© David Gabriel Moreno

Why we liked it: sometimes photos tell a distinct story, sometimes they let the viewer wander to create a story of his or her own. This is the feeling we experienced by watching David’s photo. What is the girl doing? Where is she? Is she at a market? Why is she taking off her elegant shoes in the street? Where was the photographer? The different answers we came up with left our imagination move from one story to another, and that is the power of this photograph and photography in general.

David, do you mind sharing with us you approach to photography?

I started doing photography about 3 years ago when I bought a dslr.  I was in art school at the time, but not for photography.  I was drawing, doing conceptual work, studying history and theory, etc.  I wasn’t really confident as an artist.  I didn’t believe in the work I was making.
I tried photography and liked the process.  Set the exposure decide where to move, where to point the camera, push the button, and avoid screwing it up.  That sounds pretty simple and it is more straightforward in ways, but I would never call it an instant art process.  Drawing and painting take a long time, so does (good) photography.  I like it because it’s a different kind of discipline.  If I draw, then I’m sitting inside all day, it drives me crazy.  It’s maddening.  If I’m in an interesting place, I can walk around all day and photograph, and much of the time that’s what it takes to make a good photograph.  And I have to accept that sometimes I don’t see anything.  Seeing takes practice and practice is necessary to make good work.
Each photograph is a deterministic product; it happens because I left my apartment when I did, went down a certain street, doubled back, stopped for a snack, changed my mind, saw something happen, and didn’t screw it up somehow.  If anything happened differently I might be down the street a quarter of a mile, which I’m sure has happened many times.  There’s no right way to do it but to go out into the world and participate.  Photography is my excuse to participate.  Moving through the world is the process; the brush strokes, the hatching of photography.
My website is: www.DavidGabrielMoreno.com but I upload to my Flickr more often.

What motivated you to participate in this competition?

I entered the competition because I happen to be in Thailand now and I’ve made a number of objectively good photographs in a short period of time.  It’s a completely new environment to me.  The population density, activity patterns, and transportation habits are all very conducive to people photography.  In most American cities, people don’t live in the city; they live in their home or their car.  It can be difficult to find anything worth seeing.

Where was this picture taken? Can you tell us something more about it?

The photograph was made recently during a parade put on by the school I teach at.  The students stayed up all night doing their makeup and fixing their costumes for the parade and performances taking place the next morning.  The town is Nong Khai, it sits right across the Mekong river from Laos.  The people there are closely tied to Laosians; they speak a Thai/Lao hybrid dialect and this girl is wearing a costume based on Laos dress.  She and other students in her group had stopped to take a rest on the sidewalk after having walked about 1.3 km.  The girls lined up the shoe pairs next to one another.  I thought I might get a subject on that spot.  The dresses of passing female students served nicely as flanking curtains to the center stage.

What are you trying to convey with your photography?

I believe empathy is very important with this kind of photography.  I don’t necessarily mean empathy for the subject in the exact situation that is taking place in front of the lens.  I mean, a sophisticated understanding of the human condition(s).  Photographs are inherently fictional.  I’m rarely ever actually trying to document truthfully any event that’s transpiring in my presence.  But I think it’s important to be aware of the emotional/symbolic/cultural/etc cues that can be read into whatever you’re framing.  These things help you construct a tight, concise(ish) photograph.  I think this is something that the best documentary photogs and photojournalists are very aware of.  I’m interested in photographing humans and conveying human sentiments.

What is the place that inspires you the most and why?

I think I am inspired by any place I don’t know; any place that’s new to me.  I always look for busy places because it is a way of finding the best possibility of something happening; but if I’m in the same place for too long, busy or not, I will become slightly bored and lose my eyes a bit.  It’s best to spend a month here and there, I think, years will make any place seem tiresome.  But to be specific, I think I feel a little whimsical about Seoul.  I didn’t get to spend much time there, but it felt alive and modern but with old memories and thorough public transit.  I would live there for a while.

Where do you want to take your photography?

In the long-term, I’m interested in doing documentary projects that are relevant to the world or at least interesting to me.  I would like to photograph things that are happening and things people don’t know are happening.  I’m also interested in teaching university after I get my MFA.  Mostly, I just want to keep living and photographing.

Fascinated by David’s view on photography? Join him by registering here and submitting your pictures! “All of Asia” ends on the 30th of December 2014.