Posts Tagged ‘Siem Reap’

Cambodia Diabetes Association

Today I had a shoot for the Cambodian Diabetic Association.

The images will be used to illustrate a story appearing in Canadian ice hockey magazine The Hockey News.

Rick from Dobber Hockey with the medical staff at the centre.

Rick sporting his Dobber Hockey shirt with the medical staff at the centre.

The story is about a group of fantasy hockey players who raised a lot of money to help establish a fund that will pay the costs of the medicines that diabetic patients commonly require.Of course I took the oportunity to shoot many more images than will be required for that (around 70 in the end) so that the CDA had a selection of new images that they can use on their website and in their promotional material.

I intend to be back in Siem Reap in 2014 and shooting more work for clients in the region, so if you know of or work for any NGO/NFP or charity organisations which are seeking images for fundraising publicity, website use, posters, brochures etc then please ask them to get in touch to discuss.

A patient consulting the resident physician.

Pharmacy stock being checked.

I’m Getting A Temple Complex!

Today is Election Day in Cambodia and that means it is a little tense. Many shops will be closed for all or part of the day, or running on reduced staff. Cambodians are allowed 3 days off work to vote due to the time required for many who work away from home to travel back for voting. International scrutiny is high, as the USA has said publicly that they will consider reducing or stopping the considerable sums in aid that they pay every year if the elections are not free and fair. Not that I want to get into politics here, but let us just say that ‘free and fair’ is not a description commonly applied to the political process here!

Having been in Siem Reap for a few weeks now, I have had the opportunity to spend some time visiting the temples of the Angkor complex. Expat Englishman Dave Perkes runs photo tours through his company Peace of Angkor and I can recommend his trips to anyone looking to get off the beaten track a bit and see some of the sights that other tours cannot reach. I went out a couple of times with Dave and had a great time bashing through unmade roads to reach all manner of things of photographic interest.

The temples are of course the big attraction here although photographing them whilst avoiding tourists or replicating every shot that has gone before you is getting increasingly hard as the visitor numbers increase and ease of access to Siem Reap improves. Even arriving at a temple at 4.30 in the morning guaranteed a solo experience for only 20 minutes! During the day, avoiding the busloads of Korean, Japanese and Chinese tourists in matching caps and/or polo shirts issued by their tour company, following guides holding aloft flags or monkeys on sticks is a mission in itself. Keeping them out of your images is nigh on impossible.

Sometimes the ancient gods of Angkor smile and give you a few tourist free moments, and the shots that follow are some of them from this trip.

Preah Khan, Angkor complex. Built in 12th century and originally home to 100,000 officials!

A group of Buddhist monks resting at Angkor Wat.

Bayon Temple, Angkor complex

Temple Tree, Preah Khan

Angkor Wat

Apologies for the relative silence over the last week or so; I have been very busy shooting around the Siem Reap and Battambang areas.

Bang is about 2.5 hours by car from Siem Reap and is more like what Siem Reap used to be like when I first came here 10 years ago. As I said in the last post,then it felt like a frontier town, with mostly dirt roads and some reasonable hotels, a few not so reasonable hotels and some true backpacker places. Only about 250,000 visitors a year came here then: that figure is now 250,000 A MONTH and the place has changed almost beyond recognition. WIth that much tourist dollar spend the hotels, services, pubs, bars, restaurants and so on have exploded.

One thing that has not changed a lot since the 12th century when it was built is Angkor Wat and the temples that form the complex. It is the largest religious monument in the world and even after almost 1000 years it retains the power to take your breath away.

There are many many more people there than when I last visited and it has become almost impossible to get to see any of the temples alone. Your intrepid correspondent got up at 4am however and went to Ta Prohm to get some shots at dawn and managed to be the only person there for about 40 minutes! Ta Prohm will be familiar to anyone who has seen the first of the Tombraider films starring Angelina Jolie, as it was used as a location in the film. (Tombraider trivia – the Red Piano bar in Siem Reap was a favoured hangout of cast and crew during filming and even today sells a cocktail apparently created by Angelina Jolie called The Tombraider!)

After that we went to a number of other temples (and there are more to visit next week!) and ended up at Angkor Wat itself.

Ta Prohm – Tombraider style!

Incense For Buddha

: Bayon Faces

Angkor Wat

Pol Pot’s Mark

As most will know, the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot in the 1970’s in which 25% of the population were killed, was one of the most dark periods of 20th century history.

Today I visited Wat Thmey, a working Buddhist monastery sited on what was one of the infamous Killing Fields. The monastery today is a school, an orphanage and a memorial to the people who died in the Khmer Rouge holocaust.

The monastery is not as dark and foreboding as you might expect such a place to be; Cambodians on the whole are a happy people and the monks are no different, despite their calling. I joked with one or two of them today, who were larking about and making a joke out of the fact that almost everyone they meet wants to photograph them (it’s something about the orange of the robes, I think! If they adopted the dull brown habit of the average Christian monastic order, I don’t think tourists would take half as many photographs of them).

Whilst I may have photographed them in other circumstances, I had just taken (amongst others) the images below and I am sure you will agree they are sobering to say the least. The skulls and other bones in the memorial were carefully collected by local people and represent a memorial to all those who died under Pol Pot’s communist regime.

Cambodia has done an admirable job of moving forward from such a dark past and the people today are friendly and amongst the most welcoming you will find in SE Asia. The Wheel of Life has certainly turned to a better phase for them.

Wat Thmey Reflected in the Killing Fields Faces

Killing Fields Memorial

Hello Cambodia!

It has been a full 10 years since I was last in Siem Reap and the builders sure have been busy in that time! It looks almost nothing like it did when I was here then.

Given the massive increase in tourism over that period it is not surprising; tourists were only really allowed back into Cambodia in the very late 90’s so the business was still very new when I was here (funny to think Cambodia was a destination du jour in the 50’s and 60’s!). There are now hotels everywhere, new market buildings, ATM’s (which were almost nowhere to be found when I was here first – it was Amex Traveller’s Cheques at the bank then!), roads, bars – even that bastion of globalization KFC.

Outside the town of course it still looks much as it has for decades and later this month I am heading up north towards the Thai border to cover a project called CADF-AVAiL which is funded by NZ and aims to clear agricultural land of mines before helping the local people farm it efficiently. I am sure that during that trip I will see Cambodia unchanged for the most part and I am looking forward to it. Should be some great photos as well.

It’s much quieter here than Vietnam for sure – almost no horn honking at all in fact! Let us hope that that disease never crosses the border. We have had a Khmer funeral at the house next door however – which goes on for 3 days of constant ‘music’ and chanting during the hours that the sun is up (thankfully they stop when it gets dark!) and it is a bit challenging. I am assured that it is traditional – although I doubt the 1500 watt PA system they use is!

Weather is hot (very) and intermittently stormy and rainy; here’s an image from Siem Reap in today’s rainstorm.

Angkor Bell

The Tuk-Tuk drivers here are lucky – when it rains they just pull over and hop in the back until it is over – as you can see here!

Portable rain shelter – a job benefit!

Update On How Social Media Is Helping The Project

Location map of Cambodia with Siem Reap Province highlighted Equirectangular projection, N/S stretching 105 %. Geographic limits of the map: * N: 14.8° N * S: 9.9° N * W: 102.2° E * E: 107.9° E (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have put some help requests out in various places – here on the blog, on Facebook and Linkedin and so I thought that I would update you on how that has worked well.

I have been very impressed and excited by the responses that I have had so far; it is amazing the number of people out there who have got in touch with details of organisations, people and even the offer of cold beers!

This week I will be collating those responses to give them a sense of order so that I can more easily see in one table who is where and what they do and what they have offered. I will be posting links to any organisation that I visit here on the blog so that you can see for yourself where I will be going.

I have a lot of offers in the area of Siem Reap in Cambodia. I am not sure why so many organisations are based in that area but I think that the presence of the Angkor temples – and hence a steady flow of western visitors – mean that Siem Reap is the part of Cambodia that most people see if they ever go there.

I’d like to find opportunities in Battambang too, so if you are reading this and you think that you know of a charity, NGO or other project in that area that would make for interesting images, needs some exposure and is willing to host me for a day or two then please get in touch.

As time to departure ticks down (see the countdown timer on the right!) I am glad that I have sorted out all my technical needs in terms of camera gear and so on. I am comfortable now that I can spend the remaining time planning the actual schedules and that is nice to feel that relaxed and be able to enjoy the interaction with others and explore what they can bring to the project.

Cambodia – Can You Help?

Shot with Leica M7 on Fuji Neopan and scanned into computer.

I will be in Cambodia for more or less all of July 2013.

I will initially be in Siem Reap where I will re-visit the Angkor complex for a few days. I shot there in 2005 on film, using a Leica M7 and, whilst I do love Leica M cameras, the lack of autofocus is a deal breaker for me now, as my eyesight is just too wonky to accurately focus the rangefinder lenses. If they ever introduce an AF model, I’ll be in there like a rat up a drainpipe though! Thus I will enjoy shooting with the D3s and the great glass that I have, bringing home some really interesting images from what remains one of the most interesting places I think I have ever been.

I’d love a Leica S2 kit to shoot with there. I have handled one and found it to be possibly the nicest camera I have ever had in my hands in 30 years. Sadly, however, I could buy a low mileage Porsche for the cost of one of those here, plus the available lenses! One day though – one day….

So, why do I think you folks out there can help? I am searching for interesting NGO and charity projects in Cambodia to go and shoot. I have some lined up through the New Zealand government as they are supporting various projects, particularly to the north of Siem Reap. I have various other irons in the fire as well which will probably see me heading to Phnom Penh and Battambang.

If you know of any aid or charity projects in Cambodia that would be worth my speaking with to see if I can organise to go and see what they do and document their work as part of the project, I would be grateful if you could leave a comment below with details.

I know that there are many organisations working in the country and I know that many reading this will know of them and may have personal contacts there – it would be a great help if you could share that with me! Thanks.

Cambodia Plans

English: Facade of Angkor Wat, a drawing by Henri Mouhot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So at the moment I have several weeks in Cambodia and, now that my original plan of attending a workshop for 2 weeks is in the wind, I am thinking about how to best use that time.

I have thought about cutting the time by changing my flights but that would cost me money for sure as the tickets are no change fares, so I would have to claim on my travel insurance policy and there would be an excess etc etc etc plus paperwork and blah blah. So, since I have the time and no pressing engagements back in New Zealand, I may as well make full use of the opportunity.

I have planned to spend at least 7-10 days at the Angkor Wat temple complex. I have been before 10 years or so ago, but was shooting film and so I am wanting to re-shoot that site with my current equipment. It is a very fascinating place, and if you can find quiet spots away from the hordes of visiting tourists there are some great photo opportunities to be found. Also it is a magical place just to find a shady spot among the stones and sit quietly and enjoy some water and the ancient peace of the place, which is very real.

I am also working with contacts at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (MFAT) to gain access to some of the programs in Cambodia that they are supporting. They are being really helpful, which is great, and have asked me to come in to the office in Wellington for a proper face to face briefing which will be a huge bonus in planning the shoots there.

I’m also putting feelers out to other contacts in NGO‘s, charities and so on to see what I can find from them.

I have tried approaching some of the larger NGO’s and charities but responses were conspicuous by their absence – although I am sure they get very busy and have many such requests.

So stay tuned and I will keep you in the loop as new developments arise.

Angkor Wat at sunrise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)