Ah, Battambang Cambodia; the real deal, with it’s gritty, oil encrusted machine shops, its defunct railroad station and interesting life along the tracks. With authentic local markets selling all kinds of foods, and the famous bamboo train. Indeed, Battambang is one of my favorite places to shoot. It’s always a pleasure to introduce my Angkor Photography Workshop guests to such a fascinating and photogenic, off beat destination. We spent the final few days of the Angkor Photo Workshop exploring and photographing this French provincial Cambodian town, before heading back to Siem Reap and bidding goodbye. Next year, photographer Jeremy Woodhouse, will be co-leading Angkor Photo Workshop 2016 with me. If you’re interested we’d love to have you along, a short 12 months from now.
Anyone for barbequed rat?
Coconut juice extraction
Refurbished engines for sale
Abandoned railway station
I love the portrait of the guy with his hand on hip. Great light (and a great expression). Nice!
Love the shots in the engine shop. I am looking forward to being in Battambang next year
Thanks Lisa and Jeremy, Yes, the machine shops are awesome places to shoot. The guy with his hand on his hip is my favorite of the bunch too. Next year I think I’ll do a mini story about him. When I shot this series, he was just closing up shop because it was starting to rain. Next year we can get over there a bit earlier and spend more time.The dangling cigarette, purely serendipitous. is for me, part of what “makes the shot”. I’m certain that his expression and the angle of the cigarette dangling there, would be difficult to create (or re-create) in a “posed situation”. Thanks to a bit of luck, good timing and Canon’s fast auto-focus I was able to get the shot. To be totally anal retentive, I’d prefer to have a tiny bit more space under his left foot. Working fast with my 70-200 I made the correction in 2 subsequent shots but his gaze and expression is slightly different and not quite so impactful. Of course one might suggest adding some foreground by cloning in Lightroom, but I’m bound by my photojournalist’s code of ethics, not to alter the original image.
Ditto on your portrait – all works wonderfully. Lots of standouts in this bunch – I love the abandon train station shots, the boy on the bike, the portrait of the man with the scarf a couple above that, the woman with the ducks, the girls with the pretzels…. wonderful, all. I heard a driver fell off one of the bamboo trains, unbeknownst to the passengers?
Thanks for the comment Kat! Yes, the driver of our bamboo train was knocked off by a large overhanging branch. Since Tim and I were facing foreword we didn’t realize he had been left behind! The local Cambodian, Mr. Salon, was seated next to the driver, and after he stopped laughing, he applied the break to stop the train. The embarrassed, but unhurt train driver hopped back on and we continued our journey. Only in Cambodia!
What a great story!
What I love about a lot of these shots are how happy the people look. It’s a simple life.
The album consisted of many low key images shot in available light. I wonder how can I shoot such available light images with stunning ambience & colour contrast.
Love the unique, unusual perspective point of view of the image in which a man is cutting an ice block.