Bangkok is a place that happened and continues happening rather than following some grand design.
The ad-hoc nature of its streets and sidewalks, where a no-size-fits-all approach sees neglected infrastructure cracking through mismatched pavement tiles, stands out in a series of photos taken from a unique vantage point.
German photographer Robert Goetzfried elevated his street photography game to the city’s BTS platforms in his Bangkok From Above series. While the semi-voyeuristic approach catches people on their way in unguarded pedestrian moments, it’s the texture of the cityscape beneath them that arrests attention.
Goetzfried told Coconuts Bangkok he wanted to “create the biggest possible distance” to his subjects to break from the emo, souls-of-someplace street photography tropes.
“In a way these people are nothing more than graphical elements that break the pattern of the ground,” he said Wednesday. “If a particular person is happy, sad, or something else is not important. I leave it up to the viewer to make up their own story.”
Goetzfried said the began making the images seven years ago when his Australian wife was working in Bangkok. He finished the series in January.
“I didn’t want to shoot a series that is typical Bangkok and covers all the visual Thailand cliches,” he said. “I wanted something graphical that sticks to a very strict visual concept.”
Find them all at his photography site. All images courtesy Robert Goetzfried.
Find all episodes of The Coconuts Podcast
Reader Interactions