Laos Essential Artistry

Monk's Robe and Hands

Monk in temple doorway

This was taken in the early evening (usually around 6:00) when most of the monks gather for evening prayers (chanting). I guess this monk was a little late and decided to just "listen in."

Children at That Luang Festival 2007

The last time I was in Laos during the That Luang Festival was 2000 and I made sure my wife and I could document the whole festival as fully as possible. I have lots of photos to share and aren't these kids cute?

Girls Carrying Wood

When we were driving up in Huaphan Province between Sam Neua and Sam Tai we passed this group of four girls carrying wood. Since my wife is Lao, it works out great in a situation like this because we stopped the car and got out and Bai was able to ask them some questions and I was able to take a few shots. Bai is super friendly and it makes a huge difference when she is able to talk with people, such as these girls, which makes them more relaxed and open to having their photo taken.

The reality in Laos that girls work hard and it's almost always the girls and women who you see carrying wood. It's a never-ending task because without wood there's no fire, and without a fire, how can one cook a meal? There is in larger towns and cities the option of using charcoal, but that costs money, and wood, with effort is free, so in rural areas photo opportunities like this are fairly common...

Sam Neua from the Air

Even if someone didn't want to fly to Sam Neua just to get there, I would recommend flying to Sam Neua and back for the photographic opportunities. Currently, Lao Airlines, the main Lao airline, doesn't fly to Sam Neua. They've retired the old Chinese 17 seat Y12 and a new smaller airline that specializes in charter flights, including flights to Sam Neua, now uses a Cessna Caravan. The Caravan is smaller, but more comfortable inside, and for photographers, the great news is that the windows are clear with minimal scratching. The Cessna flies lower than the Y12 did and consequently there are great aerial photographic opportunities.

On the second flight we made into Sam Neua, rather than coming in low into the valley and landing on the runway from east to west, the plane flew in higher, circled round and landed from the west. Since we came in at a higher altitude we had a beautiful shot of the entire city/town of Sam Neua.

You can see how Sam Neua is nestled in the mountains, which in the cold season months of December and January with the accompanying fog/low ground cover, means that often times the flights are canceled because the fog doesn't clear.

Old Royal Palace Lilies in Luang Prabang

When we visited Luang Prabang in December we took my wife's mother and aunt to visit the Old Royal Palace, now a museum. On the palace ground there is a large pond and on the morning we visited there were a wide variety of lilies in bloom, a photographer's dream. Two of my favorite shots I'm posting here.

Which is your favorite?

The Soul of Hmong New Year

When I saw these four young girls as we walked through a Hmong village north of Sam Neua I knew there was something special here. I started taking photos and surprisingly they didn't run away or cover their eyes, but looked right at me and actually came together for this informal portrait.

Like the photo of the young woman washing her hair, my wife's sister's boyfriend also created a series of three painting with these four young girls as the main subject. Below is a photo of the first one in the series.

Girl Washing Hair

Whenever one is traveling, where ever you may be, it's a good idea to have one's camera ready at all times. When we were in Laos this last December we traveled to Luang Prabang with my wife's mother and aunt. Here they've both lived in Laos their entire lives, but had never been to Luang Prabang, the old royal capitol. We were there for three days and on one day  took them to the Pak Ou Caves and went by boat up the Mekong River, about an hour and a half boat ride. On the way back the boatman stopped by his village to drop off some laundry for his wife. When we pulled up to the shore there was a large group of women, men and children on the shore, with some of the women washing clothes and some of the women and children bathing. I saw this one young woman and thought there was the potential of a good photo. If we had been just a group of tourists in a boat stopping to take photos, most of the people would have been wary and on guard. But as the boatman was related to them and I was the only foreigner, the villagers more or less ignored us. But I still had to be careful and watched the girl and gradually raised my camera, a Canon 40D with a 70-300mm f 4-5.6 IS USM Canon lens shooting at a focal length of 220 mm at 400 ISO.

You can imagine if you were bathing, or swimming at a river or creek, and some stranger came by with a camera and started taking photos of you, you probably wouldn't be too comfortable, or possibly even angry. Taking photos of people is an art and I think a good photographer takes a lot into consideration when taking photos of people. Some of the best photos are spontaneous and not staged and a good photographer anticipates the moment that will best express what the photographer has in "mind." You don't want to be rude, but at the same time you can't be timid. It's a fine line and I've learned to be less self conscious and try to establish some kind of rapport with my subject, even if it's very fleeting.

I remember reading the book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, and sometimes reflect how as a photographer, some of my best photos were taken when I felt like I was "one" with the subject I was photographing. I really believe that in taking photos of people you have to be in a state of mind where you connect with your subject, consciously, or more likely, unconsciously. As Daniel Goleman writes in Social Intelligence, the New Science of Human Relationships, "We are born to connect... and how we connect with others has unimagined significance." And I think about that a lot when I'm traveling and photographing people.

So, to continue the story of this photograph, as soon as the girl lathered up her hair I raised my camera and took some shots. I was maybe twenty feet away and only got about three shots when she noticed me and became self conscious and turned away. But I was "lucky" and I got the shot above which I feel captures an essence of Laos that I feel is captivating and "timeless." My wife's sister's boyfriend, who is an artist, painted a series of paintings for us, including a set of three based on this young woman washing her hair. We will be selling the paintings in our online store beginning this spring. One in the series of three you can see here. What do you think?