Golden Path

 

This is another old favourite of mine from back in Burma. This is a shot of one of the few paths up to the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most famous and sacred Pagodas in Burma. This shot is a perfect example of why Burma is titled: The Golden Land. Every year this Pagoda undergoes a ‘refurbishing’ where the coat of gold has to be restored. The sheer price of the pagoda itself is incredible, and it shines a beautiful light across the capital city of Rangoon.

Actually at the foot of the pagoda, there is a circle lined with statues of the 8 Burmese Zodiacs, each of which correspond to a certain day in the week. There is 8 because the Burmese have an extra day which we treat as Wednesday Morning and Wednesday Afternoon, represented as the White Elephant with it’s trunk raised and the White Elephant with the trunk down respectively.

I myself, being born on a Tuesday, am a Chinthe under the Burmese Zodiac. A Chinthe is a sacred Leonid creature which is revered in the Burmese culture; used as a sign of strength and protection. Giant Chinthe statues are often found outside many sacred Buddhist sites in Burma, as they are constructed to spiritually protect the site.

 

[Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon, Burma]

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Latitude: 16.798436

Longitude: 96.149464

Tradition

 

I’ve been trying a long time to edit this photo to how I want it to be, but I think I have edited it far enough. There is no amount of tweaking  I can do at this point which will make this any better (I don’t think).

There are three things the Besotho people have that is exclusive to their culture: their ponies, their blankets, and their hats. Now unfortunately this photo does not feature the hat, but it does however show two Besotho men riding their Besotho ponies, wrapped in their Besotho Blankets.

I find the Besotho people incredible with regards to their culture, and how it has been maintained for so long in their tiny but proud little kingdom. I really wanted this photo to turn out well, but due to the speed of our car and the window in the way, I feel like it may not have been as good as I hoped. I didn’t want to stop the car, nor the men on their journey though. So I guess it can’t be helped.

Let me know what you think!

 

[Outside the Sani Pass, Lesotho]

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Latitude: -29.345683

Longitude: 29.021201

Surprise!

 

Because: why not? Who doesn’t appreciate a surprised peacock?

 

[Ranthambore National Park, India]

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Latitude: 26.017327

Longitude: 76.502574

A Warm Smile

 

I recently found this old photo from a few years ago, and I’d quite like to talk about the drastic change I can identify here.

Firstly this photo is of an old ticket man from Siem Riep, Cambodia. His job is simply to tear the tickets of guests as they enter the famous ruins of Angkor Wat, site of many a Hindu and Buddhist teaching as well as many scenes from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Cambodia in the past was home to a terror of a government called the Khmer Rouge, if you can even call them a government. They were responsible for the deaths of hundreds upon thousands of innocent people, many of which had their skulls placed outside and within Angkor Wat itself.

However despite this gruesome past, people are still able to visit the country now and see the smiles of the people. The incredible faces worn not only by terror and grief, but also of victory and growth. This photo may not be much, but I feel it is a true testament to the perseverance of humanity in the modern era.

 

[Angkor Wat, Siem Riep, Cambodia]

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Latitude: 13.4125

Longitude: 103.8661

The Wall

So I’ve been doing some reminiscing recently, as for some reason I’m not finding much inspiration from being here in Dubai. Hopefully that will change, I’ve considered doing some candid photos of the cultural diversity, but I don’t know how I feel about that.

Anyway I’ll be posting a bunch of photographs I’ve been stockpiling over the past few weeks in rapid fire, so I hope you enjoy them.

This one is nice and simple: The incredible Great Wall of China

 

[Great Wall, Liaoning Province, China]

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Latitude: 40.6769
Longitude: 117.2289

Strutting Guinea

 

My first shot from Dubai, hope you all like it!

On our compound we have these pair of guineafowl who live across it, alongside other small birds like Francolins and Bulbuls. This one ran into our garden the other day, only to be zealously photographed by my sister and I. Not bad!

 

[Dubai, United Arab Emirates]

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Latitude: 25.2711390

Longitude: 55.3074850

Ancients

 

So we’re in Dubai now. Can’t help but still reminisce about Addis though. It’s still going to remain my home.

Our last day I did a session with some of the local tortoises we had on the compound (all of which we have bestowed silly names which I will not mention). I really like this macro-shot of one of their legs, the fade and sharpness of the scales.

 

[Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]

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Latitude: 9.060662

Longitude: 38.775750