Clothes on a Thai Street Market

Looking through the old street photographs I took on Chiang Mai Walking Street over 10 years ago I decided to put together a selection loosely based around clothes. Although, it's not quite street fashion.

As you can see from most of them I was mainly shooting from the hip as a way of taking pictures close to people without them changing their expression or becoming self-conscious. Trying to get people looking more natural, which happens to be from a child's eye-level. With practice it does work quite well although I do miss out on some by not quite getting the camera pointing in the right direction.

This photo of a street food seller was a good example of accidentally chopping his head out of the composition. Although, in this case it was lucky that his shirt made up for it!

Another problem with the technique is getting the focus right, particularly being so close to the subjects. Here, although I think it still works, I would have preferred to have the woman's reflection in focus.

People distracted by trying on clothes are an easy target with nobody expecting any kind of privacy out in the open street.

Some others are not at all shy about how they dress on the street. I was a bit surprised at how strong my reaction was to this man walking around in such skimpy, figure-hugging shorts. Maybe so many years in Thailand has made me prudish but it didn't feel appropriate to my Thai-ised sensibility. No Thai people would dress like this in this situation. However, it did make me wonder what the seller was offering to squirt her sauce on to.

I took these two to be brothers, and they are much more respectfully dressed in a way that would be appreciated and admired by the locals.

People blinded by a low but still powerful sun are another easy target. For many Thai people, particularly in urban areas, skin darkened by the sun is not welcome as it suggests the poor lifestyle of a labourer or farmer rather than the comparative comfort and wealth of office-dwelling.

Many tourists have a different attitude to the sun, sometimes to their own costs if they are not familiar with its power in this part of the world.

A good-sized hat would help, although in this case it is actually just a nifty way of her carrying a tray of garlands for sale.

Mannequins are another easy subject although I'm not sure I like this plastic fashion.

And I'm not exactly sure what is being sold here!

They are also interesting subjects when being handled, or with these two photos perhaps that should be "man-handled".

I wonder if this mannequin mask is hiding something even more hideous underneath.

It's good to see some lingering tradition in clothing even if it is targeting the tourist market as in this case with a man making coconut-leaf hats.

In Chiang Mai there is also a nice habit of school kids wearing old-style uniforms every Friday.

Finally, a photo just because I like seeing clothes decorated with wildlife like this tokay gecko.