Photographing Songkran in Chiang Mai

This time I did.

Most of these photographs were taken walking around Chiang Mai's Old City, the moat, Tha Phae Gate and the smaller streets around the centre.

It's also mostly color, which is unusual for me.

If you want to see what I'm photographing now, you can see my current work on Instagram @trovatten.

Songkran is complete chaos

Songkran is Thai New Year. Traditionally the water is about washing away the previous year, cleansing, respect and starting again.

That's the calm explanation.

Then you go outside in Chiang Mai and a kid empties a bucket of water over a Grab driver doing 30 km/h on a scooter.

Both versions are Songkran.

For a few days the city basically becomes one enormous water fight.

People have hoses outside their houses. Kids have water guns. Pickup trucks drive around with huge tanks in the back so they never run out. Scooters drive through all of it because people still need to get somewhere.

It is loud, wet, hot and completely unpredictable.

Which obviously makes it great for street photography.

The first day we rented a truck

The first day, the trainers and people from my Muay Thai gym rented one of those classic Songkran pickup trucks.

They put a metal frame around the back so maybe ten people can stand there, and there is a giant tank of water in the middle.

Then someone drives around Chiang Mai while everyone in the back has water guns.

You refill. Shoot someone. Get shot back. Refill again.

We drove around the city and quite far south from the Old City as well.

I basically didn't photograph from the truck.

There was no chance my camera was surviving that.

I had my Fujifilm X-H2S with me and no waterproof housing, no plastic bag, nothing particularly intelligent.

So the serious photography happened when I was walking.

My waterproof camera technique

I shot almost everything with the X-H2S and the 35 mm f/1.4.

You can see more of the cameras I use in my street photography camera guide.

I didn't protect the camera much.

My technique was basically to show it to people.

If somebody was about to spray me, I'd lift the camera slightly so they could see what I was doing.

Almost everybody immediately understood.

They would aim at my legs instead.

Fair enough.

I was surprised by how respectful people were about it. Nobody caused a problem. Nobody seemed annoyed that I was photographing either.

The camera itself wasn't quite as enthusiastic.

It tapped out a couple of times.

Chiang Mai heat plus water plus hours of shooting is apparently not the ideal operating environment for electronics.

Heat and water. Funny combination.

Why these photographs are mostly color

I normally prefer black and white.

I even tried some of the Songkran photographs that way.

They looked worse.

The problem is the water.

A person gets hit by a bucket and suddenly you have skin, clothes, reflections and a huge white splash all occupying the same part of the frame.

In black and white it can just turn into mud.

You stop being able to see what is happening.

Color separates it.

A green Grab jacket against the water. Bright plastic water guns. Red buckets. Skin. Scooters. Signs. All the stuff happening behind the person.

So I left the color.

I still love black and white photography, but I don't think every photograph becomes better just because you remove the color.

Sometimes the color is doing actual work.

Songkran was one of those times.

You have no idea what photograph you're going to get

That's probably what I liked most.

You don't know.

A scooter is coming toward you.

There are four kids standing next to the road with buckets.

You know something is about to happen, but you have no idea exactly what.

Maybe they miss.

Maybe the rider sees them and reacts.

Maybe another person throws water from the other side.

Maybe someone hits you instead and now you can't see anything.

There is almost too much happening.

With normal street photography, I can sometimes see a scene developing and wait for it.

Here the scene is developing in five different directions.

You just react.

A lot of photographs fail.

That's fine.

The energy is the interesting part.

Scooters were probably my favorite thing to photograph

Scooters were great because everybody could see them coming.

Someone would drive down the street and you could almost watch the entire pavement prepare for an attack.

Buckets come up.

Water guns point toward the road.

The scooter arrives.

Gone.

Just water everywhere.

Then the rider comes out the other side and keeps going.

The Grab drivers were even better.

These guys are literally trying to deliver someone's food while the entire city has collectively decided they are a moving target.

And they still do the delivery.

Kids obviously loved all of it.

Then there was a guy driving around on a scooter wearing a shower cap.

I still think about him.

Probably the only man in Chiang Mai who had actually prepared correctly.

The mood was the best part

I don't really have one photograph from Songkran that I think defines the whole project.

It's more the mood.

Everyone was having such a good time.

And I mean everyone.

If you explain Songkran to somebody who has never seen it, it sounds like it should become horrible within about twenty minutes.

Thousands of people throwing water at strangers.

Traffic.

Alcohol.

Music.

Tourists.

Children.

Extreme heat.

Scooters moving through wet streets.

It sounds like a terrible idea.

But somehow it works.

I had zero problems.

Nobody got angry with me.

People were smiling constantly.

Thai people are amazing that way. There can be total chaos around you without the feeling becoming aggressive.

That's very different from a lot of big public events I've photographed.

After six hours you are completely done

Songkran is also exhausting.

Not in a bad way.

It's just a lot.

You are outside in the heat for hours and your brain is constantly switched on.

Something happens here.

Turn around.

Something happens there.

Protect the camera.

Photograph the scooter.

Move.

Somebody throws water.

Clean the lens.

Another photograph.

Repeat.

And it doesn't happen for twenty minutes.

It happens for days.

Eventually you need to go home, dry everything and sit somewhere quiet.

My camera needed the break too.

Then you go out again.

Where I photographed Songkran in Chiang Mai

Most of the work here is from around the Old City moat and Tha Phae Gate.

That's the obvious place if you want to see the really intense street side of Songkran in Chiang Mai.

Pickup trucks circle the moat with water tanks in the back. People stand along the roads with buckets and hoses. Scooters, tuk-tuks and cars keep moving through it.

But it isn't limited to one square or one street.

Songkran is everywhere.

Smaller streets can be just as good because you aren't dealing with thousands of people in every direction.

When we were driving with the gym, we went much further south through Chiang Mai and the water fights were still happening.

You don't really need to search for Songkran once it starts.

You walk outside.

A little practical stuff

When is Songkran?

The traditional Songkran dates are April 13 to 15.

Chiang Mai can feel longer because things start building around those dates and the city stays in festival mode for days.

If you're traveling specifically for it, I would be in Chiang Mai before the 13th rather than arriving in the middle of everything.

Where is the best area in Chiang Mai?

For the big version, go to the Old City moat and Tha Phae Gate.

That's where you'll get the trucks, crowds and constant water fighting.

But don't spend the entire time standing in one place.

Walk into the smaller streets too.

If you're in Bangkok instead, Khao San Road and Silom are the obvious concentrated areas, but Songkran happens across Thailand.

What should you actually bring?

As little as possible.

Your phone in something waterproof.

Clothes that dry quickly.

Shoes you can safely walk in when everything is wet.

Sun protection.

And nothing expensive that doesn't absolutely need to come with you.

If you're carrying a real camera, you need to decide how much risk you're willing to take.

I apparently decided quite a lot.

Is Songkran good for street photography?

Very.

But don't expect much control.

That's the point.

I preferred photographing on foot because I could get close and react to whatever happened.

I wouldn't shoot it with a long lens from the other side of the road.

Get inside it.

People were extremely open to being photographed, and the atmosphere makes interaction easy.

Just understand that you and your camera are standing in the middle of a water fight.

From Muay Thai to Songkran

I originally came to Chiang Mai to train and work on my Muay Thai photography.

That project and Songkran could hardly be more different.

Muay Thai gave me time to stay with people, watch training, return to the same gyms and photograph the same fighters again.

Songkran gives you about half a second.

But that's also why I like both.

I'm interested in photographing people when something real is happening.

Sometimes that's a fighter training every morning.

Sometimes it's a guy on a scooter wearing a shower cap while somebody throws a bucket of water at his head.

That same approach is also what I bring into my commercial street photography.

If you're looking for a photographer for documentary, editorial or commercial work in Thailand or elsewhere, you can get in touch here.

Looking back at Songkran

When I look through these photographs, I mostly remember the feeling.

Wet streets.

The heat.

Kids waiting with buckets.

Grab drivers trying to survive long enough to deliver someone's lunch.

My X-H2S occasionally deciding it didn't want to participate anymore.

And everybody being in an insanely good mood.

I don't think I photographed Songkran because I wanted to explain Thai culture.

There are people who can do that much better.

I photographed it because for a few days Chiang Mai's streets became something completely different, and I wanted to be inside it with a camera.

That's it.