The event venue was Olympus Store at Centralworld Shopping Mall. Such an impressive store with a dedicated space for workshop/seminars.
Originally, my one-hour long presentation was made up of images I have shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia only. Just hours before the actual event, I decided to do something extra. I thought the Thai audience would appreciate me sharing some images from my recent shutter therapy session in Bangkok. I did a last minute edit and included about two dozen images at the end of my presentation as a surprise. It was no easy feat as I did not have that many images which I was very happy with, but they were sufficient for that brief photo-sharing. After all, I wanted to show how much I love Bangkok and how I have enjoyed doing shutter therapy there. What better way to show some of the results?
The audience was surprisingly responsive and asked me more questions that I have expected, which was a good indication that they were paying attention and they were interested in my sharing. I always welcome questions during my talk. Our biggest concern was the language barrier, and Olympus Thailand had their staff on standby in case translation was needed. It was indeed a wonderful experience speaking to an entirely different audience. I sure hope my tips and tricks about shooting on the street can spark some ideas and inspire some of the crowd to go out with their camera and do some street shooting.
All subsequent images were from Olympus Thailand and used with permission.
Special thanks to all awesome Thai participants who came to the event! It was an honor speaking to everyone.
Miss Tata was the person I communicated with throughout the whole of this event. None of this was possible without her help and support, she did a fantastic job at making sure everything ran smoothly. Fun fact - Miss Tata was also there during my South Africa trip, she the representative from Olympus Thailand office. Another fun-fact - she is a wonderful photographer! Check out her Instagram here (click).
Look who made an appearance! Ekkarat Punyatara, a National Geographic photographer and a fellow Olympus Visionary! Thanks so much for coming and I appreciate your support man. We should definitely collaborate soon.
I also dropped by the Olympus Thailand HQ and caught up with some people. Amornsak is the Product Specialist for Olympus Thailand, we went for training together in Tokyo several years ago when I was still employed by Olympus Malaysia. It was great seeing him again!
I have worked closely with these two gentlemen before during my time with Olympus Malaysia. Oh how I miss the good old days! Special thanks to Mitch for having me in Thailand, I could not ask for a better way to start the year! It was also great seeing Hiro again, he was the one taking care of me and my ex-colleagues when we were in Hokkaido several years ago.
Special thanks to Olympus Thailand for organizing this event and included me as the guest speaker. I appreciate the opportunity and experience on sharing my photography to a new audience. I have had an awesome time and I enjoyed every single moment of the event. It was fun interacting with Thai participants and I only hoped we have had a chance to do a proper photowalk together on the streets, and definitely that may even happen in the future.
To all Thai participants who came and support the event, thanks so much for coming and I hope you all have had fun! Go out and have more shutter therapy please!
