Without an H

Photography from south-east Asia by Jon Sanwell

Posts from the ‘photography’ category

Weight

140615-077-edited

I’ve written before about how it often seems like all the hard work in Vietnam is done by women. No-one works harder than the women who carry these don ganh through the streets.

140608-053-edited

Daylight fades

140615-041-edited

Late afternoon and early evening – when it’s not raining – is such a good time to take photographs in Hanoi at the moment. Walking around with the camera as the daylight fades is a hot and sweaty experience at this time of year, but a very rewarding one, as I think that the warm light from the low sun brings out the best in the city.

140602-102-edited

140608-005-edited

140602-163-edited

140615-124-edited

140615-095-edited

140615-109-edited-2

Hanoi cafe culture

140608-060-edited

Late on Sunday afternoon, I came across these two gentlemen, customer and proprietor of a Hanoi street cafe. Cafes are everywhere in Hanoi, big and small. This is one of the smaller ones.

140608-062-edited

Coffee break

140603-070-edited

In these hot and humid Hanoi afternoons, sensible folk take shelter in the shade with a cold drink. Foolish people wander about taking photographs.

140602-112-edited

Lost and found

130417-129-edited

In my idle moments – and I have a few – I often ask myself about what I was doing one year ago. Posing this question again earlier this week, I thought back to the little window of time I spent in Saigon after returning to Vietnam from the UK and before leaving on my Mekong trip. At the end of April last year, I was making plans for my upcoming travels and waiting for my Chinese visa to come through. I also took a few pictures out and about in Saigon, pictures which I had forgotten about until this week.

They’re a little different to the photographs I’ve been taking in Hanoi recently – colour rather than black and white, and taken with a standard zoom rather than my 35mm lens, so the framing is a little tighter in some of these than in my more recent shots. Right now, I’m not sure which approach I prefer, but I’m glad that I found these pictures gathering digital dust in a neglected corner of my Lightroom catalog.

130417-020-edited

130417-133-edited

130417-137-edited

130417-145-edited

130418-006-edited

130420-018-edited

130420-103-edited

130420-114-edited

130420-123-edited

130420-134-edited

130417-029-edited

130420-170-edited

130420-217-edited

130420-262-edited

130421-037-edited

Hello sunshine

140329-029-edited

After weeks of grey, drizzly weather, the sun has begun to force its way through the clouds above Hanoi this week. Not bright, blazing sunshine by any means, but a soft, hazy sunshine that’s perfect for street portraits.

140329-010-edited 140329-021-edited 140329-036-edited 140330-006-edited 140330-023-edited 140330-024-edited 140330-056-edited 140329-026-edited 140330-078-edited

Inspired Eye magazine

photo-magazine-8

Some of my pictures from Vietnam are featured in this month’s issue of Inspired Eye, along with an interview I did with Olivier Duong, one of the photographers behind the magazine. Inspired Eye focuses on street and travel photography and is available for download in PDF format; click on the image above for more detail.

It was a real pleasure to be involved in this issue. Olivier’s questions made me think about how and why I take photographs, and I’m really pleased with the selection and layout of the pictures.