Fried egg! Alligator! Broccoli! Photographer startles subway riders by shouting at them and captures their puzzled reactions on film

When a photographer riding a subway in Thailand noticed that everyone around him was deeply immersed in their smartphones, he decided to do something to get their attention.

Benz Thanachart, a Thai filmmaker and photographer, shouted a single word into the quiet subway car and photographed the moment that the commuters reacted to the stunt.



All of them looked up from their phones and stared at him -- some appearing shocked and bewildered, while others appeared thoroughly annoyed.

Broccoli! Benz Thanachart, a Thai filmmaker and photographer, shouted a single word into a quiet subway car and captured the moment that commuters reacted to him

'Alligator!' Thanachart said he pulled the stunt because he noticed that everyone was so deeply immersed in their smartphones

'It was the moment when everyone was coming out of their small worlds and noticing the presence of public space,' Thanachart wrote on his website . The words that he shouted include 'fried egg,' 'alligator,' 'cappuccino,' and 'broccoli.' More of his pictures are available on his Facebook page.

Thanachart came up with the idea for the stunt after he lived in New York City for a year and then returned to Thailand, where he noticed that smartphones had become far more widespread in his absence.



'Omelette!' Thanachart described the photos as 'the moment when everyone was coming out of their small worlds and noticing the presence of public space'

'Fried egg!' Thanachart came up with the idea for the stunt after he returned to Thailand from living in New York for a year and noticed that smartphones had become far more prevalent in his absence

'Mushroom!'' When Thanachart saw everyone on their smartphones in Thailand, he said he felt estranged from his own home town

'On the public transportation, they were always obsessed with the little personal space on their hand,' Thanachart said. 'Everybody was looking down and cut off from the outside world.



'At that time although I was... in my hometown, a feeling of unfamiliarity gradually emerged.'

That's when Thanachart decided to do something 'to express that disoriented emotion.

'I got into the subway, shouted out a random word completely unrelated to the situation and then captured that moment,' he said.



'Kafka!' Thanachart chose random words to shout that were completely unrelated to the situation

'Cappuccino!' Thanachart is a filmmaker and photographer in Thailand



