Years of my childhood are in faded memory. Vaguely I remember, I was about 5 or 6 years old when first visited to this place.  Though I was born in Rangoon yet due to my parents’ migration of their professional works, I grew up in a Coastal city called DaWei (formerly known as TAVOY) which belonged to Southern Lower Burma region. Since young age, my parents always wanted me to improve English language and sent me to Rangoon on every summer holidays to stay with my relatives to take special English classes at St. John Convent High school. Being medical doctors by profession, my parents are always occupied with their clinical and patients’ works. Therefore they rarely could travel for any non-emergent reasons nor accompanied me whenever I had to go to Rangoon.

To be honest, I wasn’t happy the time being in Rangoon.  Though I stayed at my grandy’s house, I was feeling myself like a total stranger.  I sensed like I am at somewhere I did not belong to.  Means my summer holidays in Yangon, I cried everyday. Why?  Because I miss my parents and my town.  Seriously!!! I talked to my parents  everyday and asked them to come over Rangoon to see me. Finally, my beloved Dad came up to Yangon to see me.  I was so elated. Dad brought me around Rangoon.  Dad and I have plenty of similarities.  Our hand writing, our voice over the phone, our favorite  food and the likes.  We are Chinese but we both love eating Indian food!  There used to be a banana leaf restaurant (I can’t remember the name) on Shwebontha Street we normally go and eat. I enjoyed my Dad’s visit because I could go out here and there with him.  My aunts never let me go out even during those weekends and public holidays.

DAYS IN YANGON WITH MY DAD

One sunny day, we were walking along the Anawrahta Road (formerly known as Frazer Road).  I was so strange seeing those street vendors on platform, we sometimes eat street food and it was so fun. And Dad normally visits his close friend, Mg Mg Hnyat (Photo Mg Mg Hnyat).  This place is just next to Mg Mg Hnyat’s house.  Yes, it’s 33rd Street (Upper Block) of Kyauktada Township, Rangoon.  The area that is usually packed with numerous street vendors, photo printing shops, a few cameras and other multimedia accessories shops.  And it’s right behind the Yangon City Hall.

SHOOTING

Since my childhood days, I always see this place in my mind.  It used to be like my playground. I love that place, for the price of no reason.  Yes, I simply love it.  So I murmured myself, “I’ll shoot this place when I could buy a camera”.  I sense like I have many good memories there.  Inadvertently, I happened to go there again in 2009 June.  Actually, I went there to buy a HOYA UV filter for my NIKKOR AF 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I captured this shot after buying the filter.  And I  have transformed it as monochromatic tone means recalling my childhood days.  Time swings so fast and it’s been 20 years.  To me, there are no significant changes.  It’s unchanged, it’s untouched and it’s Rangoon.  Yes, I miss Rangoon a lot.

* * * * *

Unchanged Yangon

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The blog posts here on my web page depends on my mood.  I have no precise routine of which photo to be published when.  I live on my heart beats, listen to my fans and make decision on the spectrum of my mood fluctuation.  For the past month, I have been sharing quite a lot of documentary series regarding ancient pagodas from Bagan.  My Bagan photos have becomes a great cure for home sick folks.  Especially, for those who are oversea and my foreign friends.  Honestly, it eats lots of time to prepare for a single post of such documentary.  I need to do lots of data mining, read articles and history books thoroughly.  And I even could not touch my candid shots and street lives, my favorite types of photography. Candid Photography is best defined as “un-posed and unplanned, immediate and unobtrusive. This is in contrast to classic photography, which includes aspects such as carefully staged portrait photography, landscape photography or object photography. Candid photography catches moments of life from immersion in it.” And yes, this Candid photography is the very reason that I hold my camera today.

MY CANDID POSTS

Last week, I shared a picture of an abandoned woman from U Pain bridge.  Many of my friends fond of that single candid shot which I titled No Surrender.  So now I am giving another candid post for you.  This time is called The Survivor.  It is a portraiture of a street child looking for the plastic bottles and bags.  While I desaturated the photo,  it turned out so touchy that I remember a poem I came across when I was back in university life. The poem says:

I shall often sit down alone
till darkness fades gently away
but fast
slowly, i tried to recall but cried
thinking of ancestral home; too distant to return…

MESSAGE FROM YE LWIN OO

I still have Bagan photos and I will be back them after a while.  And there will be a SHWEDAGON night scene photos which I have been shooting lately, SHWEDAGON from different angles…

“In extreme circumstances, street children are the neglected, abused and rejected offspring of parents and communities benumbed by the minimal conditions of their lives.”

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It was May Day, a special holiday for me.  I asked my friend to pick me up in the morning.  We got a shooting somewhere around Yangon.  5:00 sharp, there my mobile rang!  I got myself dressed up and went to Lanmadaw Street.   Yes, this little bastard called Wynn Thein asked me to wait him at Lanmadaw plaza, 100 meter away from my home.  I was carrying my heavy camera bag and went down to Lanmadaw plaza to see his UGLY face.  Damn…  I am blessed with no choice.  I walked on an empty street.  And I saw this trishaw driver sleeping this way.  So, I took out my camera and gave him a shot.  Yes, he didn’t even know that I captured his sleep.

Working for the whole night, it might be a sound sleep for him.  A precious and my favorite type of candid shot.

Photo Information
Camera – Nikon D90
Lens – Nikkor 18-200mm VR
Exposure Time – 1/8s
ISO Speed – 320
Focal Length – 26mm

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It was taken during my recent trip to Bangkok.  Pantip IT City is the biggest playground for me in Bangkok.  I go there and shop for gears, meet up with friends, and shop around the World Trade Center.  It was 17th Apr 2009.  I went Pantip to buy some lens and needed some cash.  So I decided to run down to money changer.  And happened to see a mother and a son near Platinum Shopping Mall. Yes, they are beggars.  Mom was wearing a smile and asking for some coins from the visitors passing by.  I have given a 20 Baht note and asked her permission for a single photo.  She smiled and said YES.  Thanks for the shot.

DEDICATION

Coming Sunday, May 10th is International Mothers’ Day.  A friend of mine requested me to have a dedication post here on my page.  Something tribute to Mothers!

What she does, who is she, where she comes from?  We don’t need to care.  Because she is Everything…  she is Mom…

Everything Mom

How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor
To me, when I was a kid.
How did you do it all, Mom,
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.
I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I’d call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.
By Joanna Fuchs

IMMORTAL LOVE…

Photo Information
Camera – Nikon D90
Lens – Nikkor 18-200mm VR
Exposure Time – 1/100s
ISO Speed – 400
Focal Length – 42mm

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Photo Information
Camera – NIKON D40
Exposure Time – 1/60s
ISO Speed – 400
Focal Length – 85mm

SHOOTING

This shot is also from my Chaung Tha trip. I still remember that day. I woke up 6AM in the morning while other people were still admist their sound sleep. I was lost and didn’t know what to do. Sigh… I slept with my cousin who sleeps like a pig. Finally I decided to have my breakfast. I saw couples of teashops along the shore. Yes, I walked there. And I tried tea and some local snacks. Quite delicious and cheap!! Then I took out my camera to have some MORNING SHOTS. But then, I saw this man who makes tea and coffee. In local terminology, we call such man a TEA MASTER. Yes, he kept himself busy with blending. I saw a big hole on roof of the teashop. So the morning sunbeams became an array of a smooth spectrum behind the tea master. Bravo!! That’s the perfect moment and I had my button released. In fact, I have been eager to have such AGAINST LIGHT SHOT with a lively SUBJECT/OBJECT in front. This shot make my dream come true.

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Love is not to be constrained in the acridness and simplicity of biology, but is to be left floating delicate, innocent of any material reality. Maternal love became visible as the primary love on world. Maternal love is holy and the earliest love created by progression. It is also the first love that living creature experiences. I used to have one similar post back in 17 DEC 2008. With my B&W twirl, I’ve titled my post GROOVY KIND OF LOVE. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, lots of my friends adore the picture as an EXPRESSIVE PICTORIAL. Since then, I have been truly stanch to have more shots about maternal love.

SHOOTING

That’s a street vegetable vendor in China town. Yangon Chinatown market is jam-packed from sunrise to noon. From fresh vegetable and various produces to ready made food packages, Chinatown is a place you should count on. It undeniably is a one-stop shopping locale for housewives. I went this street bazaar to snatch some market shots. I have got this shot by chance while this vegetable vendor was breast feeding her baby of 2-3 months old.

This is ORIGINAL shot, just added a slight lighting and watermark…  the rest are status quo…

FILTERED B&W effect… which one is better? Let me hear some feedback from you guys…

Photo Information
Camera – Nikon D40
Exposure Time – 1/400s
ISO Speed – 400
Focal Length – 50mm

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In our Chinese tradition, RED is the symbol of AUSPICIOUSNESS…

Some kids hold BOUQUET (means the season of BLOSSOM) and some embrace LANTERNS (means ENLIGHTENING the up coming year)

Look around 360 degree, you see everything is RED…

A scene that we see only once a year, I would definitely be looking forward to see them in 2010…

HAPPENING

We have just passed the festive season of Chinese New Year (also known as SPRING FESTIVAL). However, the mood of Chinese New Year is still growing in me. The lion dance, sticky pancakes and fire crackers are still overwhelming my mind. Yangon Chinatown is still crowded. In fact, Chinese New Year season ends only by 9th Day after New Year eve. On that day, descendants from some regions of China rejoice second celebration of the New Year.

SHOOTING

These shots were created on 25th Jan 2009. Thousands of Chinese structured a rally in Yangon Chinatown. Participants are Committee members of various Chinese Associations, Trustees of Chinese Temples, Chinese Traders, Chinese Lion Dancing Teams, Kung Fu Clubs, spectators and of course Chinese new generations. I saw these little kids rallying at the forefront of the mass. They were wearing classic Chinese traditional costumes. Honestly, I murmured myself that they all are so much adorable. Nowadays, these costumes come to the state of so-called scarcity. We are more prone to see Chinese kids wearing JEAN PANTS instead of such customary costumes. It does happen to every race around the world, I guess. Our ancestors are so much agonizing that the traditions will be in wane.

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Photo Information
Camera – Nikon D40
Exposure Time – 1/60s
ISO Speed – 200
Focal Length – 52mm

Have you ever tried DOSA? It’s one of my favorite types of Indian food. The DOSA is a South Indian crêpe made from rice and lentils. Dosa is a typical South Indian food, taken as breakfast or dinner, and is rich in carbohydrates and protein. Regular Dosa batter is made from rice and split, skinned urad bean (black lentil) blended with water and left to ferment overnight.

This is a street Dosa vendor I had seen in KHA-YANN township of Rangoon division. She seems feeling way out smoldering sitting next to the traditional wooden stove for hours.

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I had created this shot long time ago near PYI WIN railway station of MAGWAY division. The train stopped by for some 30 minutes to fill the gas. I was gazing towards the corridor of the station. Suddenly hit on this Mom and son. The mom was picking the nose of her son and the kid was crying out loud. They seem waiting for short-train ferry train to be arrived. I have inspired it with monochromatic B&W tone due to my savor and the taste becomes temptingly lovable.

I never have such photo which conveys endearing maternal love. You know what? This single shot makes me go for more maternal love. Currently, I am in lust for facial expression of a pregnant woman. Still don’t have clue where / how to find a pregnant model but I know it’s going to be a very thought provoking shot. People say Maternal Love is infinitely amiable and the warmest type of vigor for everyone young or aged. So, why don’t we bring our Moms in our prayers everyday!!

Photo Information
Camera – Nikon D40
Exposure Time – 1/80s
ISO Speed – 200
Focal Length – 200mm

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This is a pure snap shot. I was sitting at a tea shop sited on a platform (sidewalk). Here in Burma, we have plenty of similar tea shops countrywide. Every street you go in, you see these shops. These shops occasionally become meeting place for circle of our friends. All of a sudden, I saw these kettles boiling tea. I ran to my car and took camera to have these shots. I took this shot without flash. I have tried couples of shots with ISO 400 however the shots did not turn out to be decent. Finally ended up with ISO 800.

Photo Information
Camera – Nikon D40
Exposure Time – 0.625s
ISO Speed – 800
Focal Length – 55mm

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