Ronald McDonald in monochrome

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I had been in Thailand for a week soon after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej where members of the media had been asked during this period of mourning to only present images in black-in-white when I took this photo. As I'll mention in the next article "Buddhist nuns chanting sutra. Pak Chong, Thailand" I took this opportunity to re-explore my black-and-white roots.

I was heading back to Bangkok from spending a week in meditation at a monastery in Pak Chong when the bus I was on stopped for fuel and food. While I rarely ate Western food I couldn't help but to notice my Western friend in a traditional Thai pose of greeting. I could almost hear him saying "khop khun khap" the traditional Thai greeting. I snapped a photo and quickly hopped back on my bus heading to Bangkok and my flight home to Đà Nẵng.

I was surprised by the strong reactions I received from this image. Clearly presenting it in black-and-white made all the difference as it seemed to move the viewer out of the normal frame of mind into someplace different, and for a few someplace very different. While the embargo on color images has long gone I decided to leave it as it was originally processed on the ride back to Bangkok.

If I hadn't been restricted to black-and-white images I wouldn't have this photo. Challenge yourself by spending a month of only shooting black-and-white images and I think you'll be surprised with what you discover.

Image: Representation of Ronald McDonald in Monochrome. Phra Nakhon, Thailand. Fujifilm X100T. image: ©Brian Beeler
Location: Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Thailand

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