zachary pfriem

I finally managed to scan in my negatives from my summer trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Out of four rolls (36 exp. each) I came out with ten frames that impressed me. The photo shop that I have been using ever since I started taking up photography as a hobby has finally switched from chemical printing to digital, what does this mean? It means that they have destroyed the only reason to continue shooting with Black and White film (versus digital). The reason in continuing to shoot film for my black and white compositions is that the only way you can get true greyscale to print is through the chemical process, when you print digitally it uses the CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) 4 band process, when the printer sees grey it combines the right amount of the four colors to acheive the grey tone. The end result ends up being either “cool” or “warm,” cool having a bluish tint/fringing and warm having a pinkish tint/fringing.

With this I have decided that I will begin developing my own film, and scanning my negatives. When I find a photo I think is print worthy, I will take it to one of the few B&W labs in Seattle and have it hand printed. At least until I have the space to set up my own darkroom.

With that, I bring you my 10 photos from my trip that I hold in high regard, with comments and location:

PHOTO #1

Giant demon statue in the courtyard of the Royal Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. I found this giant statue intriguing, in order to capture its grandure I used my 135mm lens from below the statue looking up.

PHOTO #2

Demon statue in the courtyard of the temple Wat U Mong (Thera Jan) on the outskirts of Chiangmai, Thailand. I was very happy to find this photo came out as well as it did, the light was very low, my shutter must have been at 1/15 of a second, still hands indeed. This photos detail makes it a good composition, in my opinion, notice the spider webs connecting the chin to the shoulder. I love the greyscale.

PHOTO #3

Corner of a prison cell at the Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This French colonial school was turned into a processing prison for all prisoners of the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of people were brutally slaughtered here. The blood stains on the floor are a constant reminder of this. I couldn’t find words while visiting this place.

PHOTO #4

Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Eerie, the only source of light in the stairwell.

PHOTO #5

Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Wider shot of the jail cell/torture room.

PHOTO #6

Looking across the moat to the Bayon Temple outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia, my favorite temple of them all, if I had to choose one.

PHOTO #7

Temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. The Khmer people had no system of measurement when they built these temples, only line of sight.

PHOTO #8

More temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Apsaras carved into a pillar.

PHOTO #9

More temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Small girl in the courtyard of Ta Prohm. She, like so many other children, was selling goods to help her family. People in Cambodia are so kind, it is completely unfair that they have to suffer so much hardship.

PHOTO #10

More temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Ta Prohm, the jungle temple. All of the temples used to look as this one until restoration started. The trees are destroying these ancient structures. This is the temple that was used in Tomb Raider, the film.