Tang Tawanwad works as a cinematographer in Thailand. Besides the food, he loves picturing people and situations that strike his eye.
Tang Tawanwad’s photographs are full of bright colors, different point of views and great editing. His main focus is the light and the directions it can take while shooting. We talked about his passion and his job: this is what he said.
Tell me about your professional and cultural background.
My name is Tang Tawanwad Wanavit. I was born in 1991, in Chiangmai, Thailand.
I started working in film industry about 8 years ago as a cinematographer. I learnt street photography along the way while I was exploring visually. My parents encourage me to do what ever I feel like and think about why I do it and the consequences later: that’s pretty much my motto.
What is the main message you want to spread with your photos and works?
I have no messages to spread honestly. I’m using photography as an outlet to the visuals in my head. I see something in my head, I try to produce it, and I release the photo. That’s pretty much it. I take photography as a personal adventure.
How do you choose your subjects and why?
I take photos of anything that strikes my interest. This only changed recently: before I would choose subjects that I thought would have an impact on the people who saw the photographs, but since I started shooting for myself, I stopped looking for reasons to choose any subject. If something strikes my eye, I just go ahead and shoot it.
What is the most beautiful thing about your culture in your opinion?
I can’t pick one, I would say the food. Thailand’s food is a miracle.
What does cinematography mean to you? And how do you use light and colors to tell your stories?
I explore lighting endlessly. I work with lighting all the time. During the last two years I explored with flash in my photography a lot, because I wanted to experiment with hard lightings like I would in cinematography.
Shooting lights in different directions gives different feelings to the pictures, it’s pretty much like mood and tone setting. I like to repeat colors in my photographs also, it gives more sense of flow in the picture for me. Cinematography is my practice ground. I’m so obsessed with techniques.
Finally, are there any projects or collaborations you would like to talk about?
I’m approaching photography in a more personal way at the moment, I’m gathering photos of things that are personal to me and rearranging them. I believe that everything I shoot has some sort of emotional impact towards me. The current subject is on my family.
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