En Detail

Now I think it depends on what are you searching for.

In general, I always compared this market with a "Kinder Surprise" egg that I never opened, but the excitement was always dragging me back, so I ended up going back almost every weekend.

I was never interested in the society that was moving there, until lately when street photography started to become a point of interest in, let's say, my photographic endeavor.

When I first took my camera with me, I was astonished about the new perspective that this place had to offer, because suddenly I started to change my focus from objects to humans. The world was very colorful.

My first visits as a wannabe photographer, made my ego explode, I felt really special in that place, in a way, I felt like a scientist who just discovered a new specimen, but who always wanted to maintain a certain control over his new "pet".

Fortunately, I got over this phase pretty quickly and I started to blend in with the crowd, a very colorful one as I already said. The majority of people who were selling their goods, let's say 65%, according to my estimation are poor people who are collecting all kinds of stuff from Western countries, stuff that people there throw away. Usually, they don't really look at what they gather, and when they do, they don't know the value of the goods, that is the reason that sometimes you may find the "golden fish" through their new belongings.

The other 35% are merchants, who scanned the people that are visiting this place and understood rapidly that there is also a demand for expensive things like: old furniture, antique stuff, and branded clothes ( on many occasions made in China with famous brands on them). Anyway, there is everything for everyone, you just have to know exactly what you are looking for and have to be armed with a lot of patience.

The most interesting thing, is that this place has a unique characteristic: it breaks the inner borders of society that are built carefully in our minds, making all those who cross its edges equal.

This is an ongoing project that I will continue to update.