Spirit of the Tattoo

I like to share a video I made to draw attention to Sacred Skin, a book about Thailand's Sak Yant. Photographed by Aroon Thaewchatturat and written by Tom Vater, I published the book in July of this year. These spiritual tattoos have become something of a fad and these days you can see quite a lot of people sporting what looks like a sak yant. Unfortunately it is quite possible that the bearer of the tattoo has no idea about its true meaning and just got it because it looks cool.
As Tom puts it in the book:" When a tattoo master applies a sak yant, he also establishes a set of rules that his tattooed disciples are expected to follow for the rest of their lives...... Failure to observe the guru's instructions causes the sak yant to lose their power."
Sacred Skin is the first book in English that introduces sak yant to a wider audience and hopefully it will contribute to a better understanding of this aspect of Thai culture.

As for the question whether I have a sak yant? No, not (yet) because I still am

Not Here Anymore, Not Quite There Yet.

© Hans Kemp 2011

Mind vs. Current

I recently returned from a dive trip to the Maldives. Only the second trip where I took the camera under water. Armed with 2 high powered strobes I couldn't wait to hit the water and in my mind I was already taking countless photographs. The current had other ideas though. As the seawater presses through the narrow channels between rocks, islands and reefs it creates the fiercest currents right there where the pelagics swim. And of course that is where I wanted to be too!

Lifting up the camera under these circumstances is no mean feat and at the moment of aiming, holding the camera with two hands, the current would push me away and I had to swim against it to get back to my position. Still have a lot to learn out there in the blue before adding the tag "underwater photographer" to my cv.

In my mind I can see it, now I only need to find a way to conquer the currents, just like with anything else in life.

Not Here Anymore, Not Quite There Yet.

© Hans Kemp 2011

Wet Tattoos

The past months have been busy. I am publishing a new book by my good friends Tom Vater and Aroon Thaewchatturat. It is titled Sacred Skin - Thailand's Spirit Tattoos. More info can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/sacredskinthailand

With the printing finally done I took some time off and went under water. Camera and all. I love floating in the Big Blue and I love photography. If only I could combine these two....
So armed with a 10-Bar housing for my Lumix GH2 I explored the wonders of Tubbataha.

Some of the resulting pics you see here. This being the first time I am not unhappy while at the same time I see room for improvement. That's good cause the learning makes the living so much better.

Not Here Anymore, Not Quite There Yet.

© Hans Kemp 2011

1 2 5 Pussy & the Learjets.m4v

My first foray into video with my newly acquired Lumix GH2 saw me shooting Pussy & the Learjets in Bangkok. The "cinema mode" footage is moody and i.m.o. captures the atmosphere beautifully.

(Not so) Far from the Maddening Crowd

Terrace of the Elephants



Spiderweb



Monk at the Bayon



Beng Maelea

The Future of Tourism

Spent a few days at Angkor this week. Angkor is a photographer’s dream and nightmare at the same time. Thousands of visitors clamber around the ruins everyday, their only concern to have themselves photographed in front, under and on top of every monument.
And when all the tour guides and guidebooks steer the crowd to the obligatory sunset spot the value of the assembled cameras approaches Cambodia’s GDP.
The tide of mass tourism is unstoppable, the digital onslaught at times makes me want to lay down my Canon and pick up a bazooka instead, or perhaps I could become a guidebook writer and start extolling the otherworldly beauty of a South Sudan Sunset.

Not Here Anymore, Not Quite There Yet.

© Hans Kemp 2011

Award winning photos

I just received word that these two of mine are amongst the professional category winners at the 4th Annual Photography Masters Cup.
One image, from my book Bikes of Burden, received a honorable mention in the professional "photojournalism" category and the other, featured in my upcoming book Ecstatic East, made the nominee list in the professional "people" category.