Urban Projects

As I write this on May 17th 2026, over five months into the year, am I still using the 35mm G-Master? The short answer is yes, the long answer is what the rest of this article will be about. I last worked on Discover Temples of Thailand in February, and I have been consistently working with the 35mm G-Master up to that article. This is the first time I went out with any intention of shooting since that last article. Not for DRobertsPhoto but for myself personally, in a way it fits this Gear Talk segment quite well, as if it was a parallel universe where I didn’t start Discover Temples. If you have read any of my articles on here or even over on Discover Temples, it is quite obvious that my outlook on the industry had become very jaded and photography was a casualty of that. There is a gulf between the act, the intent, and the reception. I am a logical person, so, as any logical person would do, I decided if the act and the intent were superlative, reception would simply be a by-product of that. At the end of the day this isn’t objective, there are objective metrics one can use to judge photography. Well, as my dad used to say to me: “No matter how you did during the march, the battle starts when you arrive.” That is if you didn’t trade your spine away on the way there…

I have written another article that may or may not see the light of day in this timeframe, prose only. I once had a conversation with Hugo from Fuji X Passion about how he felt regarding an article that foregoes any imagery at all. Well, if you look at Fuji X Passion now, you can see that it is closer to forgoing prose than imagery. I watched a fantastic interview by Rick Beato with Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry, Meshuggah) where he talked about a period of time where he was unable to play guitar due to injury and how relentlessly thinking about music lead to his progression with the instrument. I think there is a next-level of craftsmanship where the artist no longer needs the act of doing, and in a way the act of doing becomes a by-product of thought itself. I paraphrase but he says: “I hope my fingers can keep up with what I compose.” So, do I think myself less of a photographer for not having shot in months? Not at all, I think I could never pick up a camera again and it would not take away from who I am as photographer. What the time away has done is made me realise that I don’t shoot for anyone else but myself. This is the core of why all my partnerships eventually come to a head, I shoot for the image.

I thought hard about cropping into that above frame, and a little less hard about taking my nice new shoes through fresh mud to get closer. I landed on this composition because I wanted both trees in the image, and I didn't take this for it to be viewed as a little rectangle on a screen. I built my entire career around diaspora and juxtaposition because that’s the life I have lived. Discover Temples takes a lot of the obvious juxtaposition away, and isn’t immediately recognisable as diaspora. This image clearly is, and why Thailand is so fascinating. There wasn’t anyone at the site today, which makes me believe these are workers quarters, yet even so to see a tin shack in the same frame as this brutalist, modernist, tower is likely possible in less than a handful of countries. I'm too late to have the “before” images, and too close to both the photographers and the subject to worship those who already took them. I don’t see much value in the after photo, when the workers quarters are gone and the mud is replaced with some nice concrete steps and a waterfall. I'm obsessed with this in-between, and the ability for a place to be both at once. Thailand is not a Schrodinger's box, rather the opposite — it is both yet neither.

I think it comes down to values. I tend to value the effort, the doing of a thing. The attempt to make something from nothing, a dream into reality. I really respect that when it comes to Thailand, and the progress it attempts. Things don’t snap into focus immediately here, you need to understand the place and the peoples. I grew up in the UK and saw a country with every leg-up it could wish for, loose it all in a decade. In Thailand, It has every excuse to hide behind, yet relentlessly pushes forward. The higher I climb this mountain, the more my efforts are focused on retaining what is being lost. Yet what that has stolen from me is the reason I identify so strongly with my Thai-half. There isn’t a person here who doesn't want a 9-5 in an air-conditioned office, people will get into crippling, multi-generational debt for a new vehicle. it is very easy for a Westerner to say “just do without,” but that Westerner isn’t in the almost 40c heat with a tin slab between you and the heat. You don’t see that in two weeks on beach. I think that is something that no matter how many times I explain it, you can’t understand it unless you already understand it. I’m not trying to show the world what Thailand has or hasn't, certainly not looking for sympathy. I’m just here to document the in-between. The effort.

I’m not sure if I have “gone native” or if I have just reached my bullshit quota, but for the first time I don’t see my future tied to the photography industry. Yesterday a train crashed into a bus in Bangkok, eight confirmed dead. Has nothing to do with this article or my work, but it has affected me in some way. I deleted Instagram some time ago, and making strides towards zero social media. All I did was take my camera out and get a coffee with Dao yet somehow it felt more natural to me than anything I have done in years, since Chiang Mai in 2017 possibly. I wasn’t looking for this little corner of Udon or expecting to find it. I had no timeline in which I needed to find something that left Udon with the GIs, just an hour shooting what they decided to keep. I’m not missing my ZEISS’ nor my Fujifilm’s, I see no reason why I need more gear, or more lenses. Sony announced the α7RVI, and the only emotion it stirred in me is relief that I don’t need to spend 180,000 Baht on one.

Legal & Ethical Disclosure

Archive Record: Shot May 17th 2026 in Udon Thani, Thailand, January 2026.

Technical Basis: Presented in the pedagogical context of showcasing the Sony FE 1.4/35 G Master lens.

Operational Standards: The camera was not concealed; imagery was made in public spaces and not contested at the time of capture. No portrayal was knowingly in false light.

Non-Commercial Status: This article is not monetised. All equipment was acquired independently. This article does not constitute promotion or affiliation with Sony, Alpha, or G Master.

PDPA Compliance: If any person depicted objects to usage, the image will be removed uncontested as per Thailand's PDPA. Requests may be submitted via the Contact page.