Panning On A Rainy Day
Flowers In The Wet
The weather in Saigon has been absolute crap. I know, I know, I bitch about the weather on my blog a lot. But what else is a photographer supposed to bitch about? I could complain about moire and jpeg artifacts, but most of you normal people out there wouldn’t know what the hell I’m talking about.
On top of the bad weather, my life has been boring. I haven’t left town since Lao New Year, and I haven’t been shooting stuff I like. No fun. No excitement. Blah.
So, the other day it was pouring rain, and I was staring blankly at my monitor for like the 5000th hour in a row, with some drool rolling down my chin, and I decided that I didn’t care about anything else except going out and getting some FUN shots. And what could be more fun than panning in the rain?
Lao New Year Madness
Young women getting drenched with yellow-colored water
Last month I went to Luang Prabang in Laos for the Lao New Year celebrations. I was there for about one week and did lots of work. Most of it has already been posted on the Laos Photo Library, but I’m going to start posting more of my Laos stuff in galleries on this site.
This new gallery showcases the insane street celebrations that take place during Lao New Year. During the New Year festivities, Lao people traditionally wash the Buddha images housed in the local temples, and also have ceremonies where they wash their elders’ hands in a show of respect. In the modern interpretation, young people crowd onto the streets to toss water at each other, throw talcum powder in people’s faces, and smear kettle grease all over their friends. The whole thing is quite chaotic and a bit stressful for a photographer who doesn’t particularly want to get water, handfuls of white powder, or grease and soot on/in his camera.
I really wanted to capture the sense of constant movement, the streams of water flying through the air, and the general sense of friendly mayhem. In order to do this I used slow shutter speeds for much of my work, and I’m rather pleased with the results I got. I hope you enjoy this set, it’s one of my favorites!
Doorways of Vietnam
Doorways of Vietnam Gallery
Here’s a new set of photos that I took while traveling around Vietnam. A collection of doorways, windows, and other things I found on and around old houses and pagodas in Laos and Vietnam.
New Years and Doorways
A girl covered in white powder and coloring during the Lao New Year celebrations
A couple of weeks back I went to Luang Prabang in Laos for the Lao New Year celebrations. If you’ve ever heard of Songkran in Thailand, it’s really similar to that. Traditionally all the Buddha statues and furnishings would be taken out of the temples and washed by the community during ceremonies and parades. Young people would also wash their elders hands in a symbolic show of respect.
Destination: Dalat (Part 2)
A procession of people coming to pay their respects to King Hung Vuong
Saturday morning I woke up just before dawn. The bed in my hotel room was right next to the window, so why I’ll was still laying there I leaned over and pulled the curtains aside to take a peek outside. Thank God, I wasn’t disappointed in what I saw. Clear blue skies, with strands of thin, wispy clouds, illuminated bright pink in the early morning light. My friend was already getting dressed to go outside and shoot some stuff down at Xuan Huong Lake.
Destination: Dalat (Part 1)
The view from above Dalat - when the weather is nice
So, another weekend, another trip. Saturday was the anniversary of the death of King Hung Vuong in Vietnam, and it’s a public holiday here. Several years ago I took a short trip to Dalat on the same occasion, but at the time I had no clue it was a special day at all, and basically through dumb luck I stumbled upon a large festival commemorating the event at a set of 3 pagodas located on a hill above Prenn waterfall, about 10 kilometers outside of the town.
The Cao Dai Holy See
Main temple of the Cao Dai sect in Tay Ninh, Vietnam
Sunday morning, 5am… the alarm on my phone goes off. I usually have an almost uncontrollable urge to destroy my cell phone when this happens. When I was a kid I would spend summers at my grandparents’ house in Ohio. My grandfather, a navy man in his time, used to sing this song early in the morning, often before the sun came up: “Oh how I hate to get up in the morning! Oh, how I hate to get out of bed! One day I’ll find that dirty pup, the one that wakes the bugler up, and spend the rest of my days in bed”.
Rubber 101
Rubber Trees near Cambodia in Binh Phuoc Province, Vietnam
Have you ever wondered how rubber is made? No? You haven’t? Well, I never really wondered about it much either until I realized that rubber plantations look really beautiful and are a great place to take photos.
Weekend on the HCM Trail
The reservoir formed by the local hydro-elecric dam
After being back in Saigon for a couple of weeks without a single free day, it was time for a trip out of the city! I called in to work, canceled the entire weekend and Monday morning, and a good photographer friend and I decided to head out towards the northwest corner of Binh Phuoc province, along a stretch of what was once an authentic part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Hmong New Year (Part 3)
Hmong Chic
The next day of Hmong New Year was supposed to be much of the same. Another bullfight, more tennis ball tossing. More Hmong girls in traditional costumes wearing sunglasses and talking on cellphones. I’d already gotten quite a bit of nice material of both subjects, plus I was a bit hungover from the the bombshell barbecue, so I woke up a bit late. After a headachey breakfast and a couple of much-needed stiff coffees at our favorite local eatery “Craters” (two huge unexploded bombs in front for decoration) we headed over to the bullfight.