Spirit houses are miniature houses, temples, and palaces built as homes for guardian spirits of the land. Their construction reflects Thailand's intricate mix of animism, Buddhism, and even Hinduism. They may be constructed in situ from available materials, or purchased, mass-produced, from Thai home and garden shops. Their caretakers adorn them with garlands and flowers, people them with small figurines, and feed the spirits housed inside with fruit, water, cigars, sandwiches, etc. Spirit houses are the most common type of building in Thailand. Once you start seeing them, you cannot stop. In Bangkok, and in every other Thai city, they are visually dominant. Spirits may also inhabit trees, rivers, mountains, and ruined temples, and Thais leave offerings to the spirits in those places, too.
I stumbled into "slow photography" because of my own requirements, but it turned out to be appropriate for my subject. Because I experience Thailand deeply, and I have always liked Group f/64, I use the deepest possible focus. Hence, my slow shutter speed captures blurred motion, which many Thais regard as ghostly. Reciprocally, the spirits, unblinking, may see us as blurs. Further, I have poor eyesight and slow reaction time, so street photography is not for me!
When I say "slow photography," these are some of the things I mean:
• Slow photography is slow. The decisive moment can be thirty seconds long. You may return to the same site again and again.
• Slow photography is deep. Set-up is long, exposure is long, depth of field is great. Bokeh is to be avoided.
• Slow photography is local. You do not fly in and fly out. You are not a tourist.
• Slow photography yields control to the subject, which may wander into the frame, or not.
• Slow photography permits multiple audiences. It does not demand a single, global audience.
• Slow photography is not manipulated.
• Slow photography is not manipulative.
• Slow photography is about a recurring caress with the eye. It is not about impact. It is not performative.
I feel that through slow photography I have gotten out of the way, and let the spirits speak, on their wavelength.
