Isabel Corthier | Believers : Myanmar

Photo © Isabel Corthier | All Rights Reserved

It's not often that I stumble over a truly wonderful photographic website, and when it happens, I pore over its images very carefully...as long as it takes and relish the opportunity to share it on this blog.

The work of Isabel Corthier is worth poring over; especially that one its themes "Believers" happens to be one that has attracted me for quite a while during my own photographic journey.

For "Believers", Ms Corthier focuses her lens on Ecuador, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nepal and Myanmar. In the latter, her protagonist is a Buddhist nun called
Ayethikar, who at 21 years was sent to the Agayar Tawya nunnery in Yangon because she was sickly.

A few years later, she contracted Hepatitis C after being treated for dental issues. However, Ayethikar accepts her disease with Buddhist acceptance and equanimity.

The nunnery houses 30 nuns; one of which is 7 years old. The nuns arise from sleep at 4:00 am to start their meditation and for their housework.

Temples and monasteries are an integral part of life in Myanmar. It is estimated that they accommodate about half a million males, who are either vocational monks or novices, and around 50,000 nuns. Roughly-speaking, one percent of the population lives in one of the country's monastery or nunnery, completely dependent on the laity for all their material needs.

Ms Corthier's humanitarian work is prolific; her websites galleries include Refugees, Ex-Child Soldiers, Patients, Workers, Daily Life, Survivors and Believers.

Isabel Corthier is a freelance documentary photographer who works internationally for humanitarian organizations. Her work has been used for fundraising campaigns and communications for NGO’s such as Caritas, Trias, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors without Borders), Vredeseilanden (VECO), Louvain Coopération, Ondernemers voor Ondernemers, Solid International and more…

Ms Corthier's work has been exhibited in China (Lishui, Pingyao), India (Calcutta), France (Barrobjectif), and Belgium, and some of her pictures have won awards. In 2014 she received the EP European Photographer certificate.

Since 2015 she has worked as a Fujifilm X-Ambassador for Fujifilm Belgium.

Lee Cohen | A Three Hour Tour

A Three Hour Tour by Lee Cohen on Exposure
The Circular Railway is a local commuter rail network that serves the Yangon (previously known as Rangoon) metropolitan area. It extends over 28 miles, and serves 39 stations in a loop system.

The railway has about 200 coaches, runs 20 times and is said to sell 100,000 to 150,000 tickets daily. The loop, which takes about three hours to complete is heavily utilized by lower-income commuters, as it is (along with buses) the cheapest method of transportation in Yangon. It is also a way to see many areas of Yangon.

It runs daily from 3:45 am to 10:15 pm, and the  cost of a ticket for a distance of 15 miles is about $ 0.18, and for over 15 miles is $ 0.37. These prices are for the locals. The cost for a one-way tocket for non_burmese is $ 1.00.

The circular train stops at each and every station for only a minute or two, forcing passengers to quickly clamber on board, with all sorts of luggage and belongings. It returns back to Yangon’s city station before making the same journey over and over again (about 20 times) throughout the day.

The young boy seen on the cover of the Exposure gallery (above) has his face smothered with thanaka; a cream made by ground bark, and used by the Burmese  for over 2000 years. It is known for giving a cooling sensation, and for providing protection from sunburn.

Lee Cohen has taken the Circular Railway and narrates his experience. He also does not recommend tourists buy the more expensive air-conditioned train/cars, which the locals do not ride. The worthwhile experience is to rub shoulders and interact with the locals who ride the cheaper cars.

Lee Cohen has been working on educational issues around the world for the past ten years. he has a background in policy, monitoring and evaluation, creative and non-fiction writing, and documentary photography.

NEOCHA | The Puppets of Myanmar

Photo © Chan Qu | Courtesy NEOCHA 

The string puppets of Myanmar (previously known as Burma) are called Yoke Thé ( meaning "miniatures"). It originated from royal patronage and were gradually adapted for the wider populace.

The puppets or marionettes are intricately made, and require considerable dexterity as they are "controlled" by 18 or 19 wires for male and female characters respectively, especially as each puppet can only be controlled by only one puppeteer.

It is thought that Burmese marionettes originated around 1780 and were introduced to the courts of the time by a Minister of Royal Entertainment, U Thaw. Little has changed since the creation of the art, and puppet characters are still used today. However, the art went into decline during the colonization of Upper Burma by the British in November 1885 following the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

It is said that because the puppets were mere wooden dolls, their ‘speech’, although voiced by humans, was allowed more freedom during the various reigns of monarchs, and even during the more recent periods. It is curious that all thorough Myanmar's history, the puppets were the only ones who enjoyed some freedom of speech. 

Interestingly, as puppet troupes traveled from village to village in the olden days that had no newspapers or radio, their shows brought news of the capital and other larger towns through the puppets' songs and stories to villagers. Puppet shows were also used to express discontent with the rulers, but cloaked by the voices of the puppets.

A typical Burmese puppet troupe has 27 character figures. These puppets are carved, polished, sanded and painted, before being dressed in hand-stitched costumes; the entire process requires around twenty days of production from start to finish.

You can read more about this art form on NEOCHA.

View this short movie till its end...the agility of the puppeteers is breathtaking.

NEOCHA was stablished in 2006 by a group of Shanghai-based musicians, visual artists, programmers, and entrepreneurs, and has grown to become an award-winning company dedicated to celebrating culture and creativity in Asia.

Its online magazine tells stories by and of these creators, and shares them with a global audience on a new multilingual platform that showcases and celebrates Asia’s burgeoning creative class.

Mattia Passarini | Inked Faces

Photo © Mattia Passarini - All Rights Reserved

The word tattoo is derived from the Tahitian "tatu" which means "to mark something." It is claimed that tattooing has existed since 12,000 years BC, and its purpose has varied from culture to culture and from era to era.

The recent tattoo popularity in the Western world most probably has its origins in Egypt during the time of the construction of the great pyramids. When the Egyptians expanded their empire, the art of tattooing spread as well. The civilizations of Crete, Greece, Persia, and Arabia picked up and expanded the art form, and China joined in around 2000 BC.* 

Inked Faces by Mattia Passarini is a gallery featuring various tribal individuals sporting intricate tattoos. I found the most extreme to be the Ramnami of Chhattisgarh who tattoo the word "Ram" on their whole bodies. Also included are the Konya, the Khonds, the Baga, the Apatani; all from the far reaches of India. The Chin of Burma, the Li and Doling of China, and the Lawae of Laos are also represented. 

Mattia Passarini is an award-winning freelance photographer based in China since 2006. He is focused in photographing the remote corners of the globe and the cultures that inhabit them. His passion in capturing disappearing cultures, ancient rituals, and everyday life leads him to travel to the most neglected countryside areas. In recent years he focused his research on their varieties, locations, habits and especially on their visible distinguishing features, which they express through face tattoo and body modifications. His photographs are exhibited in museums, galleries, and photography festivals around the world.

* This website has a thorough history of tattoos.

Nhi Dang | Dreams Of Myanmar

Myanmar, or Burma (as I occasionally prefer to call it) is a wonderful country which I had the pleasure of traveling in some time before its recent "modernization". Its people consist of a mix of settlers and invaders from all sides; the Mon and the Pyu are thought to have come from India, while the now dominant Bamar migrated through Tibet, and by the year 849, had founded a powerful kingdom centered in Bagan. 

For the next millennium, the Burmese empire grew through conquests in Thailand and in India, then shrank under attacks from China and due to internal rebellions.

Photo © Nhi Dang-All Rights Reserved

I am often on the look out for young talented travel photographers to feature on this blog, and, because of my own background, I'm especially partial to those who left the "comfort" of a corporate career for a life of creativity, travel and cultural affinity.

My current feature is about such an individual; Nhi Dang who describes herself as a videographer, photographer, traveler, nomad, and as a food video blogger. Living in Hanoi, she graduated from university with a degree in economics, but -as she puts it- "oppressed with office work", she quit her career and restarted her life-journey working in graphics and video editing.

Based in Ho Chi Minh City, she traveled to Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Ladakh, Cambodia, and naturally her native Vietnam. Not content to narrow her work to travel photography, she also produced a number of videos, including fashion and commercial trailers.

Her videos can be viewed at her Vimeo page.

Trupal Pandya | The Last Headhunters

Photo © Trupal Pandya - All Rights Reserved

The Konyaks are found in Myanmar, in a couple of districts of India's Arunachal and Nagaland, India. They are known in Arunachal as Wancho Konyak. In Nagaland, there are sixteen major indigenous tribes with different cultures and traditions. The most fascinating of these tribes are the Konyaks; the largest in number, identifiable by their tattooed faces and a history of fierce headhunting. Headhunting was important place in the Konyaks' tradition and culture.

For the Konyak, killing an enemy and bringing back the head used to be considered a rite​​ of passage, and was rewarded with a tattoo on the face or chest of the warrior. The more tattoos the fiercer (and more respected and feared) was the warrior.

During the 1970's, the Konyaks converted to Christianity and consequently many ​traditional practices and rituals have vanished. What now remains are​ ​a few old men with faded tattoos.These men are idling about certain villages, smoking opium​ and sharing stories about their glorious past.

The Last Headhunters is a series fascinating portraits of the Konyaks by Indian photographer Trupal Pandya.

Trupal has a bachelor’s degree in photography from the Fashion Institute of Technology (NYC), and started his photography a few years ago.  He participated in the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2014 and interned with Steve McCurry. His work was published in CNN, Huffington post and National Geographic Magazine and he has been on an assignment with the United Nations to Iraq to photograph the refugee camps.

His portfolio includes pictures of the tribes of Omo Valley in Ethiopia, Huaorani people of the Amazon Rainforest, Headhunters, Brokpas, Aghoris, eunuchs and shepherds in India. He has traveled to countries like Ethiopia, Ecuador, India, Iraq, and Sri Lanka mainly focusing on communities that are standing on the edge of modernization. 

Berta Tilmantaitė | Burma - Myanmar

Photo © Berta Tilmantaitė -All Rights Reserved

I am saddened by the recent news of a major earthquake affecting Myanmar, and at the loss of life and at the reported damage to over 150 historic pagodas in Bagan...so I was glad to have noticed the work of Berta Tilmantaitė on my Facebook timeline-wall.

It's not as much on Bagan and its pagodas, but is a visual and musical journey through Myanmar, specifically while Berta and a friend were traveling on a public boat from Yangon to Pathein, and onwards to Bagan. They stayed on the deck with all other people - locals, traveling to small villages along the river. I recall taking this public boat at dawn from Mandalay to Bagan, and it was a wonderful trip.

Berta Tilmantaité is a Lithuanian multimedia journalist, photographer and videographer. Her visual stories from different parts of the world often focus on the connection between human and nature. Berta has BA in Journalism from Vilnius University (Lithuania), also took a course in Photojournalism at Danish School of Media and Journalism. She holds MA in International Multimedia Journalism (University of Bolton/Beijing Foreign Studies University). Currently Berta works as a freelance multimedia journalist and photographer. Her work has been published in various media outlets, such as National Geographic, Al Jazeera, Geographical, GEO, Rhythms Monthly, China daily and others. She also occasionally lectures at Vilnius University and VGT University in Vilnius, Lithuania

Taylor Weideman | Poy Sang Long

© Taylor Weideman - Getty Images | Huffington Post

Here's another festival I would love to photograph...so in the bucket list it goes. The annual Poy Sang Long festival is a three-day long rite of passage for young Buddhists from the Shan ethnic group in Thailand.

The festival marks the initiation of 7-14 years old boys, as novices in the Buddhist community. It essentially consists of these boys taking novice monastic vows and participating in monastery life for a period of time that can vary from a week to many months or more. It's widespread in Myanmar, but the practice crossed into Thailand, where Shan immigrants have brought over their traditions.

The festival goes on for three days, as the boys are dressed like princes in imitation of the Buddha, himself a prince before setting out on the religious path, spend the entire time being carried around on the shoulders of their older male relatives.

Photographer Taylor Weidman's lovely images of the Poy Sang Long festival were featured in The Huffington Post. The accompanying article tells us that the photographer followed two youngsters, as they prepared for their initiation. The two boys are neighbors from Chiang Mai who traveled to Mae Sariang, a small town in northern Thailand near the Burmese border for the ceremony.

The festival of Poy Sang Long in Thai is called Buad Loog Gaew, which means "ordaining the beloved sons", and is held in early April when, in the city of Chiang Mai, pre-teen boys are inducted into the Buddhist novice-hood.

Taylor Weidman is a photojournalist based in northern Thailand. As photographer for Getty Images, his work has appeared in many of the world's most prestigious news outlets, including The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business Week, BBC, The Guardian, GEO, Der Spiegel, and others.

Andrew Stanbridge | Taungbyone Nat Festival

Photo © Andrew Stanbridge- All Rights Reserved

As readers of this blog know well by now, I'm attracted, photographically and culturally, to the especially unusual religious ceremonies and festivals in Asia and elsewhere. The French language has a word that's better suited than 'unusual', and it's insolite, and it is these that are pure catnip for me.

One of these unusual events is the Taungbyone Nat Festival, which is held near Mandalay every August (or thereabouts ).  This festival is known as the major gathering spot for spiritual mediums based on an ancient legend involving two Indian brothers. The cult of the nats is Myanmar's ancient animist religion.

Hundreds of mediums ( known as Nat-Kadaw) and thousands of pilgrims come once a year to Taung Byone, to commemorate the brothers' spirits. It is the most impressive Nat (spirits) festival in Myanmar. The Nats are spirits worshipped in Myanmar in conjunction with Buddhism. There are 37 spirits of  human beings who met violent deaths according to the legends.

It's certainly one of the festivals I plan photographing at some point (it has been on my bucket list for quite some time), especially as it's similar (as far as the involvement of transgender mediums) to the worship of Mother Goddess (Đạo Mẫu) that I'm hopeful to be soon photographing in Vietnam.

On Roads & Kingdoms, which is a popular and independent journal of food, politics, travel and culture, I chanced on the work of photographer Andrew Stanbridge on the Taungbyone Nat Festival, and which is titled Sauced Spirits; a remarkable and an in-your-face photo essay on this event, and on the people who attend it.

Andrew Stanbridge has been traveling and photographing throughout Southeast Asia for the past ten years. He documented the continuing modernization of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and he has more recently concentrated on addressing the physical, emotional and cultural scars left from various wars fought in these countries. He has also started to photograph postcolonial communities on the islands of Sao Tome and Principe as well as creating a visual survey of Ethiopia beyond the well-known images of drought and starvation. Most recently, he was involved with image making in Syria. 

His work has been exhibited and published internationally and is held in several prominent collections. It has been supported by many grants and he frequently visits colleges and universities in America lecturing on the aftermath of war. 

PS. A couple of minor quibbles about the captioning: I'm not sure Burmese ladyboys are called kaoteys ; a term used in Thailand, and the popular stimulant used in Myanmar is betel nut, not beetle nut.)

Wayne Thomas | Myanmar (on Storehouse)

Photo © Wayne Thomas-All Rights Reserved

I'm a great fan of Storehouse, a visual storytelling application for the iPad, which is an easy way to create, share, and discover beautiful stories by combining photographs, videos clips, and text. In fact, I've produced two stories on Storehouse so far, and the number of views on one of them just blew my mind...over 5500 views in a matter of a few weeks.

And I'm glad to see that other photographers have preceded me, and have followed suit. One of these photographers is Wayne Thomas, whose Myanmar, A Nation in Transition has just been published a few days ago. I hope this post will propel his multimedia essay's readership/viewership even further.

It's a great combination of still photographs, short video clips (about 5 of them that loop continuously) and a couple of panoramic photographs of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda and of the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda's Golden Rock.

The most arresting photograph in the essay is Wayne's photograph of a woman whose face is completely covered in thick thanakha paste, and some sort of brown-black "third eye" in the center of her forehead. I've never seen anyone with that much thanakha paste before.

Wayne Thomas describes himself as a traveler, storyteller and a grower of facial hair. He traveled to Myanmar and writes that it's a developing country sought after by opportunity seeking corporations and travelers hoping to step back in time.

He's right.

Konstantino Hatzisarros | Burma

Photo © Konstantino Hatzisarros-All Rights Reserved

Ah...Burma (or Myanmar!) It's on the mind of many travel photographers...on their itinerary, or their bucket list...some describe it as a fusion of South and East Asia influences, whether cultural, culinary or physical characteristics.

International tourism to Myanmar is mushrooming to unseen parallels after  being virtually closed off to the rest of the world for almost 60 years. It moved from a military to a more democratic government, and the influx of tourism has increased from 300,000 visitors in 2010 to about a million last year, with 7,000,000 tourists  forecast to visit the country by 2020.

I was fortunate to photograph in Myanmar in 2001 and 2002...when few tourists ventured to these magnificent country; at a time when the choice in hotels was limited and the dial-up internet was almost non-existent.

New York-based Konstantino Hatzisarros brings us his large sized photographs of his travels to Myanmar, including a few of the Chin minorities. While the practice of facial tattooing has largely ceased years ago, some Chin women can still be found bearing these, as it was a rite of passage for them as youngsters. However, the new generation are shunning the practice.

The ritual was officially banned by the then socialist regime in the 1960s, and the tattoos became increasingly rare as Christian missionaries converted the previously animist communities.

Berta upe Tilmantaitė | Myanmar

Photo © Berta upe Tilmantaite- All Rights Reserved

Viewing Vimeo's Staff Pick "A Handful of Myanmar" made me realize that it had been quite a while since I posted photographs or video of this wonderful country.

Myanmar is currently one of the hottest travel destinations. Tour groups, solo tourists, travel photographers are flocking to this wonderful Asian nation, and its hotels are virtually overbooked. Some may say that this influx of tourism (mostly Western), which increased almost 90% over the past 3 years, will eventually be detrimental to its culture, character and personality. Despite the recent cancellation of large tour groups from the US, the UK, Australia and France, Myanmar is planning for a significant tourist influx in the coming couple of years.

A far cry from when I visited in 2001 and 2002, when tourists were few...partly put off by the country's poor infrastructure and by the notion that tourism helped to retain the military junta in power.

Berta upe Tilmantaite is a Lithuanian multimedia journalist, photographer and story teller, currently based in Vilnius. She obtained her MA in International Multimedia Journalism from the University of Bolton / Beijing Foreign Studies University (Beijing) after graduating from Vilnius University.

I am featuring her work from Myanmar here, but also explore her other galleries of the Himalaya region, Tibet, Indonesia, Borneo, Mongolia, Thailand, Georgia and Portugal. Her video titled A Handful of Myanmar was a Vimeo Staff Pick.

Sofie Olsen | The Moken People

Photo © Sofie Olsen-All Rights Reserved

The Moken are an ethnic group of about 2,000 to 3,000 members who live on the coast and islands in the Andaman Sea, on the west coast of Thailand, and the Mergui Archipelago of Burma. In Thailand, they're called Chao Ley (people of the sea) or Chao nam (people of the water). They're also called Sea Gypsies; a generic term that applies to a number of peoples in southeast Asia.

Some of the Burmese Moken are still nomadic people who roam the sea most of their lives in small hand-crafted wooden boats, however much of their traditional life, built on the premise of life as outsiders, is under threat and appears to be diminishing.

The Norwegian photographer Sofie Olsen travelled to the Surin Islands in the Andaman Sea, located 55 km from the Thai mainland to document the Moken people’s way of life and on-going aquatic-based culture.

Ms Olsen attended the International Center of Photography in New York City, where she graduated in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism in June 2011. Following her graduation Olsen was awarded the Center’s prestigious ICP Directors Fellowship. She won the London Festival of Photography Prize in 2012 with her photo-film I Am Light, which features an artist living in an alternative encampment in Norway together with Roma Gypsies. 

Jodi Champagne | Myanmar Monks & Nuns

Photo © Jodi Champagne -All Rights Reserved

I noticed that I hadn't posted the work of a woman photographer since June 11...a rather long and unusual interval  for The Travel Photographer blog.

So to redress this accidental slipup, I feature Myanmar Monks & Nuns, a gallery of 29 large photographs by Jodi Champagne. With a couple of exceptions, these are in color and are carefully posed. Although the colors are lovely, my favorite is the one above of a Burmese nun in black & white.

Additionally, you shouldn't miss Jodi's photo gallery Choices They Make documenting a Shinbyu ceremony which marks the ordination of young boys as novice monks, as well as girls as nuns.

Her website also has galleries of Cuban streets, of the Karen Padaung women, and other documentary work.

Jodi Champagne is a photographer based in California, and has worked as a portrait, wedding, family and sports photographer and quickly discovered her true passion was in documentary and street photography. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Her photographs have been widely published in books, magazines, and used for editorial and commercial work. She received the Worldwide Gala Street Photography and the NYCFA Portrait Awards in 2012. 

POV: The Inle Lake Fishermen Are So Tired!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I traveled to Myanmar (Burma) twice in 2001 and 2002. At that time, it was still very much "off the grid of mass tourism", and few tourists could be seen...either put off by the comparatively onerous entry requirements (and restrictive travel itineraries) or by their unwillingness to support the military junta, directly or indirectly. When I was in this lovely country, there was no internet as such (just a few approved businesses had it), no mobile telephony...but few cared. Burma and its people more than made up for these little inconveniences.

Recently the country has opened up and changed in many ways. Aung San Suu Ky was released from her house confinement, and her party won most of the seats in the lower parliament. Tourists are flocking in to the country as if these's no tomorrow...hotels are overbooked...flights are full and groups of Western and Asian tourists are spending time and hard currency to the benefit of the local Burmese.

This opening up has generated a lot of travel images by photographers...either on professional websites, or on social media. However, I haven't seen much of new approaches or fresh angles.

The photograph (above) of the Inle Lake fisherman I made in 2001 was from a pre-arranged photo shoot during which a few local fishermen would oar their boats not far from the hotel, and I'd photograph them from another rowing boat in the middle of the lake.

Most of what I see nowadays are photographs of for-hire fishermen photographed near the hotels' wharfs where the water is placid and calm...ideal for reflections and other cute stuff.

C'mon photographers...you can do better than that now. Photographs of the for hire fishermen of Inle Lake are a dime a dozen....and they all look alike. Who will buy them? Think of something else...another venue...go to the fishermen villages...produce a photo essay or an audio slideshow of their lives...be inventive and creative.

I've photographed the Inle Lake fishermen at dusk 12 years ago...12 years ago, and you're still photographing the same stuff?

You want ideas? Look at Sim Chi Yin's The Water Seller and Anthony Pond's The Ring Train of Yangon.

Sim Chi Yin | The Water Seller

Photo © Sim Chi Yin-All Rights Reserved

Here's an excellent photo story of a water seller in Myanmar by Singaporean photojournalist Sim Chi Yin. The young water seller's name is Chit Min Oo and this photo feature tells us about the hard life he leads in a country just unshackling itself from the chains of military autocracy.

Chit Min Oo lives in a slum about an hour outside of downtown Yangon, in a single-room hut with his mother, two brothers and a sister. At day break, Chit Min Oo and one of his brothers Pyay Sone Aung, head out onto the train tracks, fetch their buckets, fill them with blocks of ice and water from a nearby tank and jump on the Circle Line train, which remains the cheapest mode of public transport around Yangon.

They hop on and off these trains, weaving in and out of carriages offering their cups of water for mere pennies in the equivalent Burmese currency.

I wish the photo essay was accompanied by a soundtrack...imagine viewing the photographs along with ambient sound such as the rattle of the ancient trains on the tracks, the clicking of the mugs against the buckets, the yells of the sellers, the sound of people in the stations...!

Based in Beijing, Sim Chi Yin is a member of VII Photo Agency’s Mentor Program for emerging talents and was selected for the PDN30 – Photo District News’ top 30 “emerging photographers to watch” – in 2013. She photographs regularly for the New York Times. Since going freelance in 2011, she has also photographed for Le Monde, Newsweek, TIME magazine, Vogue USA, Financial Times Weekend Magazine, New York Times Sunday Magazine and Stern.

Justin Mott | Travel

Photo © Justin Mott -All Rights Reserved

" I hate and love taking pictures of conical hats; it really depends on the day." -Justin Mott

I was challenged (well, sort of) by Justin Mott if I could tell the difference between the photographs he shot for Conde Nast Traveler and those for The New York Times. I think I could tell, but it's now up the readers of The Travel Photographer to take up the challenge. 

A hint: if it looks too perfect and not too documentary-looking, then it's probably Conde Nast. In any event, you'll be certain to enjoy Justin's work which mostly spans 45 photographs of South East Asia (Viet Nam, Myanmar, Cambodia, etc) as well as Tanzania.

Justin Mott grew up in Rhode Island, and studied photojournalism at San Francisco State University but a year before graduating traveled to Southeast Asia, and eventually settled in Vietnam since 2006. He's been photographing regularly for The New York Times, among many others.

He is living in Hanoi, Vietnam and working throughout Southeast Asia on personal projects and assignments since 2006. In 2008, his work on Agent Orange Orphans was recognized in the PDN Annual and was awarded in the Marty Forscher Fellowship for humanistic photography given out by the Parsons School of Design in NYC. Justin is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and various other international publications such as Time, Newsweek, Business Week, Geo, L’Express, GEO, Bloomberg News Service, The Independent, UNESCO, Medecins Sans Frontieres, and the Discovery Channel. He won The Marty Forscher Fellowship Humanistic Photography Award. 

Maarten Boerma | Myanmar

Photo © Martin Boerma-All Rights Reserved

While viewing Maarten Boerma's galleries, I was reminded of wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic concept that is centered on the acceptance of imperfection. It is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". Not because of his images, but because he's starts off his artist statement by saying "I love beautiful photos, but they should not be all beauty, a little bit of decay, error, rough edges should be part of it."

Maarten's galleries span the globe, and he photographed in Myanmar, Spain, Bangkok, France, New York City, Bhutan, Morocco and his native Netherlands where he works as an IBM Cloud Sales Leader.

I chose to feature his Myanmar gallery because of this wonderful atmospheric photograph, in which the carefully positioned red Burmese umbrella gives the right amount of color to the otherwise monochromatic scene. It's one of his best work, and 46 photographs ought to please anyone interested in Myanmar...street photography, balloons over Bagan, monks and novices...it's all there. Some are candid and impromptu, while others are not.

Most of his photographs are made with a Leica M8 or M9, with a variety of lenses.

João Almeida | Myanmar

Photo © João Almeida -All Rights Reserved

João Almeida appeared on my radar screen when he and Ruben Vicente held their Myanmar photo exhibition in Lisbon in July last year.

And since Myanmar is hot these days for being a prime destination for travelers, I thought I'd feature João Almeida's work which includes people photography and landscapes made in Myanmar, as well as Vietnam, Portugal, Italy, Morocco, Thailand, England, Latvia and a dozen more.

João also authored a lovely ebook titled Minglaba! of no less than 89 photographs made in Myanmar, which is available for purchase for $9.00.

His work is broader than pure travel photography, and is considered as street, documentary, landscape and nature, depending on what the location offers. João is represented by the Alamy and age fotostock agencies, and he's also one of the founding members of the Light Travelers photo collective, a joint effort to explore travel photography in it's various forms and shapes.

Short Hiatus

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy

I thought this image of a sleeping Buddhist monk near the entrance of the Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda in Yangon is appropriate to announce I'll be taking a week's break from posting on The Travel Photographer's blog.

With over 3000 posts under my belt so far, and infrequent breaks, I guess I deserve some time off.

This slide photograph was made with a Canon 1v during a photo trip to Burma in 2001, and I added some filters to it using Exposure 4 software.