I must have passed this man by a dozen times. There was a road bridge over Vo Van Kiet street in Saigon a couple of blocks from where I used to live, and I’d walk along the street often to get coffee or a beer or simply to do some shooting in the centre of…
Category: The Story of a Photo
The Story of a Photo – Dozed Off
The route of the day was as such: Tabriz – Julfa – Meghri, the lone point of border crossing between Iran and Armenia. It posed a few challenges, as very, very few people speak English in this little-visited province of Iran called East Azerbaijan. As you can tell from the name, it’s the domain of…
The Story of a Photo – The Future Is Bright
I visited Cat Ba Island roughly a year ago, before the world as we know if changed in 2020 and travel industry went to hell. It was a routine trip from Hanoi, where I was basing myself at that time, just for a few days. Cat Ba is the largest island in Ha Long Bay…
The Story of a Photo – Mingalaba (Myanmar)
I visited Myanmar well before its recent tourist boom – in 2008, to be exact. Only a trickle of foreigners were to be seen in the then capital of Yangon, and apart from the already touristy Inle Lake, Mandalay and Bagan, the rest of the country was either devoid of visitors or actually closed to…
The Story of a Photo – Titian (China)
My trip to the Chinese province of Yunnan deserves its own post, which is forthcoming. But the main reason I wanted to visit it was the Yuanyang rice terraces, a UNESCO listed site, known locally as “titian”. Getting there wasn’t easy, but when I finally arrived, I realized I’m up for a big disappointment: the…
The Story of a Photo – Picking at the Sun (Philippines)
In travelling, and in travel photography, sometimes you encounter those “perfect” moments of light, place and atmosphere. You know, when everything kind of just feels perfectly balanced, perfectly calm, and all set for some good pictures. I felt exactly like that when I, completely by accident, “discovered” Barangay Seawall, the waterfront neighbourhood in the city…
The Story of a Photo – Three Monks (Laos)
Tham Pha, also known as Buddha Cave, is one of the few attractions around the town of Thakhek on the Mekong River in Laos. It was said to have been discovered just 15 years ago by a farmer, which is hard to believe because its access isn’t really obstructed by anything; in fact, it is…
The Story of a Photo – Bagan Sunrise (Myanmar)
As I wrote before, Bagan is one of my favourite sites in the world. Of course, I visited it when Myanmar was just opening up to tourism after years of military rule. That meant it was not yet overrun by tour groups and weekend trippers from Singapore and Hong Kong. In fact, you could have…
The Story of a Photo – Together (Nepal)
It was early – not even 6 am yet, but the streets of Kathmandu were very much alive. Food vendors were firing up their stoves, small-time merchants began to arrange their goods on the sidewalk, and in general, the people (and an odd cow) were starting to go about their business. Yes, Nepal’s capital, as…
The Story of a Photo – A Deer in the Bus Station (Sri Lanka)
The place was Trincomalee, a Tamil town in northeastern Sri Lanka. It’s got a good beach, and a small tourist cluster on it. There’s snorkelling with small sharks, and some scuba diving, and even a surprisingly authentic Italian restaurant. But I was on my way back to Colombo, and while waiting for the bus, I…