Twenty years later and Kraipit Phanvut is still the man to see when you've got an international team assembling a massive photographic tribute to Thailand.

Kraipit, 57, is co-chief photographer for "Thailand: 9 Days in the Kingdom", a coffee-table book for which pictures have just been taken that will be published for His Majesty the King's 80th birthday next December.

In 1987 Kraipit was at the centre of the photographers' whirlwind that produced "7 Days in the Kingdom" to celebrate His Majesty's 60th birthday. That book, translated into French, English, Italian and Japanese, sold more than 100,000 copies around the world.

"Apart from shooting pictures for the book, I and Robert McLeod have been helping the rest of the team of 55 photographers from 19 countries over the nine days of shooting," Kraipit says.

Kraipit worked with the UPI press agency in Bangkok for three decades, his images appearing in top publications around the globe. He now runs a photo studio and art gallery in Bangkok.

But he's best known as one of the main photographers who travel with the royal family, something he's done for 28 years.

"Even though I've been doing it for so long, I still have to carry an ID card as an official photographer to accompany the royal family, due to security concerns," Kraipit says.

"It's funny sometimes. I recently showed my card to an official at the Public Relations Department - it was issued in 1977, before he was even born."

He has had, needless to say, many unforgettable experiences as a photojournalist.

"I was the first photographer to go to Burma to take pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi. That was an assignment from the New York Times 18 years ago.

"I still remember leaving her house to head back to the airport. I saw many photographers waiting outside. My job was done - I just waved to them from the back of my

motorcycle.

"I was once shot just behind the left ear and through the neck. That was at Thammasat University on October 6, 1976 [during the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators]. Another time I was injured by bomb shrapnel."

Kraipit's last assignment - the bloody uprising of Black May 1992 - prompted him to quit the news business.

"I saw horrible things that haunted me for a long time, and I told myself that I'd prefer not to shoot news photos anymore."

He opened his studio and concentrated on photographing the royal family. He has twice held exhibitions of his work and donated almost Bt9 million from the proceeds to the King's projects.

"It's my way of serving the country through my profession," he says.

Kraipit got a head start on the "9 Days" book when he learned that Her Majesty the Queen was going to visit the flood-stricken citizens of Angthong province on December 29.

He also photographed Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn when she opened an exhibition at the National Gallery and later attended a reunion at Chulalongkorn University.

Kraipit was there too when His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn opened an animal hospital at Kasetsart University on January 9.

"I got many good pictures of the Queen with the Angthong villagers - 30 to 40 good shots in different compositions - as well as of the Crown Prince and the Princess.

"I'm dying to take pictures of His Majesty now, but the opportunities are very rare, and if I don't have the chance to get new pictures this time I may have to use stock pictures from his 60th-anniversary celebrations last June."

The few weeks Kraipit has just spent photographing the royal family obviously goes beyond the "nine days" of the planned book's title, but he wants to adhere to the royal schedule as much as he can.

"First I have to choose the pictures - probably 40 pictures for each member of the royal family - and the book's editors will select the best of them and publish only two," he explains, adding that the royal family will be featured in the first chapter of the book.

All photos have to be submitted to the editorial team by early next month.

Kraipit next plans to accompany HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to Narathiwat province, which the Crown Prince is due to visit right after her. It's important to him to capture the scene in every part of the Kingdom.

 "My intention is to represent all the beautiful aspects of our country, and the fact that we have a beloved King and royal family, which is unique in the world."

Vipasai Niyamabha

The Nation