Monk in Punakha Dzong

This is in a 1000 Buddhas temple in the monastery that is part of Punakha Dzong, Punakha, Bhutan. The photo-gods were with me that afternoon.

I was walking down a corridor soaking up the atmosphere and gorgeous architecture of the Dzong (a fortress, combining a monastery and government quarters) when I heard 'come' out of a room I passed. This monk was waiting for me there. I put my camera down and had him explain me how to pay my respects to the Buddha. He explained a bit about the room and the 1000 buddhas. I was just beginning to wonder how to bring up the subject of a picture - always a bit difficult when it comes to religion - when he pointed to my camera, still sitting on the floor, and simply said - 'camera'. I snapped this portrait.

One that should not have been, as ISO 800 was not good enough: 1/5th of a second is a tad slow at 127mm... But as said, the photo gods were with me. Good karma. It's not critically sharp but I doubt you'll notice on the web. Love this shot anyway.

(I took two more almost identical shots, seconds later, at more reasonable shutter speeds, but you can see his smile slowly drop. Expression over perfection, for me.)

When I was about to say my goodbye to him, he referred to me as father. A touching end to a brief meeting I will remember for a long time.

Picture Sharing 2

The camera is such a great prop. Especially someone else's.

We had lunch at this place in Dồng Văn in Hà Giang province in the far north of Vietnam. One of the cooks was very photogenic. With 4 photographers, someone is bound to ask and get a shot. And show it to her, on the back of the camera.

Which is the moment I captured. She's shy but flattered, looking at her fresh portrait.

Technical: The lighting is simple - all natural, from the open shop front on the left. Classic window lighting I guess, but in a fairly dark room.

Picture Sharing

I've been posting a lot of what could have been posted on this blog to Google+. I will catch up and repost and expand some of those posts here.

One of my favourite images from the Hà Giang trip.

It captures one of the best things about it - the joy of digital photography not just to the photographer but also to the subjects. Whenever we turned around the camera to show our (their) shots, the smiles just beamed. It turned the one-way click of the shutter to real contact. And that usually rubbed off on the rest of the shots.

I tried to capture this many many times, but only this one worked. I simply tried until luck struck, and all faces lined up just right.

I hope to go back one day, and give some of my subjects a print. (No, that is not entirely altruistic:-)

Like the next post, this also shows what a great prop a camera can be - especially the back of someone else's camera. More to come!

Hà Giang Portrait

I spent a week on a phototour in Hà Giang province, in the far north of Vietnam. This area is very remote, very poor, has impressive scenery, and is not at all touristy. The most amazing aspect for me were the people though. So I'll start my Hà Giang series with a portrait.

This man waved us in when we walked past his shop and invited us to a cup of green tea. (This turned out to be quite common - we had lots of green tea. And rice wine.) I asked him in my best Vietnamese whether he grew the tea himself. He said so, and then showed us the tea in a big store bought container. I'm still unsure whether he misunderstood me due to my bad (and Southern) pronunciation or simply recycled the container for his own tea.

After we drank the tea, I asked him whether I could take his picture. He smiled and looked into the camera.

Often, the first shot is a stiff unsmiling pose, requiring more attempts before I get a smile or relaxed pose (of which more later). Not so in this case. One shot, and I knew I did not need more.

Edited to add technical info: natural light, short telephoto. He is sitting in the shade, just inside his shop, facing the very sunny street. The shop entrance acts as a huge soft box.

Hospitality

OK, I'm seriously behind on this blog... This is from last June, close to Sa Pa in North Vietnam.

Sa Pa (or Sapa) is fairly touristy, known for the rice terraces and colourfully dressed ethnic minorities. But the vast majority of tourists stay a few days only, and never venture far from the town. I stayed longer and one of the things I did was a 'homestay' with a Red Dao family about 30km (20mi) south of Sapa. They are guided hikes (guide mandatory), in this case to a remote village, where you stay at a local family's home. The guide had a hard time finding the place, evidently never having been there before. He also kept moaning about the lack of night life.

The house was a farm of a Red Dao family. Think one big room, mud floor, wooden partitions. Chickens roaming around. One entire extended family (3 generations, including an infant and two toddlers).

Initially, I felt very uncomfortable, thinking I was taking their best bed (I didn't). Matters did not improve when my guide used their kitchen to make a meal just for us, using our own ingredients.

But after our dinner, the landlord killed a chicken - evidently a party was in order. And I was invited. I could not decline (though my guide stupidly decided to seek out the non-existent local night-life). And I am happy I didn't - I was really made to feel welcome, and had a really great time.

I ate little of the meal (one dinner is generally enough for me). But I could not decline the rượu (rice brandy). Which was served at incredible speed. Fill all glasses. Double handed handshake, say 'chúc sức khỏe' (wishing good health), clink, and bottoms up. Refill and repeat. When I started to try and slow down, they insisted - it'd make me sleep well. I explained in my best Vietnamese that with a little, I'd sleep well, but too much and I wouldn't sleep at all. Which luckily did the trick. I could take the tempo down to a sip per round, rather than bottoms up.

All of this ended at 8, when the entire family watched a Vietnamese soap opera on TV (the fruits of running a home stay?). At 9, everyone was in bed. Except the landlord who decided to repair his motorcycle. Lots of clinking sounds, but I have my doubts as to the results.

The alarm clock (rooster) went off a 4:30, and by 5:15 everyone was in the fields, working. Except for the landlord, who looked a bit worse for wear.

Street Portraits

For street scenes I am quite happy to take candid shots. But for "close" people shots like this one I generally don't like sneaking the shot when they are unaware. Nor do I like just shoving the camera in someone's face and taking their picture. Which leaves me one option: ask for permission.

Asking a stranger may sound like a daunting prospect. Until recently, I was a bit apprehensive too. But a trip to a market here got me over that.

First of all - just do it, it truly isn't that hard. Hardly anybody minds being asked, and you will be surprised at how many people are fine with being photographed.

It is easier if you go with a few other photographers. And it is a lot easier in a place like District 4 in Ho Chi Minh City. Formerly notorious as the 'mafia' area in the city, it is still poor. But the people are amazing. Hospitable, friendly, and many are even eager to be photographed. Nice combo with a rich crop in characters and photogenic faces.

Vietnam is a good place in general for people photography for these same reasons, especially outside touristy areas. People like being photographed, and they make for good subjects. And they easily engage with you, making for quite natural portraits. I've had very little trouble with badly posed and stiff pictures here. The only sometimes annoying habit is the V sign. But some people pull that off too:-)

More Later!

Bali

Overdue post! We're back from Bali - the long Tết holiday is over.



On a bike tour, in the rice fields, this happy fellow elaborately welcomed us to Bali, making a point of mentioning that we were welcome irrespective of our faith. When I asked to take a picture, he insisted that my wife be in it too. When seeing the result, he exclaimed "I am handsome" and welcomed us once more. That's when I snapped this.

Bali was not quite what we expected. Gorgeous luxury hotels, check. Beautiful, quiet and spiritual, kind of.

Beautiful whenever you get away from the road - it seems pretty much all significant roads are lined with shops. The 40km (25mi) drive from Jimbaran to Ubud was at least 80% lined with shop after shop. Half of the rest was other buildings. Leaving little view of the landscape.

Quiet, not so much. What do you want with a population of about 4 million on 5633 square km (2175 sq mi) that derives 60% of its income in tourism? (That's more densely populated than the Netherlands, the UK, or any US state by a good margin.)

Spiritual, yes. Bali is Hindu, and every compound has its little shrine, every village has three temples, and religion and rituals pervade every action. Just don't expect to find 'Eat, Love, Pray' on your holiday:-)