A path into the industry of fashion photographer for Pui – Surachai Sangsuwan can be considered perfectly ‘traditional’: attended Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University because of his prior interest in the art of makeup, upgraded with joining the makeup club, enrolled Fashion Photography course, did both of the makeup and photography by himself in all of the projects. And eventually it was the final exam of that course that brought him into the circle of the photography contest ‘Harper’s Bazaar and Canon Photography 2007’ “Normally people would submit only one set of photos” Pui gave me an interview with calm gesture, which is quiet unlike to his usual hyperactive character that I could recall from the time we were colleagues for L’Officiel Thailand, making me surprised for such an extreme transformation. “But the professor told me to submit five sets at once. The professor asked me whether I just want to join the contest for fun or I want to win, to which of course I replied that I want to win. So the professor helped me out in adjusting my work, reshot them plenty of times till I got through and won the title.”

Don’t get confused yet. Pui actually began his career path as a makeup artist with the inspiration he acquired from the book ‘Face Forward’ by Kevyn Aucoin that awakened him, spelled him with the enchantment of cosmetics and eventually inspired him to apply for the Faculty of Communication Arts. But after winning the photography contest, Kusuma Chaiyaporn or “Pah Gai” Chief Editor of Harper’s Bazaar advised him to be ‘Studio boy’ or an assistant to the photographer of the studio in order to gain experiences. “At the beginning I was just like everyone else” He continued “My parents brought me a camera. I learned to take photos by myself. But once I won, I felt like it went far beyond expectations. I wasn’t very familiar with the equipment. So Pah Gai sent me to work as a studio boy for half a year, and I gradually learned about the process of photography from there”

“The first time I shot fashion photography?” Pui paused to think. “It was actually in the contract of a winner that we had to shoot a fashion photo set for Harper’s Bazaar, which became my first job along with my thesis in Ubonratchathani province. I asked P’Koh (Nichakul Kittayanupong – Fashion Editor of Harper’s Bazaar at the time) to go shoot it with me. Thanks to the beauty of the landscape over there we could shoot it well, which was a relief. After that I got a chance for the second job, shooting a fashion set with the orchestra band of Mahidol University, Salaya, and it came out well again. And from there I got to work with Harper’s Bazaar continuously. 

And if you can do both makeup and photography, why did you choose only the photographer path? I couldn’t hold back my curiosity. Though we both have collaborated before, I wasn’t there when he was still active as a makeup artist. When we met he already had only the image of a fashion photographer. “To be honest at that time I was confused about which path I should take,” he let out a long sigh. “Actually when I was young I would put on makeup and shoot it all by myself. But when I grew up I felt like working with others could bring me life energy, ideas and so much more along the way. Now if I’m going to do a drag race I would put on makeup by myself. The outcome is not bad. But if you ask me, frankly, if I want to be a makeup artist again, I’d say I rather work with other people, to have them fill out what I’m still lacking. It’s just like I have a problem for my coworkers to solve and pull it off in perfection.”

Besides being a mere commercial and extravagant fashion photographer without any trait of minimalism, Pui also have a lot of personal projects on his hands: shooting animals to find them home, shooting children with down syndrome, shooting underground work such as the life of LGBTQ and erotic photos relating to BDSM. We can say that he has a lot to experiment and constantly test his ability as a photographer. ‘Where did he get inspired?’ was the question that our team couldn’t bear not to ask. “There are both ‘inside out’ and ‘outside in’ for my personal projects” Pui paused to think. “For ‘inside out’ type of work, it’s like apart from making it ‘beautiful’, I would picture the direction I want to shoot inside my head. However ‘outside in’ is also essential for me to start any personal project, because I think my work can create benefits more than just being ‘beautiful’ or just to serve as eye candy and nothing else. I want to communicate something with those who purchase my works. A lot of my social projects also began with this kind of will to communicate, to find the ‘message’ we want to speak from the inside first, and then look for outside conditions that would communicate those messages. This is how I think my working process goes. 

And since you have so many personal projects on your hands, where do you think is the point of success for you? “To answer this question I need to know first what the goal of my life is” He hesitated. “A position? or being accepted on the international level? For me I have accomplished positions already as well as acceptance from the internationals. Now?… My goal is to let people know about myself more, because being a photographer in this industry means you must be active all the time. I might have been known around the 2010s, but that doesn’t mean in the 2020s there would be people who know about me. Everything has ups and downs. The only thing I can do is constantly try to create works to provide spaces for myself. Also I would utilize those spaces, both for me and everyone else by turning them into the source of income for me and my people. In the meantime I could also use those spaces to tell the stories I want to communicate.