padaek
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2014
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
- 22
- Location
- Australian living in Laos
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
I hope this doesn't sound too much like a bio, but I'm normally long winded.
I first picked up a SLR camera (lent to me by a friend's father) in the Australian summer of 1972-73. I had had a surfing accident which kept out of the water for nearly a month. A friend's father, a part time pro photographer lent me a Asahi Pentax Spotmatic with Mamiya Sekor 200mm lens to keep me occupied while my mates were surfing. I was hooked. I bought a Mamiya MSX 500 with Mamiya Sekor 200mm f/3.5 plus 2X teleconverter (can't remember the make) to mainly shooting surfing stuff.
Scroll forward to 1978, I landed a job as a photographer for a large heavy industrial plant. We shot heavy industrial photography, public relations and commercial photography. This is where I learnt my craft, having a fantastic boss who became my mentor. We shot mainly 4x5 and medium format, with a fair amount of 35mm tossed in. I learnt how to print and process B/W. We would average 9000 to 12000 hand printed B/W prints a year between four photographers. I still love the medium and I'm serious considering going back to 4x5 B/W photography, Another Sinar P2 with Schneider glass will fit the bill.
I became self employed in mid 1986, picking up clients from the many contacts I made during my stint at BHP. During this time I also studied Commercial Photography at college level for four years. In 1990 a large print media group dangled the carrot and offered me a job. I stayed until 2007.
In September 2007 my wife, a development aid worker and project manager was offered a gig in western China working with the Tibetan community. She asked me to accompany her. We had been kind of separated since early 2003 as she was managing an education project in Laos. I would spend two or three months with her each year,, taking annual leave, long service leave and a lot of unpaid leave. This is when I enveloped myself in SE Asia culture, especially the photographic side. While my wife was working in Laos I went back to college to get my teacher's diploma.
We went back to Laos in late 2007 after the project in China crashed and were offered jobs. My wife managing another education project and I teaching ESL. We have settled into the suburbs of Vientiane and will remain here for another four to five years, then back home for retirement.
I'm still heavily involved in photography, mainly on a personal level. I shoot mainly street candids and social documentary photography for myself, various NGOs and government aid agencies. Lately, I've been getting more and more into digital video. I love getting into the remote and mountainous regions of northern Laos, and shooting social documentary, village life and stuff like this. I'm a poor landscape photographer.
I have been asked why a guy who spent his time surfing the beaches, reefs and rock breaks of south coast New South Wales is now living in a landlocked country. One day I'll stumble on the answer, but it has something to do with love. Love for the Lao culture and my wife (remember we were separated for four years).
The name padaek is Lao, it's the putrid fermented fish sauce the Lao hold so dearly.
I first picked up a SLR camera (lent to me by a friend's father) in the Australian summer of 1972-73. I had had a surfing accident which kept out of the water for nearly a month. A friend's father, a part time pro photographer lent me a Asahi Pentax Spotmatic with Mamiya Sekor 200mm lens to keep me occupied while my mates were surfing. I was hooked. I bought a Mamiya MSX 500 with Mamiya Sekor 200mm f/3.5 plus 2X teleconverter (can't remember the make) to mainly shooting surfing stuff.
Scroll forward to 1978, I landed a job as a photographer for a large heavy industrial plant. We shot heavy industrial photography, public relations and commercial photography. This is where I learnt my craft, having a fantastic boss who became my mentor. We shot mainly 4x5 and medium format, with a fair amount of 35mm tossed in. I learnt how to print and process B/W. We would average 9000 to 12000 hand printed B/W prints a year between four photographers. I still love the medium and I'm serious considering going back to 4x5 B/W photography, Another Sinar P2 with Schneider glass will fit the bill.
I became self employed in mid 1986, picking up clients from the many contacts I made during my stint at BHP. During this time I also studied Commercial Photography at college level for four years. In 1990 a large print media group dangled the carrot and offered me a job. I stayed until 2007.
In September 2007 my wife, a development aid worker and project manager was offered a gig in western China working with the Tibetan community. She asked me to accompany her. We had been kind of separated since early 2003 as she was managing an education project in Laos. I would spend two or three months with her each year,, taking annual leave, long service leave and a lot of unpaid leave. This is when I enveloped myself in SE Asia culture, especially the photographic side. While my wife was working in Laos I went back to college to get my teacher's diploma.
We went back to Laos in late 2007 after the project in China crashed and were offered jobs. My wife managing another education project and I teaching ESL. We have settled into the suburbs of Vientiane and will remain here for another four to five years, then back home for retirement.
I'm still heavily involved in photography, mainly on a personal level. I shoot mainly street candids and social documentary photography for myself, various NGOs and government aid agencies. Lately, I've been getting more and more into digital video. I love getting into the remote and mountainous regions of northern Laos, and shooting social documentary, village life and stuff like this. I'm a poor landscape photographer.
I have been asked why a guy who spent his time surfing the beaches, reefs and rock breaks of south coast New South Wales is now living in a landlocked country. One day I'll stumble on the answer, but it has something to do with love. Love for the Lao culture and my wife (remember we were separated for four years).
The name padaek is Lao, it's the putrid fermented fish sauce the Lao hold so dearly.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/33/33023-51777cffdd160249e68e593d19942418.jpg?1619735835)
