Without an H

Photography from south-east Asia by Jon Sanwell

Posts tagged ‘portrait’

April wanderings

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Sometimes when I take pictures, I have a particular project in mind, maybe a specific location or neighbourhood or a particular style of photograph. Other times, I just wander about randomly and take pictures of what or who I see. Recently, I’ve been doing the latter. I don’t think either approach is better or worse than the other; they’re both just a reflection of how I’m feeling at the time, how focused – or not – my mind is. So these are some pictures I’ve taken on the streets in Hanoi over the last month; no overall theme or story here, though I think some of them fit together quite nicely in twos or threes.

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Bangkok miscellany

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A collection of portraits, street scenes and details from my visit to Bangkok at the start of the year.

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Lunar new year decorations

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Wat Arun, my favourite temple in Bangkok

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Beware of falling elephants

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Chinatown

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Thailand is in a one year period of mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last year

Metal and charms in Bangkok

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Back in January of this year, I spent a few days in Bangkok. It was the Tet holiday, or lunar new year, here in Vietnam, which is always a good time to leave Hanoi in search of warmer weather. In Bangkok, I met up with my dad, who was visiting from the UK for a few days, having just been on holiday in Myanmar. We spent an agreeable few days being tourists, visiting the obligatory temples and treating ourselves to Thai cuisine. After Dad went back home, I had a few more days to wander around by myself.

One of my favourite parts of Bangkok is its Chinatown, the network of streets around Thanon Yaowaraat, where these pictures were taken. At the south-east end of Thanon Yaowarat, near Wat Traimit, there are a few streets of hardware stores, selling metal pipes, rods, tubes, girders and sprockets (probably). I always enjoy taking pictures in streets like this; I like the patterns. Not far away, there’s a streetside amulet market, where you can buy lucky charms and talismans. I think that these traders have been relocated from their old market near the Grand Palace.

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amulet-market-portraits

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Looping the loop (day 4 in Ha Giang)

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For most of this trip to Ha Giang province, in the mountains of northern Vietnam, I was concentrating on taking landscape pictures, something I don’t do that often. It was a nice change of pace for me; when I’m shooting portraits or street scenes in Hanoi, I’ll often take a lot of pictures of the same person or scene, hoping to find the right expression, angle or moment. Landscape photography is a slower, more considered process, and requires a different mindset. I should do more of it. But there’s more to Ha Giang than landscapes. Early in the morning of my last day on the road, I visited the tiny market village of Du Tien, near Du Gia, and had the chance to shift gears and go back to taking people pictures. I always enjoy wandering around markets in Vietnam, and elsewhere in south-east Asia, and I wish I’d taken in more on this trip. This market was mostly made up of stalls selling clothes, fabric and household goods, and was populated by people from a number of different ethnic minority groups.

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After leaving the market, we embarked on the final leg of the journey, from Du Gia back to Ha Giang City. The low cloud of the morning gave way to hazy sunshine as the day progressed.

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I remember approaching Ha Giang City again, the loop almost complete, watching the distance to our final destination gradually counting down on the roadsigns, and wishing that this wasn’t the end and that the journey could continue for longer. I was feeling nostalgic about the trip, and it wasn’t even over yet. As I mentioned in the first of these Ha Giang posts, I’d wanted to visit this beautiful province for years; I’m so glad I finally made it up there, and am looking forward to a return visit in the spring.

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Hanoi / Yangon

Earlier this year, I had my first photography exhibition at the Vietnam in Focus cafe / gallery in Hanoi. Mirror Cities: Hanoi / Yangon was a collection of street portraits from the two cities. The pictures were shown in pairs, Hanoi in black and white, Yangon in colour, with each pair having something in common in terms of subject, style or theme.

The exhibition got a little attention in the Vietnamese media – I had my fifteen minutes of fame (or five and a half minutes of indifference) on VTV4 – but the main benefit for me personally was seeing a collection of my photographs as large prints. I don’t print my pictures nearly enough, and this is something that I’ve resolved to do more in the future.

New photobook: Hanoi (Portraits of the City)

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It’s the Christmas gift no-one’s been waiting for. I’ve self-published my new photobook, Hanoi (Portraits of the City). It’s available as a print book or e-book through blurb.co.uk.

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A neighbourhood that straddles the railway tracks; a market that offers everything under the sky; intimate portraits of the men and women of the city; the details, textures and patterns that get lost in the background; and fragments of the everyday life seen in the streets, alleys, cafes and lakes of Hanoi.

This 150 page photobook, compiled over two years, is a personal journey through the city I’ve come to call home.

Click here for more details or on the link below for a preview.