Festival at Democracy Monument

New Year's Eve Festival at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand Backyards

The Poopensie Family has been looking after Mr. Dean, a friend of Jerry's. This house is located in Samutsakorn, Thailand.

40 minutes in Ko Samet, Thailand, 1986. (A different location than the one above, but a nice pairing.)

In Pagan, Burma, 1981

Girl Scouts at Water Lottery, Pagan, Burma 1981

Boys Festival in Pagan, Burma, 1981

Jerry Burchard took a trip to Pagan, Burma in 1981, and found some children celebrations to photograph.

Found Photos by Jerry Burchard

1981 image from Jerry's erotic color series.

Jerry Burchard called the series "Asian Studies."

Goulimine Portraits

One of the guys Jerry met in Goulimine, Morocco in the early 70's.

Italian Circus

When Jerry Burchard was stationed in Italy during 1953-54 as a Navy Photographer, he attended a circus and took photos with a borrowed 35mm camera. During that time Jerry was using mostly 4x5.
Years later Jerry stumbled across these little over-exposed grainy negatives, printed them up, and they were part of the bases of a new way of thinking about photography for him. These are probably his first 35mm images.

Jerry mentioned that "the Navy Jazz musicians friends took me to a circus. They took me to hear the clowns. They told me that the clowns were the best musicians they had ever heard. And they were right."

Jerry Burchard in The 70's.

Portraits of Jerry back in the 70's and 80's, shot by his students.

A Rain Story from Bangkok

.... I came to the Dunk it Donut, whose shop was full of happy teenage Thai boys crowded up against the front windows, and they were waving their arms and cheering with gusto.
Well, I was hungry anyhow, and after my own intrepid journey, I was ready for a hot drink, so I stepped inside the raucous scene, ordered a raspberry jelly donut and a coffee and settled in.

Just outside the shop was a high curb of about twenty inches, which was supposed to keep the sidewalks high and dry from street level, but now was covered itself with a few inches of water.
At this point, all the young women were pausing, and to keep as dry as possible, were raising their skirts before taking the plunge to step down into two feet or water and cross the small alleyway exiting from the center of the mall.

Each time a girl appeared there was high suspense, and then when the dress came up, the boys would go crazy cheering while she would blushingly cross the watery gauntlet, skirts held above the waves, trying to ignore the adolescent raspberries from inside. Ah, Bangkok.

Even the monsoons bring joy and relief. Even the floods renew our love for life. If you really must have a new karma, put on a sarong and hastily change everything underneath. Or let it rain on you.

Jerry Burchard
(Stories from Thailand, 20 years ago.)