In an unfamiliar land without one single familiar face, Tang-Tripoom Chongpipatanasook, had to learn new things on his own.  It was the time he found himself via photography which has been transferred into a set of photos called Mindwanders.

Loneliness is one of the feelings exhibited in this set of photos.  For a high-school student who had to live alone in a boarding school in Ireland, he had to learn many new things.  A camera, for Tang, was used as an instrument to overcome all fears.

“Having a relationship was my major fear.  Living very far away from home, from friends for a long time, it’s hard for me to re-communicate. A camera made me be able to overcome that.”

For a teenager, what made him fear a relationship?  Moreover, who pushed him to face that fear?

“A teacher in Ireland encouraged me to join in an art project contest.  I sent in a photobook.  That was the starting point of me taking photos.”

“Taking a break back to Thailand, I joined a workshop run by BADEYES.  He dug into my life and sent me out to take photos of what I did not want to mention.”

©Tripoom Chongpipatanasook

Mindwanders did not start from a story to tell, but the recording of what happening, then putting them together into a set of photos.  After getting back with the relationship with friends in Thailand, he went back to Ireland, lived his life and recorded his feelings in photos.

“Initially, I did not think that all of my photos would be able to collect into a photo set with one theme.  After reconsidering them, I came across the sense of emptiness.  That was me drifting around while taking photos.”

This emptiness represents teenagers in the years of unstable, purposeless feelings.  This emptiness became the place for many teenagers to find themselves, though.  There is one moment that they retrospect what they should do.  Tang, also used this period of emptiness to find himself. 

“Mindwanders is like finding oneself by others.  If someone said it was beautiful, I took it.  If the structure makes a photo beautiful, I took it. I experimented with everything everyone said it was beautiful, then put my story in.”

Tang told us that this reward set of photos is not his favourite.  It could not even really represent him.  It plays a role as one part of the process of him finding himself.  It tells him whether he likes this type of photos or not.  It helps him grow.  It may be a representative of what Picasso once said, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”  He follows all rules of photography excellently.

“When taking these photos, they did not come through me, they came through the camera. I took them with others’ vision.  I had my own story to tell, the problem is I would press the shutters only when it looked beautiful.  The structure controlled me, under my very own permission.”

After this, Tang may be able to gradually break all rules and put himself in bit by bit.  We believe that he will be able to showcase himself 100% as he desires.  The upcoming story he wants to tell the most comes from the idea…

“The story I want to tell next may be the relationship of people around me.  I want to finish connecting my own world before going out to another world.

He left us with his final remark.  Mindwaners is still an unending story, he still has to go out there to find himself in another chapter of life. Each chapter can help him grow up and face another new world.