Without an H

Photography from south-east Asia by Jon Sanwell

Posts tagged ‘street’

Streets of Yangon V

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I only took two lenses with me on my four week trip to Myanmar in the autumn: a 35mm and an 85mm. I wanted to keep things simple and light by only using prime lenses. I ended up using the 35mm about 90% of the time, typically switching to the 85mm late in the day. It’s a great combination for someone mainly interested in portrait photography. The 35mm is ideal for environmental portraits, showing a person in context (as above), while the 85mm lends itself to close-up head shots (as below). Both are relatively small and light, and encourage the photographer to get close, but not too close, to their subject. With both lenses, my physical distance from the person I’m photographing is about the same: close enough to establish some kind of connection, however fleeting, but not so close as to invade their personal space.

I’m finding my standard zoom lens increasingly cumbersome, and rarely use it these days, so much so that I’m thinking of trading it in for a wide-angle prime. While I never really wish for anything longer than 85mm, there were occasions on this trip when I would have liked something wider than 35mm, particularly for landscapes and architecture. Does anyone else out there have any experience of going zoom-free? I’d be interesting in hearing your thoughts.

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Election fever

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My autumn trip to Myanmar coincided with the country’s general election, which resulted in Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy entering parliament with a majority for the first time, following decades of military rule. Everyone I spoke to about the election seemed to be cautiously optimistic – hopeful that the election would lead to real change, but wary about the ruling party’s willingness to make way. Aung San Suu Kyi herself appeared to be a genuinely unifying presence, calm, intelligent and dignified (a kind of anti-Trump), her image on posters, billboards and front pages throughout the country.

This collection of pictures is by no means a comprehensive account of the events of last November, just a few election-themed images that caught my eye.

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Streets of Yangon IV

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Right now, if I could choose one city in the world to wander around in with a camera, it would be Yangon. My visit in November last year was my second time in the city, so it was familiar enough for me to feel comfortable and orientated, but not so familiar that I felt like I’d seen it all before. I spent a lot of time just zigzagging my way through the tightly-packed grid of streets in downtown Yangon, no particular destination in mind, just looking for a character, a scene or a detail to photograph.

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Oooh, Pyin Oo Lwin

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Pyin Oo Lwin, a couple of hours from Mandalay and at the edge of the Shan Plateau, has a little bit of everything I like about Myanmar. The mixture of cultures and influences – Burmese, Shan, Chinese, Indian, British – can be seen in the people, food and architecture, while its cooler climate and slightly quirky atmosphere reminded me a little of Dalat in Vietnam.

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The Devil of Mandalay and other pictures

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I don’t have many regrets about my autumn trip to Myanmar, but I do wish that I’d spent a little more time in Mandalay. The pictures here are some of my favourites from the trip, but there are too many others, not shown here, where I just didn’t quite capture the mood. Still, at least it gives me an excuse to go back another time.

This will be my last post of the year, so I’d just like to say a big thank you to everyone following the site. I know I’m not very good at replying to comments, but that doesn’t mean they go unnoticed or unappreciated. Thank you, and happy new year, everybody.

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The Devil of Mandalay

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In Mawlamyine

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I’m a big fan of sleepy, gently crumbling riverside towns in south-east Asia. Kompong Cham and Kratie in Cambodia, Savannakhet in Laos – these are some of the places that I’ve most enjoyed visiting over the last few years. To that list, I can now add Mawlamyine in south-eastern Myanmar. It’s not a place with any really jaw-dropping sights – the town itself is the attraction, with its weathered colonial-era buildings, its pagodas, mosques and churches, its dockside market and its friendly, curious people.

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A bicycle made for two

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A quick shot from Mawlamyine in southern Myanmar. I spent four weeks travelling around the country in October and November, taking a ton of pictures which I am just now starting to sort through. So there’ll be more – quite a lot more – soon.