Your latest exhibition deals with the misled youth roaming around Bangkok's streets. Why did you choose to focus on these kids?
I feel like street kids are viewed as ghosts socially. No one can see them, like air. Like stars, if you lose one, nobody cares. But their youth is very pure and very alive. The kids in YOUTH are dangerous, but I want to make them look fun. I don't want to make people feel pity. I am interested in their smile, rather than how poor they are. They have a hard life, but they still have a smile. They have fashion and style. They do their hair and they have hormones. Youth is fun.

What kind of gear did you use for the YOUTH Exhibition?
A FujiFilm camera I got in Japan for 1000 baht and some expired film.

Why such low grade equipment?
I wanted to link it with [my subjects' lives]. They don't know death. They don't know time. Time and death don't matter. In their lives, everything isn't perfect, so I don't want to use perfect equipment.

The expired film gave the photos a very ghostly, enchanted feel. Did you plan on this? Did you retouch anything?
All of my photos and the ones in YOUTH are analogue and never retouched. I think they way the photos turned out is charming. But it was all by chance. I never think, “today, I want to shoot this.” I just bring my camera with me everyday and see what comes of it. I don't know the effect of the camera. I follow the idea and make it happen.

Your unorthodox style has created some very original photos. What is your technique?
My technique is less about photo skill, and more about communicating with people to share something with me. I want to find ways to open my subject's hearts. The essence of a photo is something I put on film. That's what a photo is. It's not about quality. Quality doesn't mean photo. If you can print it, see it and feel something, that's a photo.

Your subjects are dangerous people in dangerous places. Has anything ever happened to you?
Thailand has a poem, “If you want a tiger kid, you should go to tiger mountain.” If you want to document violence, then go to the ghettos. Two years ago I was taking photos of motorcycle taxi guys. I couldn't say I was a photographer because I was undercover. Somebody saw my flash and hit me on the head and I was knocked out.

How would you describe your art?
I never say I'm an artist. I'm a photographer. I follow ideas. I don't follow the camera. I can use any camera to make a photo. My background in fashion and my fashion sense makes my photos different than other journal photographer's. After that, I just have fun meeting strangers on the street.

Is your work political?
My work is political. Photography is how I make my point. I think all violence comes from politics in some way. Politicians never make people think about education. Education is very important, especially for these kids. They're always like “make money, make money,” but money comes from education too.

When did you realize that you wanted to be a documentary photographer?
During my Bachelor's degree, I focused on being a fashion photographer right up until my exit thesis. I changed my thesis last minute to documenting what I knew best: my hometown, Bangkok.

What was your upbringing like?
My family wasn't rich, but they gave me good advice. It was hard going to University. I couldn't go out with my friends because I never had money. That's why I didn't start smoking and drinking. I think I'm lucky.

YOUTH is on display from Jun 4-26 at BKK Arthouse, 3/F, BACC.