'Eastern Approaches' | table of contents
Digital cameras are changing the face of photography, but it's not for me. I prefer the tactile quality of black-and-white, fiber-based paper and the magic of seeing the picture appear in the darkroom.
My photographs are, and at the same time, aren't a record of what happened at a certain time and place. I don't add props or direct the people in the photo, but I will compose the shot in my head beforehand and then wait in "ambush" for all the elements I want to come together in the frame.
Then, when I print, I dodge and burn the photograph as necessary to reproduce the image that I had in my mind's eye when I pressed the shutter. Bleaching and toning the print adds to the process, resulting in an image that looks like it was taken in the early to mid 20th century.
Finally, I'll add the postage stamps, which I've collected during my travels. Not only do they provide a geographic link to the image, but they help complete the "postcard" look that I try to emulate.
My early school years in South Africa were filled with stories of exploration and adventure, from David Livingstone to the adventures of Tin Tin, journeys to exotic places with strange exotic people.
But I didn't want to be an explorer, I wanted to be a soldier, and after my family moved to Australia in 1980 I became immersed in the history of Vietnam war. I grew up watching "Apocalypse Now" and "Platoon," thinking of the region only in terms of the war that had ravaged Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Trips to South East Asia with the Australian Army did little to change this. When not "playing soldiers," my interest was confined to the beers and bars, paying little heed to the beauty and culture that surrounded me.
In 1999, no longer in the army but still fascinated by the military history, I bought a ticket to Vietnam. I had intended to visit the Australian battlefields, but in Ho Chi Minh City I bought a copy of "The Quiet American" and soon my interest had shifted from the "American War" to the days of Pyle and the French Colonial era. The book provided an insight into a time that I had very little knowledge of.
Over the next few years I found myself returning to follow in the footsteps of Graham Greene's Fowler, from the Cao Dai stronghold near Tay Ninh in the south to Phat Diem in the north. Along the way I found a second-hand copy of Francis Garnier's account of the French expedition up the Mekong in 1866. With camera in hand my journeys of exploration widened to encompass Thailand, Cambodia & Laos.
This section of South East Asia is changing rapidly, but its culture and identity remain strong, not yet totally subverted by McDonalds and Starbucks. Despite its turbulent history, traces of a past way of life are still evident. It's not hard to see how things looked 50 years ago. My photographs help to recreate the sense of discovery of a time and place that is exotic and alien to many in Europe and America.
Julian Tennant
March 2006