CTypeMag Featured Work - The Wat Phra Kaew’s Guide Book

The Wat Phra Kaew’s Guide Book

January 20, 2021

Say something about yourself?

My name is Sun. I own a film photography shop in Bangkok, Thailand. I love to shoot street photography with analog process. Last 2 years, I have studied a lot about street photography and I was obsessed with it. Then, in 2016 I became a member of Street Photo Thailand Collective.

What is this project?

It is about “Wat Phra Kaew”. Wat Phra Kaew is regarded as the most sacred buddhist temple in Thailand. Everyday, Wat Phra Kaew is full of tourists from around the world.

So, I aim to present some story apart from its peaceful atmosphere. Tourists’ characters, postures, or actions are my main interests.

When/Why did you start making this project?

I started this project since July 2016 until now and have been visiting Wat Phra Kaew every week. I am interested in this project because in my childhood I lived in Bangkok’s old town near Wat Phra Kaew, but I recall that I went there only 1–2 times. So I just want to visit this place again.

What message do you want to convey to the audience?

Wat Phra Keaw is the 1st place of Bangkok tourist attraction. But seems like 90 percent of Thai people visit there just once or none. So, I would like to present what are the current happenings there; what do these tourists see and do, from my perspective.

Any your news or updates?

I will finish this project then plan to print some photo books later (But I don’t know when?). Now I am starting a new photo project related to a community in Bangkok. In this June (2017), I will open a new and bigger film photography shop with a small gallery space.

Artyt Lerdrakmongkol (Sun) was born in 1980 and is living in Bangkok, Thailand. He is a talented analog street photographer who also owns a famous film photography shop in Bangkok named ‘Husband & Wife’ Artyt has worked in Thai music industry since 1999–2012 before leaving to open his shop. He attended a workshop of Street Photo Thailand and taught himself after that for shooting street photography and researching its history. In 2015, Artyt and his friend founded ‘Siam Street Nerds’ a blog for promoting street photography and diverse knowledge of photography; one year later, he became a member of Street Photo Thailand collective. His works have been shown in EyeEm Award 2016 (Germany), 2016 StreetFoto San Francisco International Street Photography Awards (USA), and also featured on the LFI Magazine as the 5th Prize of Music Photo Contest II.