New Website & Blog!

Greetings! Check out my new website and blog here:

www.tellurideweddingphotographers.com

See you there!

http://www.tellurideweddingphotographers.com

Greetings all! I have launched a new websire called http://www.tellurideweddingphotographers.com…. Check it out!

Bangkok Bluegrass Boys

Laos➞Bangkok➞Tokyo➞Seattle➞Denver➞Toronto➞Denver➞Telluride in six days, including a three day photo-shoot in Toronto, left me feeling quite jet-lagged. My plan was to arrive by train at 6am in Bangkok, drop my stuff at a guest house, taxi 45 minutes across town to my friend Peak’s house, then hit the gigantic Bangkok Weekend Market to stock up on gifts for friends. I didn’t account for a few things. First, Thailand is at the tipping point of huge political turmoil. That morning, tens of thousands of protesters, known as Red Shirts, had descended on the capital to call for new elections, demanding ‘democracy’ from the current government who was put in place after a military coup. With a major protest looming, I decided to try to beat the traffic, and head straight across town to get a head start on my market day. There were thousands of military police in full riot gear lining the streets. There were also hospital tents set up by the protesters, as a place to have their blood withdrawn so they could throw buckets of it on government buildings!

I got to Peak’s, (a couchsurfing.org hub) and headed out to the Market with a posse of travelers. A Mexican, two Italians, another couple, and a kid from Bloomington, Indiana, my home town. We hit the market, and got split up. Its huge. I headed for the used clothing section to find weird uniforms, and other oddities. . After about 15 minutes, something caught my ear: the ringing of the 5 stringed banjo. I charged up a row of vendors, then up another, finally, the banjo grew louder, and there, in front of a country western clothing stall, a 4 foot eight inched Thai man ripping the good ‘ol banjer. He wasn’t just kind of picking it. He was destroying it. Ripping it. He was picking the shit out of it!

I went up to him after a song and explained that I was a bluegrass musician, and that I had my mandolin on the other side of town, but it was no good. He didn’t speak a lick of English. He only spoke bluegrass. Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Cripple Creek. Ol Joe Clark, etc. Hmmm. I really wanted to play with him, but I would have to traverse the protest, now fully in swing, twice to get it and come back. 3 hours at least I figured. I looked around, and there, under some country western shirts, was another banjo! “Can I play that?” I gestured with my hands. “Sure” he shrugged with his shoulders. I picked it up, and we proceeded to rip through some classics. Duelin’ Banjos. I Saw The Light. Blue Moon of Kentucky, he would sing, with out speaking any English. It was beautiful. Soon a crowd gathered, and we spent the next two hours sweating in the hot Bangkok sun, laughing and picking and the market.

Soon, his friend, who spoke some English, approached me. He said that the Banjo Picker had to leave at 4pm because he was off to play a wedding, and was wondering if there was a way I could get my mandolin, and be back in an hour and a half to go play with him.

To make a long story short, the quickest way around Bangkok is on the back of a motorcycle. There are kids in orange vests who will pick you up, and weave in and out of traffic, go the wrong way up one way roads, head into oncoming traffic, ride up on sidewalks, and run red lights and stop signs to get you where you’re going. And that’s just what he did. It was like a James Bond scene. We were riding like we were about to save the world from a ticking time bomb, cops and protesters everywhere. But we did it. I got my mandolin and got back to the market in time to catch a ride to the gig. 

I was figuring that it might just be me and him, playing in a back yard for a traditional Thai wedding.  We walked to the banjo player’s car, a little Suzuki complete with Texas bull-horns, and a band logo that read The Blue Mountain Boys. Ok. They were serious. Its me, the Banjo Player, and now we have the mando player and cowgirl singer in tow. All Thai. No English. Well a little. The mandolin player has traveled to the U.S. to attend bluegrass festivals, but really he’s an engineer. He speaks some English. So we pile in the tiny car and, click, click, no go. We had to get out and push start the car into a busy street. It was just like home, trying to get to a gig.

So, we pulled in to the venue, a full sized event hall with seats for 350+. This was a big wedding. Everything was country western themed. Hay bales on the floor, TeePees as you walk in, and us, the Blue Mountain Boys, a 10 piece country western, bluegrass, truckdrivin’, honky tonk band. 9 Thais, and a gringo.

The rest of the band was waiting for us. Guitars, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, accordion, bass, drums, & washboard!

The set list was amazing. Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Jimmy Martin, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and a few Thai Traditionals.

The band was decked out.

The bride a groom were decked out too…

And the family…

I took some photos between songs, and some video Ill try to post on Youtube…

The band did their best to sing the songs in English.

Travel Blog

JEREMY’S TRAVEL BLOG CAN BE FOUND

⇒HERE⇐

check it out…

I’ll update this blog when I get back from Asia.

Drum Bikes, Peacocks, Wats and Armless Hoola Hooping

A lot has happened in the last week. I will try to explain it, pictorially, or, for the full  article, see Maisy’s well written blog post  http://jeremaisinasia.wordpress.com/

We’ve been in the Chiang Mai region for the past week, which is home to hundred’s of Wats (Buddhist temples), rice fields, forests fires, national parks, tuk tuks and monks.

Tuk Tuk Thug

Me on a Moto

We’ve hit our Wat threshold, but they are very beautiful, and fun to photograph…

They’re everywhere!

On a recent excursion out of town, we stopped by a huge party celebrating the opening of a village’s new Wat

They even brought in an armless hoola-hooper!

And had a cool bike/drumset

And her

But the real gem of the week has been the 5 days in the bush photographing wild peacocks!

They’re the rare Royal Thai Pea Fowl sub-species.

The hard part is capturing them in flight.

take off!

Male Thai Peacock in flight!

showing off

habitat

Part of the assignment was to capture they’re disappearing habitat.

Thailand is on Fire!

They burn everything here, and most fires go out of control, burning forestland, and killing everything in sight.

More soon! We’re off to Laos!

Ko Phi Phi

We’re still in the land of Spring Break, but the place is stunningly beautiful, although culturally devoid. Shooting landscapes isnt my favorite, but everywhere you look here is a postcard perfect picture. This island is %100 tourist based

The spirits of the boats live in the bow, and each has its shrine to protect the boat

Many of these limestone cliffs are hollow with caves

But when we hiked to a remote beach, this is what we found. Thanks Mobil.

Night Time at the Beach

Here’s a shot of our cute little beach on the way home from the bar last night.

The horizon and rocks being back-lit by far off fishing vessels…

And the for-ground being lit by the bar.

Each of these shots were 30 second exposures.

Koh Tao

We’ve arrived in the land of SPRING BREAK 2010. With reggae coming from every bar, bikini clad women everywhere, and beautiful tropical beaches down every dirt road, I can see what brings every adventure seeking gringo in the region to this island. There’s plenty of beautiful Corona commercial scenes to take pictures of here, but its not very cultural. Im exited to visit some remote villages soon, but for now, Ill soak up some sun, sip a Mai Thai, and take pics of cool fishing boats. More to come….

Greetings from Bangkok

We made it! Almost 3 full days of traveling and exactly 12 hours of time change + 90 degree weather and %100 humidity = Bangkok. This city is huge, bustling, dirty, beautiful and happening. I havent busted out the big camerayet, but Maisy’s point and shoot has been sufficing quite well. We’re heading to some islands tomorrow for some SCUBA and a break from the crowds, so look for some more photos soon, but here’s a sample from the city:

River Boat

So long Telluride….

So long winter...

Ful moon long exposure

After being gone from Telluride since August, the last three weeks here have been perfect. Beautiful days, lots of snow, dinner parties, gigs, full moon hikes, and a chance to reconnect with our community. Also, Ive been able to finish my website and blog, make business cards, sell some photos left over from my gallery show this summer, and pack.

Tomorrow we leave for Denver to catch our flight to Bangkok and meet up with Made, who is just returning from Afghanistan! Also soon to be arriving in Thailand is my old roommate Borg, and his gal, Jos.

First order of business: off to the beach! We also plan to help Made finish his documentary, photograph rare peacocks at the Thai Royal Wildlife Preserve on assignment, and help direct a children’s play in Vietnam! So, some vacation, and some work! I will try to post my photos here and on the website as much as possible, but we’ll be posting most of our travel stories on http://jeremaisinasia.wordpress.com

Dinner at Bri Bri's