand that I had not so very long ago. I hate to feel so cynical about a city I once considered my favourite spot to spend time in.

Here’s to better times in the Kingdom.

I took this photo in 2004 on a trip to Myanmar.  We were taking a ferry from Mandalay to Bagan, which took something like 8-10 hours if memory serves. This guy was all over the boat.  I don’t believe that he had any official position on the ferry, but his mother ran the snack bar/galley and he tagged along for the ride.  His father had passed away.

The kid was completely full of personality and it was quite clear that everyone who worked on the boat was both very fond of and very protective of him.  He helped out here and there; cleaning dishes at the snack shop, I saw him doing some sweeping and other general tidying.  Most of all though, he goofed around in the way that any kid his age would.  Here, you can see the first mate keeping an eye; no matter where he went someone was keeping tabs.  My guess is that his curiosity had gotten the better of him at times and now everything he does is watched.  None of that is all that important to me though; what draws me to kids is strong, outgoing personalities and he had that as much as anyone I have ever met.  He was just fun to be around; everyone was drawn to him.  One of the greatest little guys I have run across.

As a photo, this is one I am fond of because of all the repeated triangles throughout.  From his flip-flops, to his legs, his hood, shapes on the ship; the triangle just seemed to pop.

I remember getting on the rather small ferry and dreading the long trip ahead.  Those house past in a blur.  What a fun time, thanks in part to this guy here.