For quite some time tomboys had been coming to my studio for portraits. At some point I decide to reach out more proactively to the Bangkok lesbian community - and the response was, in a word, overwhelming.

It was a fun collaboration with each subject. Everyone seemed to be quite comfortable being their unique self as a tomboy - maybe that meant a more feminine or cute sort of style, and others were quite masculine and could early pass as men. Other than some basic technical aspects my direction to each of the subjects was simply "be yourself". I'll let the photos, and the words of each person speak for themselves.

In this project my goal wasn't to shoot them like a man, or like a woman. I just want to present them as they are, or as the appeared to me that day. This experience has helped me with all my portraits, including cis women and men - to accept them and the unique self they bring before my camera. 

Tomboy Bangkok was shot in the spring of 2018 with over 65 different tomboys coming to Studio Soi Six for a portrait sitting - see photos of all participants.

Derek Brown
Studio Soi Six
Bangkok, Thailand