I once heard a very good piece of advice about portrait photography: include the hands because they are so expressive, interesting and full of character in themselves.
This little collection of street photographs from Thailand perhaps helps to make the point by not actually including the subjects' faces at all. It wasn't particularly my aim at the time, I was just drawn to how the hands and arms looked. But it strikes me that there is still so much to read into photographs like these even with the focus purely on the limbs. Their age, something about their character or mood, and the relationship with those beside them.
I don't remember anything about the people from when I took these photographs along Chiang Mai's weekly Walking Street in northern Thailand. So, my comments underneath each picture are one possible interpretation, which might be wild speculation that's way off the mark and trying to read far too much into it... please feel free to disagree with me!
An elderly woman holding on to her son's arm for stability. It's almost as if he is supporting her passively and she is perhaps a little anxious at the chance of him drifting away. It could also be that she has only just started wearing roller-skates and feels a little unsteady.
Very close young female friends dependent on each other's friendship and mildly anxious about being in a crowded place.
Superman's mother.
Hand-wringing? Or more likely a working man in relaxed mode on holiday with no targets or goals other than strolling through a pleasant market. His hands are behind his back as a self-restraint because there are too many people around for him to walk at his normal fast, arm-swinging pace. A long-armed, tall man trying not to accidentally hit all the shorter people around him.
A woman with her aging mother. The daughter has her hand underneath and is gripping the elder woman's hand in a way to provide physical support and thereby emotional support.
A loose-limbed teenage girl being expressive with a friend in a jokey exaggerated way.
Batman's mother.
