Those who enjoy photographic art may be familiar with the name and works of Ark Saroj, with his distinct style, whether it's his own or other people's photos. In addition, if anyone asks about HUDI Podcast, Ark does a section called Queer Bangkok, where famous LGBTQIA+ people come to talk about interesting lifestyles or things that the general public may not be familiar with. For example, the latest Queer Bangkok talks about Cruising culture, or what Thais call Outdoor. Is it starting to get interesting? Let's get to know Ark.
testBKK: Please introduce yourself a little bit. What's your name? What are you doing now?
Ark: Ark Saroj (34) is a video director, photographer, and scriptwriter.
testBKK: What are you impressed with and proud of in your career?
Ark: I am glad to be able to do what I love. I had to go through family disapproval when I studied art, and now I am working in my current field from a new learning curve. I still remember when I started writing scripts, I read books and did it myself, without taking any classes. When I started taking photos, I watched YouTube. When I was studying film, I failed the cinematography subject. Lol.
testBKK: Compare the past and present with what you dreamed of when you were a child. Are they the same?
Ark: The things you dreamed of are very similar. When I was a child, I liked to fight over my sister's Barbie to play with. But we didn't play dress-up. We played roles. We played every character, male, female, little boy. We made our own scenes and set the lighting. And we liked taking pictures with an auto camera since we were a child. Now we can follow our dreams. Luckily, in this era, we have the internet. It's easy to learn, easy to reach others, and we're not monopolized by the old system. I can say that I took a big step in my career in 2013-14 when I started working seriously in this field and was able to earn money to support myself.
testBKK: If you were to choose a country to live or work in, which country would you want to go to pursue your passion (favorite country) and why?
Ark: For photography, I want to go to America (New York) because we will meet people who are similar to us, surrounding us. Artists and photographers in America live in a very social community, collaborating with each other, and people there are really interested in photography and really collect it.
For directing, I want to go to Paris. French producers are considered a group that is quite open to presenting their work, our work is in that direction, a bit artistic. Finally, the French film and art industry is quite progressive and a close-knit society, but maybe not as much as the photographers in America.
Interview by Bright like a diamond
