Post-Trip Reflections: The Essence of Photography; Capturing Moments.

For our fieldwork and documentation in Chiang Mai, we wanted to investigate whether the people of Chiang Mai are aware of the nutrition labels on food products, whether current nutrition labels are easily comprehensible, and whether nutrition labels influence their buying decision. As such, we agreed to employ an inductive approach in collecting, interpreting and analysing our data. We came up with questions related to nutrition literacy spanning across various demographics, those surveyed and interviewed ranged from as young as 18 to as old as 65. In addition, we also designed a template to observe behaviours of grocery shoppers. By observing their purchasing habits and food choices, we were able to gain a better understanding of the food selection habits and the importance of nutritional labels to the people of Chiang Mai.

The language barrier posed as a big hurdle for us to overcome. As the Thai language was the main mode of communication in Thailand, coming across a local from Chiang Mai who understood the English language was rare. We knew we had to communicate in a new language while finding new, culturally appropriate strategies to seek out interactions. This led us to heavily depend on our CMU Student attached to us, Mohn, and Prof Natalie’s friend, Luk Pong, who aided us in translations during our interviews with the locals.

If someone asked me, “what were the defining moments during my trip to Chiang Mai?”, my answer would be the interaction with the locals. There is a vast difference between the people of Chiang Mai and Singaporeans, in terms of behaviours, attitudes and their general disposition. In Singapore, we are exposed to and become a part of an intense and rigorous system that emphasizes on the pursuit of academic excellence and the continuous satisfaction of materialistic desires. We seem to be caught in a wild confusion of matching expectations and comparing what you have with other people. And until we reach the point where we do achieve what we want, what comes next? We always want the next best thing. We always want more, the vicious cycle continues and it is never going to be enough. During the process, we would start to realise that all these materialistic gains do not seem to make us truly happy. But somehow, the people of Chiang Mai bear a sense of contentment with whatever they have.

I suppose that is the learning point of why students should be exposed to the cultures and norms in other countries, only then are we able to gain multiple perspectives, learn about the way they live and perhaps effect a change in our current perceptions.TOPS is able to slowly dismantle the safe structure of classroom learning in which we normally excel and replace it with an exotic reality that challenges us to maintain clear vision and take charge of our learning process in ways we have never done before. In addition, TOPS makes discovery possible, encouraging a sense of adventure and advocating a determination to seek out learning.

TOPS has no doubt been an eye-opening experience for me, and as a photographer, I hope I have, to the best of my ability, done it justice by portraying its culture through my photographs.

 

“Life is like a camera,

Focus on what is important,

Capture the good times,

Develop from the negatives.

If things don’t work out,

take another shot.”