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    2017 update

    Personal Photography Publishing Thailand Writing
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    A photo essay on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam

    Time to freshen up the website for the new year, so I’ve made a few additions and changes. Firstly, I’ve added a few scans of stories that appeared in printed magazines (an increasingly rare form of media!) during 2016. These are:
     
    - Deep in the Delta, a photo essay on the Mekong Delta for Jetstar Asia magazine.
    --Strange Town, a focus on Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar, for the South China Morning Post.
    --Blissful Bloom, a story about the sacred lotus for Morning Calm (Korean Air inflight).
     
    I’ve also changed the sample story from my collection ‘Searching for Shangri La’. ‘Sweeping Meditation’ is a chronicle of my changing attitudes to the fascinating activity of sweeping leaves. There’s also an audio version of the story, so rest your eyes for ten minutes and listen to the tale unfold.

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    On the Trail of...

    Nature Personal Photography Social Issues
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    Recently, I’ve been on the trail of vanilla, the magical spice that flavours our cakes, custards and ice creams. Along the way, the trail took me to Madagascar, where they produce the finest vanilla in the world. It’s called ‘Bourbon vanilla’, after the former name of nearby Reunion Island.
     
    Did you know that vanilla comes from an orchid (vanilla planifolia)? That its flower has to be pollinated by hand in order for the vanilla pod to grow? That the pod must be picked on a particular day of its growth, and then go through various stages of conditioning for almost a year before it is ready to use?
     
    I didn’t know any of this; I didn’t even know what a vanilla pod looked like, but I found out pretty quickly before boarding a plane to Antananarivo (better known as Tana), Madagascar’s crazy capital.
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    If you can't beat them,...

    Personal Photography Publishing Vietnam
    I’m sure I’m not the only photographer who has watched with dismay as online stock photo (or microstock) libraries have mushroomed over recent years. Why dismay? Well, I used to sell my travel stories to clients as a package of words and images, of which the images would often be worth half or more of the fee. Yet since these image libraries have expanded to cover every destination and topic under the sun, and since their images are available for use at US$1 or less, most publications I work for now want me to provide text only, which means I’ve lost about half my previous income.
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    Cruising the Red River Delta

    Photography Publishing Vietnam Writing
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    Watching the view unfold from a sun lounger

    Usually when I travel, I’m updating a guidebook, so I’m rushing around from dawn to late, checking hotels and restaurants for inclusion in the next edition of the guide. But a few weeks ago I lucked out, spending ten days on a Pandaw cruise around Ha Long Bay and the Red River Delta in Vietnam in order to write and photograph a story about it for the company’s magazine, as it was a new route that they wanted to publicise.
     
    Loved it! Sprawled on a sun lounger, taking in the endless change of view, from towering karst outcrops to container cranes, brick kilns, fields of rice and passion fruit, locals waving from the riverbank. Wandering around small villages, watching water puppet shows, seeing conical hats made, listening to traditional songs sung by teenagers. Writing a few notes about the experience and getting to know my fellow passengers, gorging on gourmet food three times a day. Following are a few images from the trip.
     
    If you want to read the full story, take a Pandaw cruise and read it in the Pandaw Magazine while aboard, or sign up as a subscriber on their website—www.pandaw.com.

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    The way up

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    Red River abstract

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    Making conical hats

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    Enjoying a glass of bia hoi

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    Container crane in Haiphong port

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    Youngsters watching the boat from the riverbank

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    View from the wheelhouse

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    Clouds over the Red River

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    Girls in ao dai at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

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    Ron testing the local hooch

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    Upturned eaves at Tay Phuong Pagoda

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    Graduates throwing caps at the Temple of Literature

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    Water Summit Sunk by Hot Air

    Photography Social Issues Thailand

    I had an interesting job last week—shooting images for a company that was exhibiting and presenting technical workshops at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Water Summit in my hometown, Chiang Mai. My brief was to provide images of interested visitors at their booth as well as members of staff interacting with VIPs (mostly heads of state).
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    Though my task was only to take photos, I couldn’t help forming an impression of the event as an interested bystander. Like everyone else, I’m a big fan of water, and I dread the day when our taps run dry. Unfortunately, now the summit is over, that day seems closer than ever. 
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    Photographers at the Water Summit