as we waved goodbye to her, and her grandchildren dressed in Western clothes, I came away hoping that in some small way, the photos I’d taken that day had helped more in the preservation of their precious culture than in contributing to its demise.
Archive for September 2014
Bit more exciting than a bowl of cornflakes!
It seemed an unlikely place to be going for breakfast, as Cho lead us into a little low building with […]
On the trail of the little black dot.
Pinned to the wall of a home stay I’d been at last year in N.W.Thailand, was a torn handwritten map on a scrap of paper marking out where some of the local settlements were. It was a bit like Christopher Robin’s map of Hundred Acre Wood, and on it were little black dots on wiggly lines indicating where the various ethnic minority people lived.
Camera Mooching
Mooching around with just my camera for company is one of my favourite distractions, and wandering about looking for the […]
Champion Jim
It’s not just the ploughing with horses that make you think you’ve stepped back in time, but the refreshing experience of being out in the fresh air, not a screen in sight, with a man who works the soil, relates to his animals, and still makes time to sit on his plough with a twinkle in his eye and tell a good old shaggy dog story.
Remembering we’re not ornithologists.
We have to stay sensitive to our impact both on our subject and the ground we lay for future passing tourists/photographers, and try to keep the interaction a positive one for both. Ultimately I think it will make for a better travel experience and better photos too, and done unthoughtfully we risk ‘killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Beyond Words
By the time I reached the Black Lahu village in a mountainous area of N.W Thailand I was a bit ‘languaged out’. This was unfortunate timing, as soon after arriving in the village I noticed the lady living in the house opposite my homestay, who had a sparkly twinkle in her eyes and a face full of character. I knew straight away I wanted to meet her.
Shifting Sands in Coc Ly
‘Visiting a local Hmong market in rural N.Vietnam, I discovered that the changes it had gone through recently in some ways symbolised the struggle faced by many of the ethnic minority people in Asia today.’
Rich Indeed
It was a really exciting experience if a little daunting. There was a sea of bright colours and frenetic activity, and although I’ve visited many traditional markets before, this one felt a bit scary.
Singing In The Lifeboats 