Silhouettes
I came across these images as I was looking through an old external drive for something – for some reason I had not noticed them before. Perhaps they now caught my eye because I am just in more of a silhouette mood lately. The photographs are from June 2011 of ladies working in the salt [...]
Back into it…
Time for me to get back into it photographically! On the weekend will be heading off to Australia for two weeks, and I will be spending one week as a participant in an intensive photography workshop being given by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey. The workshop is part of Sydney’s annual Head On Photo Festival, [...]
Just a Girl
This photograph is one from the vault, from June 2011 – a teenage girl wearing her traditional costume as she looked out a doorway near the remote mountain pass known as ‘Heaven’s Gate’, on the journey from Ha Giang city to Dong Van in Northern Vietnam. While she may appear very ‘traditional’ at first glance, [...]
The Fan
Another quickie from my recent trip to New York, taken at Madison Square Garden during an exciting game between the Knicks and the Nets. I had taken my camera along to the game, just in case, however our seats were too far from the court to take any photographs with the only lens I had [...]
Winter Sun
A quick image from my visit to New York last month of a couple strolling nearby Times Square in the winter sunlight. Apart from the fact that it was unseasonably warm and sunny, I was paticularly loving the directional light and the long intense shadows that day. We don’t seem to get it as much [...]
Chasing Dragons
We are already one month into the Year of the Dragon, so I am a bit late with my Lunar New Year post this year. Although I worked right through the Tet period, I did make an afternoon excursion with a colleague over to Cholon (Chinatown) District one afternoon to try to photograph some of [...]
Taking a Break
It has been 5 months since I have posted anything to this site – I really should be ashamed of myself! The start of my absence from posting coincides with the start of the high season for tourists here which began on 1 October, and so it has been the busiest period of the year [...]
Under the Umbrella
Finally getting a chance to process some of my shots from the past month or so, now that I have returned to Saigon and my desktop computer is back in working order once again… thank goodness! This photograph is from my visit to Lao Cai Province last month – a Flower H’mong lady at Pha Long [...]
Pha Long Market
Just a very quick post before heading off to Shanghai tomorrow. This spontaneous portrait was made on my recent trip to Lao Cai Province in Northern Vietnam, of a Flower H’mong teenage girl in the clothing ‘section’ at Pha Long market. During this latest trip I visited Pha Long, Bac Ha and Coc Ly markets. I did find Pha Long [...]
Shooting The Law
Another image from Hoi An taken earlier this month, of a very young ‘law official’ in his booth taken in the countryside outside Hoi An town. Seems in every town, suburb and village throughout this country they have ‘law posts’, with officers inside. I am always so tempted to try to photograph inside them too - especially [...]
The Fisherman
I’ll be heading off to Hoi An in Central Vietnam again tomorrow evening for the weekend, so I thought I’d post another image from my most recent visit there a couple of weeks ago. This photograph is of a fisherman on the Thu Bon River just outside Hoi An, casting his fishing net from a small boat. I do like the view [...]
Just a Boy
Well my desktop computer hard drive has crashed and is now away for repairs which has slowed down my processing workflow. In the meantime while trying not to panic, I just thought I’d quickly share another image that I am quite pleased with from my visit last month to Siem Reap, Cambodia. This photograph is of a young student fighter watching the [...]
Fun with Friends
This photograph is very different to the ‘normal’ images that I post, and in fact quite different to the photos that I typically tend to take. While I usually take my camera and spend as much time as possible photographing on my travels, I rarely if ever take my camera along or photograph nights out or ‘just’ the fun times with friends or [...]
Reviving Bokator
My visit to Siem Reap a couple of weeks ago coincided with a special event - the historic first International Bokator tournament, which was held in an elephant corral located in the Angkor archeaological area and featured bouts between French and Cambodian fighters. So what is Bokator? Well, to tell the truth I had not ever heard of it before, and so had to revert [...]
Salt Fields of Nha Trang
About one hour drive (approx. 45 kilometres I believe) north of the popular beach destination of Nha Trang is a place that I have wanted to photograph for what seems to have been the longest time – the Hon Khoi Salt Fields at Khanh Hoa. I first became aware of the these salt fields over [...]
Ha Giang Highlights
As I mentioned in my earlier Postcard entry, Ha Giang Province in Northern Vietnam is a truly amazing destination for the more adventurous traveller or for photographers looking to get ‘off the beaten track’ and away from the mass tourism feel and the development of many of Vietnam’s more visited places. So, what were my highlights and what [...]
On the Joys of Editing
“Genius is in the editing” ~ Charlie Chaplin Last Sunday I was hunkered down at home editing the images in my galleries. Well to be honest I somehow managed to pass the whole day considering my images, puzzling over them, and procrastinating about editing them. By the end of the day the exact same photographs were still in all my galleries - nothing had [...]
The Makeover
My website has been undergoing a much needed makeover this week. I had been using the Graph Paper Press ‘Widescreen’ theme, and while I loved the look of that particular theme on other websites, I was never pleased or even comfortable with it on my own site, so much so that only a couple of close [...]
Neglect
I just realised that I’ve neglected to post anything on my website lately, but for some reason am struggling for motivation and inspiration…perhaps a case of writer’s block coupled with the fact that I haven’t been out shooting much this month. I am planning some cool photographic trips within Vietnam for next month though - to Ha Giang province, Cao [...]
Out of my Element
Since returning to the world of photography in 2009, I had only been photographing in Asia which is where I live. Although I have made a few visits to ‘the west’ during this time, they have been either for work or family visits, and I regrettably travelled sans camera. So I was a little apprehensive but also [...]
Old Habits Die Hard…
Often the photographs I make are closely cropped portraits. These are very often taken in a doorway or window or under some sort of shade with the sun behind me, using a relatively short focal length lens. I’ve found this eliminates distractions and unwanted elements in the frame as well as the need to deal with harsh light and [...]
Earth Hour 2011
The event known as ‘Earth Hour’ will be happening a little later this evening. I had planned to head out and see if there’s any Earth Hour activities to photograph here but after a day exploring the mountains in an open jeep I am tucked up in my hotel room in Hoi An trying hard to get warm and dry [...]
Horizontally Challenged
In a couple of weeks I will be visiting Hoi An in Central Vietnam again, and so yesterday I was browsing through my image library at some shots from previous visits, trying to analyse what had worked well in the past, what hadn’t, what places will be worthwhile returning to photograph again, and what areas I could [...]
The Early Bird
My friends and family are all well aware that I am not what is usually described as a ‘morning person’, although I have defnitely improved in this regard in recent years! There are some incredibly special things in Indochina however that I will always manage to drag myself out of bed at dawn for, no matter how many times I have seen [...]
