“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.’’
Henri Cartier-Bresson
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I’ve had a camera since my ninth birthday (in 1972), getting more interested in photography in my teens, when I was also into punk. Inspired by my Indian girlfriend Shephali, in 1986 I travelled to India. Two years later I continued through Burma (now Myanmar), visiting the temples of Mandalay and Sagaing to the north, the ruins of Thailand’s ancient capitals Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, and the hill tribe communities sprinkled over Asia’s Greater Golden Triangle region.
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I visited Angkor in 1992. Throughout Cambodia’s years of conflict, efforts to restrain the anarchic undergrowth were nonessential and the enchanted forest had returned — recreating the very visual charms that had roused European awareness of Angkor after Scotsman John Thomson first photographed there in 1866; his exotic images of ancient ruins set amidst dense tropical jungle: the lost city rediscovered.
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I chronicled my journeys with a traditional yet slightly ethereal black & white film — my camera for the entirety of my trips, a 1972 Nikon F2.
I chose infrared black & white film in an attempt to capture an East I had dreamed of — ancient and mysterious. Photographers have been experimenting in this unseen dimension for over a hundred years — the first infrared photos were published in the Photographic Journal of the Royal Photographic Society in 1910. The photographs I took became my way of portraying Eastern mysticism in a tangible form.
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During my journeys I found much truth in Cartier-Bresson’s statement, especially after returning to once-visited tribal regions, where the addition of a generator (and subsequently a TV) had eroded hundreds of years of culture within a short space of time, replacing it with, sadly, many of the worst aspects of the modern world.
I began to notice that the locations I visited, once considered at the ends of the Earth, were losing their spiritual aura as they gained tourist attraction.
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I feel lucky to have experienced a quiet time and grateful that I was given a chance to preserve a sense of nostalgia on a film medium so suited, when the mystery of Asia was still very much alive . . . though the blood of these sacred sites and ancient peoples is on my hands too.
Travellers, tourists, visitors (whatever we call ourselves) are the nail in the coffin for many a secret Shangri-La.​​
In 1997, ZOOM international fine art photography magazine featured my Asian infrared photos.
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The same year I began working for John Everingham’s Art Asia company in Bangkok, being sent up to the Greater Golden Triangle regions of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China to photograph the daily lives and ceremonies of the local hill tribes for a book series ‘Vanishing Cultures’.
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In 2001, I self-published my book Red eye, a watershed of photos and travel stories. It was picked up by Bill Bensley, the man behind Bensley, the best hotel and resort design company on Earth. Soon my Angkor portfolio was on permanent display within the interiors of the Hotel de la Paix (now the Park Hyatt) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Bill assigned me several creative photography projects over the following thirteen years.
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In 2007, I was a contributing photographer to the book Thailand: Nine Days in the Kingdom, in honour of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Fifty-five photographers, included James Nachtwey, Eric Valli, Steve McCurry, Raghu Rai, Michael Freeman and Michael Yamashita were sent out in all directions around Thailand. I was sent to the ancient cities of Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet and the hill tribe region north of Chiang Rai.
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My second book Angkor: Into The Hidden Realm was published in 2007. HRH Princess Norodom Rattana-Devi of Cambodia kindly wrote a foreword. King Norodom Sihamoni then chose four of my Angkor photos as state gifts for his visit to the Czech Republic.
In 1999, I made a short two-minute black-and-white film on an Arriflex 35mm movie camera up in the hill tribes of NW Vietnam. Then between 1999 and 2010, I shot and edited short films for Discovery Channel (Asia), and History Channel (Asia). In the early days we had the luxury of shooting movie film with a 16mm French Éclair and a hand-cranked 16mm Bollex.
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In 2013, I was commissioned by Doytibet Duchanee to photograph the Baan Dam Museum in Chiang Rai, North Thailand. Created and built by his father (internationally renown National Thai artist Thawan Duchanee), this project seemed a perfect match for infrared black & white film.
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Then back to the hill tribes around Sapa in 2016, to photograph a fusion of hill tribe and French haute couture fashion... in COLOUR.
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Whenever I could, I photographed old European-styled architecture in Asia. Beginning in Thailand, I took photos of 'Old Siam', then went on to photograph old French architecture in Vietnam and Cambodia.
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I’ve had the pleasure of exhibiting twice at Wave Gallery in Brescia, Italy, (sponsored by ZOOM magazine) and other memorable exhibitions before and after.
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From 2012 — 2017, I lectured photography (part-time) at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
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I’m back in the UK at present, based in a small village in North Devon a couple of miles away from a stunning coastline. I'm confronting a mountain of disorganised negatives and editing years of scribbled notes about growing up in 1970s England, photography and times travelling in Asia, which will at some point soon culminate in a new book. More about that as it unfolds...
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Please don't hesitate to contact me at martin@martinreeves.com should you like to chat about anything.
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