Bangkok Protests

Images shot with the vintage F.Zuiko 38mm f1.8

By a strange quirk of fate, twice when flying into Bangkok I’ve been met with protests.

Not directed at me, you understand.

Not yet.

Bangkok protests aren’t uncommon; during both my 2006 and 2014 trips the locals were restless and hoping to bring about a change in the leadership of their country, as they have been on numerous other occasions throughout the decades.

The demonstrations shown in my pictures here are from the 2014 Shutdown Bangkok Restart Thailand campaign, which eventually led to the military taking over the country.

I’ll admit that the day I took these shots, I had been a touch apprehensive as to whether I even wanted to go and see the protests for myself.

I’m not making comment here on whether I think they were right or wrong, as they are really nothing to do with me. It’s not my country, not my government, not my politics, and not really my business.

I was more worried about my safety, and the fear of something kicking off while I was there was very real.

Sandbag roadblocks in the daytime weren’t filling me with confidence for the night, and I wasn’t sure if I should leave my camera in my bag, out of sight, as I walked around.

As you can see, I opted not to.

Bangkok protest photography

What I found at the 2014 Bangkok protests was something more akin to a carnival atmosphere than anything sinister.

I had no idea what the speakers on stage were saying, but the air didn’t seem to be filled with any kind of hatred.

The longer I stayed, the more confident I became with my camera too, and started to enjoy asking people if they minded me taking a few portraits.

Nobody refused; in fact, they all seemed happy to have been asked.

I’m pretty sure that using the small F.Zuiko 38mm f1.8 on the also small Sony mirrorless camera helped me to look less conspicuous and move around a little more freely than if I’d have had a huge zoom lens on a DSLR.

The size is one of the reasons I like the Sony Alpha range for vintage lens shooting, and also travel and street photography in general.

If you’re in the market for a new camera for any of the above, check them out on Amazon.

Apart from not letting me up onto a footbridge for fear of me throwing things at people from above, nobody challenged me or stopped me from doing anything.

It goes without saying that the protests meant a lot more to the people there than they did me.

I was just walking around taking in the atmosphere and shooting a few images with my vintage lens.

Unlike the people who had felt compelled to hit the streets in a different sense, I had nothing to lose.

Who knows what will happen to Thailand next.

Who knows when the next mass Bangkok protests will be.

And who knows if I’ll be there to capture some photographs again when they do happen.