A lot of things happened for me in 2009. I travelled a lot between Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, published some of my work with Breeze (a local magazine), relocated to the big city, discovered Europe for the first time, became the official photographer for Malaysia International Fashion Week 2009. In a way a lot of it happened quite unexpectedly. I decided staying in Kota Kinabalu would not be the best idea so I packed up and left for Kuala Lumpur in less than 3 weeks. Arriving in KL I was jobless for a few months until I landed the biggest job I’ve had so far for Fashion Week. Going to Europe had always been a distant dream of mine but one day I saw the opportunity and decided, why not? It’s all about grabbing life by its horns and going with it.
These are some of my favourite works from 2009. It was quite hard for me to narrow it down to 10, so I decided on 25 instead (I’m really bad at cutting down numbers!). Some of them you may have seen, but some not. I went through my library of photos and found hidden gems that I overlooked and decided to show them here.
Hope you like them!
Karin Balzli for Catherine Lian, Kuala Lumpur.
Nataliya Zapolina, Singapore.
Andrea Fonseka, Kuala Lumpur.
Grace Kho for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Charlene Decena for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Mariann Vella for Villiam Ooi, Kuala Lumpur.
Patricia Silk, Singapore.
Suzana Abu for Ratu by Walis, Kuala Lumpur.
Mila Melissina for Syomir, Kuala Lumpur.
Wang Ying, Bangkok.
Iva Sakarova, Bangkok.
Kaspar Hebblewhite, Bangkok.
Brygida Naumowicz & Helena Berezina for Pretty In White, Kuala Lumpur.
Iva Sakarova, the gorgeous girl from Bulgaria of Fame Management was my last shoot in Bangkok. Only 16 and an intelligent budding philosopher, she is the total opposite of what you’d expect of a model. With big doe eyes and flawless skin, easy to work with and extremely accommodating, we hit the challenging, bustling streets of Khao San. Doing a shoot in middle of a backpacker’s district is tough with so many people around, insane heat and lack of ‘amenities’ but we managed to get through it.
We were so drained after the shoot that we could barely speak. All we wanted to do was have a shower and rehydrate!
Getting hair and makeup done at one of the street-side watering holes.
We did get a lot of curious spectators (as usual) trying to pose with Iva, asking us about the shoot, what it was for. It was amusing but also a little annoying at the same time because the heat was starting to get to us. Either way, we still came out alive and got some pretty good shots.
Gotta love Bangkok for it’s colourful nightlife and insanely fun times!
My second shoot in Bangkok was with the gorgeous Australian Kaspar Hebblewhite from Fame Model Management. He is a part time model who is actually an offshore engineer, you know the kind that works on oil rigs in the middle of the ocean/nowhere. Amazing, I know.
When I first saw his photos, I thought of Abercrombie & Fitch right there and then. It was just the two of us at Lumpini Park on a blistering hot Sunday so what more of a better excuse than to photograph him with his shirt off!
My job is so awesome sometimes
Definitely my favourite photo of the day.
This is my money shot.
It was time to put some clothes on at least.
Because the pigeons were getting too ‘curious’.
Besides melting to death and losing all forms of bodily fluids along the way, it was a great day. I think anybody who knows Kaspar can also attest to him being the party animal. He has quite the crazy life and the one to go to if you want to have a good time. So ladies, don’t take too long now.
I spent 3 weeks in Bangkok but only started shooting towards the end of my trip. I did want to enjoy my time there after all and so my first shoot was with the lovely Wang Ying from China. When I first met her with Mikkel at Starbucks, I got the impression of a quiet and slightly shy but smiley, pleasant girl. Once in front of the lens, she morphed into such an incredible character I can’t even describe it with words. She is the kind of person who takes her work seriously and it was amazing.
This is how Mikkel watches ‘porn’ on his laptop.
Crashing Mikkel’s room was a good idea with air-conditioning and mini bar! We decided to go with a story-style shoot instead of something fashion based. I have to work on my scripting since I don’t do this often but the emotions that Wang Ying delivered made the photos. I don’t exactly have behind-the-scenes clips but I do have footage of me getting fits after seeing Mikkel shoot the video vertically. It’s a funny story now (to me anyway) because I’ve had so many friends shoot videos like that on my point-and-shoot camera. I always ask them this question, ‘Have you even seen footage on TV filmed like that (tilt head sideways with hand gestures)? Just watch this video and you’ll know what I mean!
I should watch more art-house films and learn to think of interesting if not weird story lines. I really miss SBS channel and all their late night foreign crazy stuff. And now for the melodrama/series of emotional portraits.
We wrapped up the shoot with a huge meal at Basilico (fantastic Italian on Soi 33), shopping at Lumpini Night Market (awesome local designers) and a lot of watering stops. It was a good day.
I left my heart in Bangkok. But it’s a good thing I did not take its diseases with me.
Joel trying to figure out a way to throw me off the balcony because I ‘complain’ too much.
A city like Bangkok gets better and better each time you experience new levels of fun, followed by remorse after. 3 weeks was definitely a lot and enough but yet it seems like it wasn’t. I had that issue even after 2.5 months in Australia. Maybe it’s just me but I can definitely see the charms of the place and sort of understand why so many people love Bangkok.
Bro’s fo’ tha ‘hoes. Word.
Let’s talk about Songkran. Now I know I mentioned that I would lock myself in my room till it was all over but I have to admit I became very curious after Emmanuel said it was hell of a street rave at Silom that I missed out. Boo. I decided that if I anticipate getting drenched and plastered, it wouldn’t be so bad being splashed on for 6 hours continuously. Oh boy.
Drenched and slathered in paste. Yuck.
This is how Leonardo works his ‘charm’ on the ladies.
We were at Khoasan (Backpackers district) this time. It was fun, for sure. My only complaint was the overuse of flour paste with a whole lot of aggression. I got mobbed a few times where a bunch of guys would rub their dirty hands all over my face just to make sure I was completely covered in paste. I had to be pulled out from that lock-hold just so I wouldn’t lose the rest of the guys in the crowd. What was up with that craziness? I had so much flour in my eyes that it was all bloodshot and I had to throw my contacts out because my eyes were completely blinded. There were more civilised people who would just rub the paste on my arms or cheek but please, stay away from the eyes and mouth! Putain.
I couldn’t open my eyes properly the next morning because my lids were stuck together as a result of the paste drying up. Advice to readers, wear goggles if you want to attempt going out during Songkran and put all your valuables in a zip-lock or sealed waterproof bag.
I also caught a cold and lost my voice after all that. A sniffing frog isn’t very sexy.
Joel, Michaël, Unknown and Emmanuel. Until now, no one recalls who Unknown was or what he was doing in the picture.
Part of Khaosan on a regular night.
I went back to Khaosan again a few days later with some friends to experience it on a regular day and do some location scouting for my upcoming shoot. Did I also mention before that the heat in Bangkok is comparable to being slow roasted in an oven?
Blue cocktails to trick us into thinking that the weather was much cooler than it really was.
My China doll.
With Leisa ‘Big Eyes’ Pearson.
The night started out innocently enough. Everybody was great company and relatively sensible. Until it was time for the infamous BUCKETS. If you’ve never heard of Thailand’s Buckets before, you have not lived. It is what it is, cheap booze served in a bucket with a multitude of straws (supposed for sharing if you’re generous enough).
These roadside make-shift bars only consist of a kiosk where they mix the drinks and patrons sit on plastic stools squashed next to as many people as possible. There are no tables so we use “chaibles“, as said by the server. The music clashes painfully with the bucket bar about 5 meters away and fat people dance over-excitedly when they really should just be sitting still. Also, Sangsom (Thai Whisky) is a nasty drink only for the really brave. You will feel really shit in the morning and I speak from experience.
The next few images will describe what the world looks like after a couple of buckets. Trippin’.
We love Redbull Vodka buckets.
Ying is very easily amused.
Leisa, Ying, Matthew, Me and Nick. Sebastian was trippin’ with this photo. Heh heh.
6 faces of the blue elephant.
We got an inflatable elephant from some other patrons, meant to annoy the hell out of each other with. Nick decided to courteously bite on the poor elephant’s head and the rest is pretty gross. I’m not too sure what happened to it after, actually.
I vaguely remember what else we were up to the rest of the night. Maybe a few more bars and this really unusual place called “Wong’s”. My best description of it would be a secret brothel or drug ring disguised as a bar in American Chinatown during the 80’s.
Then came my last night in Bangkok and the boys decided that they wanted to kill themselves during dinner at this all-you-can-eat cook-it-yourself place at Victory Monument. I think I can still feel that dinner in my stomach now, even a few days after. Maybe I should’ve suggested Basilico instead for the most amazing pizza.
Joel and Emmanuel trying to show an unusual level of affection towards Marco.
More affection. Poor Marco.
The only photo of Joel with his eyes relatively ‘open’ and I am the Asian one here. Pfft.
The best way to sum up this post and final instalment of my trip to Bangkok in 4 minutes is to watch this video. I may not have said very much about the place while I was there, but I think I’m starting to miss the place already. Probably not a good idea for me to stay there for too long because I could hardly ever get any work done there!
I can’t believe it took me almost 3 hours to write this post and yet I still have so many more posts waiting for me to finish. I am now in KL, incase you didn’t realise so anybody here please contact or write to me! Schedule is going to be very hectic, but more on that later. And now I leave you with this:
Karin Balzli for Catherine Lian, Kuala Lumpur.
Nataliya Zapolina, Singapore.
Andrea Fonseka, Kuala Lumpur.
Grace Kho for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Charlene Decena for Breeze, Kota Kinabalu.
Mariann Vella for Villiam Ooi, Kuala Lumpur.
Suzana Abu for Ratu by Walis, Kuala Lumpur.
Mila Melissina for Syomir, Kuala Lumpur.
Iva Sakarova, Bangkok.
Kaspar Hebblewhite, Bangkok.
Brygida Naumowicz & Helena Berezina for Pretty In White, Kuala Lumpur.
Mariya Markova for PEGG, Kuala Lumpur.
Aline Thiel for Glitz & Glamour, Kuala Lumpur.
Matheus Nagel for William Liew, Kuala Lumpur.
Getting hair and makeup done at one of the street-side watering holes.
A very sweaty me and Iva.
Definitely my favourite photo of the day.
This is my money shot.
It was time to put some clothes on at least.
Because the pigeons were getting too ‘curious’.
Kaspar & Me on the BTS.
This is how Mikkel watches ‘porn’ on his laptop.
Me + Ying = <3 Come to KL soon!
