It’s always a little bit difficult trying to shoot a celebrity here in Thailand. There’s certainly an abundance of talented photographers scattered throughout Bangkok ready to capture anyone remotely famous. But this time, I was lucky to shoot Miss Nok Usanee or Usanee Wattana if you wanted to be more formal (อุษณีย์ วัฒฐานะ). The young lady happens to be the long-time girlfriend of my ex-business partner – I’ll give you a moment to try and link that all together.
A little background on Nok
In case you didn’t know, she is a Thai soap opera actress here in Thailand and has been in the business for nearly 15 years. Starting out on Channel 3, but then hopping back and forth to Channel 8 as well. It’s also pretty cool that she actually has an IMDB page – you know who else has one? Angelina Jolie. Yeah I’m nearly famous. Last I checked, she had nearly a quarter million followers on Instagram. No pressure to take the most impressive photographs at all! Hah.
So anyway, I casually reached out to my buddy about shooting him and his gal. He happens to own a Mexican restaurant called El Diablo’s down the road from where I live. I used to go there all the time as they clearly have the best chips in town and who would say no when a friend from another part of town comes to your hood and expects some tacos? The margaritas were also on point and there’s definitely been numerous nights of excessive alcohol consumption by this Bangkok photographer.
The actual shoot
I asked to meet them around 10am at the Saphan Thaksin Pier during the week because there would be less people and also because I wake up late. Not lazy I swear, just sleep late. Haha.
It was a very fun shoot as the chemistry between them was very good. They were very playful and, as you would expect, not camera-shy at all. It’s essentially a photographer’s dream to shoot such a photogenic couple as these two.
We wandered around the area popping into Chinese temples, Buddhist temples and even hotel verandas to do some quick snaps. The point was to capture them in candid moments. Some posing was of course required, but I think they picked up on the idea very quick.
All in all, we were all very pleased with how the photos turned out. It definitely showed an authentic loving couple who were just having a good time sharing moments with each other. I’m personally also extremely happy to have been able to photograph Nok Usanee (who happens to be a FHM model) in a more natural setting.
Content creator that focuses on high caliber photography and videos. Specializes in lifestyle, portrait, headshot and holiday photography. Tom has shot exclusively for Tourism Authority of Thailand and regional brands such as Heineken Asia, Avani Hotel and Genting Highlands Resorts. No client is too big or too small. He has a background in hospitality and looks forward to meeting new people from all around the world. Fluent in English and Thai.