My past year photography journey

Thailand

Photo by Genaye Eshetu

I first started taking professional pictures in Thailand, where I also learned  photography.   A northern mountain in Thailand is the best place to learn the visual media, surrounded by its magnificent mountains and beautiful people. I used to be called the ‘ninja’ in the school, for I always found a way to get lost and wander away from the group with the camera.

Photo by Genaye Eshetu

One time, my geographical impotence got in my way and I found myself in a Chinese village, at the Chinese Thai border.There, I met this Chinese traditional medicine man and his son. The child speaks English because he learns English at school. They told me I shouldn't go further to the village where I could actually be killed by the people there.  I was scared for a minute there.

Photo by Genaye Eshetu

Walking with the camera helped me meet different people with different stories. Akha village is one of my favorite places for its natural beauty and beautiful people. As part of the media production program, at media light Asia,http://medialightasia.com/main/ we used to go to the village often to fellowship with the local people, taking pictures and developing a short documentary.

Photo by Genaye Eshetu

A black girl curly hair is such a surprising encounter for the people to see, especially for the children there. Running around me, trying to touch my hair was an exciting game for the kids.  

Chiang Rai has been once and for all engraved in my heart in this short term program. And it is the starting point for all photography and stories I will be sharing in this blog.

There is so much story I can tell from Thailand, however I rather leave it like this for now, and may be in another visit...