Niki Meow

As the Pattaya portion of my trip neared an end there was one final thing I was really looking forward to – a shoot with Niki Meow. Niki was someone who’d caught my eye with the spectacular work she posted on Facebook and Instagram and I was desperate to shoot with her.

Niki headed down the night before the shoot and we met up in the evening to grab some food and get to know each other a bit. Whilst we were very sensible drink wise (Niki didn’t touch a drop), the night did somehow escalate into a visit to a ‘Ping Pong’ show off Walking Street. The first and only time I think either one of us will ever see one – I’m pretty sure we’re still scarred! It was though a very fun evening and really nice to spend a bit of time with each other.

The next day Niki came over to my hotel and after a quick coffee we set to work. And it’s here that everything went wrong. I’d photographed the previous evening’s sunset on the beach without issue, yet on turning my camera on whilst Niki was getting changed I hit a problem – the camera booted straight into video mood and refused to exit. It wouldn’t even turn off. After taking the battery out multiple times I eventually resorted to the Canon forums and learned the news I feared most – the camera was totalled and would need to be sent to Canon for repair – not something I had the luxury of at that moment in time.

I think Niki found it slightly amusing – she even videoed me looking like I wanted to cry (I kind of did!). I did though have my film camera with me with still a roll and a half of black and white film left to shoot. Niki encouraged me to use that and make the most of what we had … so that’s what we did.

After shooting one set around the pool we then headed to my room to finish the roll off. The light was so good that we didn’t want to stop when the film ran out and we moved over to my mobile phone – not something I’d have ever previously considered using, but it was the only option we had. You can also find some video clip in the vlog on You Tube.

In the end and despite these challenges I was stoked at what we’d created. You can make your own mind up, but for me we’d seized victory right from the jaws of defeat …