Thailand-based award-winning street photographer Tavepong Pratoomwong has exhibited his wide-ranging portfolio of striking photos across different parts of the world. However, as the pandemic hit, even professionals with as much creativity and skill as him were met with challenges in terms of strengthening their craft. Despite this, he has newfound perspectives, which motivated him to continuously harness creativity and even pick up new styles of photography to ensure that he does not stop growing in his profession.

How would you describe your style?

Many people who recognise and remember my work know me from street photography. To me, street photography captures both ordinary and interesting things in public spaces. It could be anything under the sun—people, animals, and objects; without needing to set up a scene. My work is not that complicated. I just leave my house, go wherever I’d prefer to be at any given day—it could be any public place such as the beach, mall, or fresh market—and start to take interesting photos.

Each street photographer has their own unique style. As for me, my style is to transform ordinary, daily objects or situations into something extraordinary through perspective and composition. Pressing the shutter at the right moment plays an important role in this regard. Most of my photographs are combinations of humour and surrealism.

How did you go from a beginner to a renowned professional photographer? Please tell us your story.

To be honest, I constantly try to tell myself that I am a novice, and that I enjoy street photography more as a hobby than professionally. In the past two to three years, I have taken up commercial projects and collaborative projects with various brands that required me to be more professional. I was not expecting anything in return for working hard on my hobby, so this has been quite an exciting reward.

Despite photography being a hobby, I’ve always taken it seriously. I progressed from a novice to a professional photographer through my determination and dedication to my craft. Whenever I go out to the streets, I make sure that I deliver my best effort in pursuit of creating the best street photos.

What are your thoughts on perspective vs. location when it comes to street photography? Which is more important and why?

I think location is just as important as the people. Street photography focuses on highlighting the creativity in a place and its people, and how to make both these elements work seamlessly together. If the location is good, I will also be happy to take photos of the place. I like a clean and fine location that has ample space for me to stack layers between the subjects and the background, which produces more interesting results.

You have roamed Bangkok countless times because of your job. What do you think of the city after wandering around for six years?

I have seen countless situations in Bangkok—from ordinary events on a normal day, to national ceremonial events, such as the passing of King Rama IX. Yet, I am quite sure that there are still so many places I have never been to. I have a lot of fond memories in Bangkok; but for now, I am more excited to explore other provincial territories.

Given that street photography thrives off public spaces, how was it affected in the past two years?

My street photography was affected greatly. One of the most important elements of street photography is to venture into public places to take photos. The past two years have made it difficult for us to do so, especially during the early stages of the pandemic, when many cities across the world went into lockdown. Of course, the immediate response of most street photographers was to protect themselves first by staying home. Few dared to go out and take photos in public places and I observed that street photographers produced significantly less work. Other genres of photography were also affected, including landscape and portrait photography.

What new avenues have you sought out during this period?

Instead of taking pictures of the streets, I took photos inside my own home, which allowed me to take on a new approach to how I see my own space. I was surprised by the interesting things I missed. As a street photographer, I used to limit myself to working in public spaces. I now realise that I was limiting my creativity too much without knowing it. Street photography can be seen as a lake, while photography in itself is a vast ocean. This means that if I can break down the barrier of my usual approach to photography, I will find many other ways to create my work under the restrictions of the pandemic.

I soon began taking photos of my cat at home – which naturally developed into a series. I also tried using telephoto lenses and explored conceptual photography.

It’s nice that you found a new approach to seeing your own house, and the cat series was an especially interesting project. Did this help spark your creativity in any way?

In my daily life, I was already taking photos of my cat using the conventional approach for pet photography. For this project, I wanted to try taking photos of my cat in a street photography style, which I’m good at. I also wanted to create humour and add surrealism to my home. To achieve this, I used wider lenses and increased the F-stop to control the depth of field which created illusion elements in the photographs. The Real-time Eye AF feature also really helped to lock in the focus on my cat. Creative photography is not as different from the street photography that I am accustomed to. The only difference is that it doesn’t necessarily need to be taken in a public place.

What I like most about my cat photography is that, most of the time, I cannot predict my pet’s behaviour. It’s true that many photos in the project were set up by placing the cat on the spot and then taking the pictures I wanted to take. This was to create juxtaposition with the surrounding objects, such as the photo of the cat lying down by my daughter’s legs. However, many photos came from observing its natural behavior, and many were shot without preparation for a scene, such as the photo of the cats sleeping by the window that cast a shadow connecting to the shoes outside the house. I enjoyed observing my cat and various objects in my house. Normally, I would have never noticed these interesting perspectives, even though I’ve lived in this house for many years.

Let’s talk about your experience with conceptual photography, a genre that requires high levels of creativity. Where do you draw inspiration in composing your concepts?

Conceptual photography often arises from the desire to communicate something via photographic art. It could originate from a photographer’s dissatisfaction with certain social, economic, or political issues, or it could originate from the photographer’s feelings, which means that the photographer must, to a certain level, be able to express their own inner reflections.

I see conceptual works as a way to bring across the message you want to your audience in a fast manner. If you have some ideas, you can just set things up—stage the scene, choose the model, and even use computer graphics to realise your vision.

I have found that when you spend enough time contemplating an idea that you want to express; when the time is right, a concrete idea will present itself to you. As for me, I often get new ideas while I’m relaxing, like taking a shower. Good ideas usually take shape naturally without the need to struggle to come up with them. However, it is also important to fixate on your scattered ideas for a long while. It is like when you get a cup of muddy water from a river. If you leave that water alone, the water will slowly turn clear after all the sediments have settled down at the bottom of the cup.

Using a telephoto lens is another new thing you tried. How did you go about venturing into this? In what kinds of shoots do you usually use a telephoto lens?

I started exploring telephoto lenses because of the pandemic. When the pandemic restrictions eased and people started going outside again, I wanted to return to taking photos in public. However, I was still cautious, and uncertain if the people I would photograph were free of the virus. Using a telephoto lens enabled me to keep my distance from them. It made me feel safer than using wider lenses like the 24mm or 35mm lenses, which needed me to be closer in proximity to people to take photos.

When using telephoto lens for street photography, I often use it in scenes where I want to pull the foreground and background closer together to create juxtaposition. The latest photo that I took using a telephoto lens was a photograph that made it seem like a child was using the sun as a football.

Any photographer would have inevitably experienced a creative block amid the pandemic. As a professional photographer, how do you consistently hone your craft?

In the past two years, I’ve learned that it is inevitable for creative challenges to come our way. Needless to say, working in confined spaces during the pandemic is more challenging than taking photos outside. However, I stand firm in my belief that good work is not only about changing the location. It is about how you change your point of view and your attitude towards the surrounding objects. If you have a sharp point of view, you can create great work despite how confined the space is. A mental block is usually something that you’ve put up yourself. Personally, I had to explore new methods that challenged my set notions and boundaries that was indicative of my typical style before.

To hone my craft, I take my camera with me every chance I get, and I consistently take photographs even if there is nothing interesting in the scene. However, when something touches me, which could be the lighting, color, or the characters of people, I make sure to not let that chance slip away. Golden moments often appear in a fraction of a second, and it can change a mundane scene into a memorable image. There is a saying that I like very much: “You will surely miss the scene that you do not raise your camera to take [a photo of].” This is how I consistently hone my craft.

A lot of young and novice photographers look up to you and your work. What are some self-taught techniques you would like to share with aspiring photographers and hobbyists to help them improve their skills?

Just recently, Sony Thailand and I worked on a campaign called Sony Street Photographers. It was a compilation of ideas and behind-the-scenes activities of street photographers in Thailand. The project consisted of interviews, photographs and video clips with the aim to inspire and spread understanding about the art of street photography to young people. After we had completed the first campaign, I met many young photographers that started exploring street photography upon reading the interviews of their seniors. These young photographers have practiced their street photography as well as produced excellent works. That led me to interview them in the second phase of the campaign, and I hope that it will continue to pay forward and inspire future generations.

Photographers who are starting out need to see and take inspiration from a good variety of works. You could spend time studying different styles from websites with interesting photos; so that you can find out which style of work you like and what speaks to you.

Many photographers don’t know which style they truly like, and it prevents them from developing their full potential. It is true that many only hope to gain happiness from pressing the shutter and just relish in the joy of photography. However, it can be even better if you find a style that speaks to you, one that you can express yourself best. You can hone your skill in that style to the point where you can create works that reflect who you are and work that you can be proud of.

What do you look forward to in the post-pandemic world?

I believe that the darkest hour is passing. I think an important note for photographers is to not leave their camera in a box for too long. Now is the time to take it out, get used to it and be ready to go out to take pictures of the world again.