Needs Cheese: March 2012

Monday, 26 March 2012

Echoes

Lately I've had a couple of reasons to look through all of the photos I've taken since I've been in Vietnam, and thankfully I can see that from then until now my photography has improved massively. I used to do some strange things a few years back. Like take whole series of photos with 45 degree horizons. I thought they were cool then. Now I know they are unusable.

Maybe everyone goes through these stages. Perhaps it's just something you need to do to get out of your system. Or perhaps the things you did years ago will always seem weird in the light of the present. It's making me look more closely at what I'm doing today anyhow.

Here are some pictures from the past that I still like. Even if perhaps I wouldn't treat them the same way today, and can see several things about them I'd change, I've not touched or tweaked them to satisfy my 2012 self, but left them as they are:

Thursday, 22 March 2012

Wedding: Adam & Serena

The Oriental Mandarin Dhara Devi is an amazing place for a wedding. Set in 60 acres in Chiang Mai, it's all spires, wood and ancient stone. It contains two full areas of rice paddy and has the gentlest morning alarm - a man on a white buffalo plays a flute whose notes float across the rice fields and into your sleeping ears.

Adam and Serena had an open-air wedding ceremony on the main terrace, followed by a traditional Thai tea ceremony. In the evening, Thai dancers entertained the wedding party between dinner courses.

Many thanks to Aidan for flying me over there to help with the photography. And congratulations to Adam and Serena and their families. Thanks to them also for the Flaming Lamborghini which topped the night off!

Monday, 19 March 2012

While We're Waiting

Thursday, 15 March 2012

Wedding: Thuy & Matthew

Thuy and Matthew had a traditional Vietnamese wedding at Thuy's family home in Danang. It was a full house as everyone watched them exchange rings before both sides of the family give gifts of money and jewellery to the couple. This was followed by a reception at the huge For You Palace on the outskirts of the city where there were speeches and some awesome (perhaps impromptu) karaoke performances. Many thanks to Aidan from Eden Images for putting Thuy and Matthew in touch with me.

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

UNICEF: Saigon + Hanoi

At the end of last year I travelled with UNICEF to document some of their projects in the south of the country. The second part of the trip focused on some of the shelters set up by UNICEF-supported charities, such as Thao Dan, and their work with vulnerable children and those infected with HIV. I was also trying to capture images which showed some of the risks these children face in rapidly developing urban centres, such as heavy traffic, forced labour, prostitution and drug use.

I saw parts of Saigon that I normally wouldn't, saw poverty, pollution and favela-like living conditions, and met people who showed me how close everyone, at least those in developing nations, are to falling through the cracks; a job lost here, a wrong decision there, and the ground opens.

But I also met inspiring people who are working hard to connect with those in these precarious positions; to find them, help them, and to offer them alternative, safer paths. And the people they are helping are an inspiration themselves; I don't know if I could be as strong, as cheerful as they are if our roles were reversed, and it's humbling to meet them.

It's a privilege to do this kind of assignment, and it's nice to think that my photos will play a small part in helping UNICEF to raise funds to continue their programmes.