« What I love to do is to walk, to go down streets, to get lost in public transportation. To breathe the city. Initially, what I enjoyed was simply looking at my neighborhood. That’s when I began to feel like sharing what I saw. I became a photographer by accident. Early in the morning, or late at night, it feels like the city belongs to us.
When people live in the city, they go off to work with a determined attitude, and the city becomes a theatre play in which everyone plays a part. I often go to a specific location to take pictures, but can just as well start shooting spontaneously, without thinking. I do not impose any rules upon myself. I need to take my time, to check out a city I don’t know, before going there. It’s important to me to establish a first contact with the city before I start photographing it.
When I take a street photograph, what I look for is a glance, an unusual person. It’s like there’s a feeling that arises between the person I’m shooting and myself. I like to go out with a light photographic unit, I feel like I can get by unseen. When I take pictures of a person, I can either anticipate his or her movements, or not, I study the background, so as to create my own composition. What can I say, I’m a hunter on the lookout for the right model. These are simple moments captured from daily life that I like to sublimate.I like to be invisible, to become incognito, to be taken for a local. To do that, you have to walk, stroll, hang out, observe, be patient, attentive, open, and passionate. »
Vuthéara Kham
… or to display at home
