Strips

Accidental micro stories, pictorial jump cuts, random snapshots that suggest the passing of time or a scene in a movie.

An ongoing travel and fine art photography project that has slowly evolved over the past few years, taken randomly during travel photography trips, photo walks and general travel in Cambodia and elsewhere. The strips usually come about by accident during the selecting and editing of single photographs, it is a casual sketching process and only a few of the strips were planned at the time of shooting.

The series as a whole was initially influenced by my film school experimental filmmaking in the 90s, as well as vintage stereoscopic images. Some of the strips go back to my film camera celluloid days so have a nostalgic colour/grain effect that has come out of the negative scanning process.

More recently I have started to make portrait/vertical format strips, moving away from the cinema style narrative to a more pictorial illustrative look.

ANZ Royal 10th Anniversary shoot

An interesting commercial shoot recently in Phnom Penh. We had to draw out a big number 10 in a concrete parking space using a hose pipe, some string, gaffer tape and a stone for chalk. We photographed looking down from the corner edge roof of a 3 story building. Slight vertigo at first until I got used to it.

The talents were staff from ANZ branches, we only had about 30 people, so did several shots to be composited, moving the 30 section by section and shuffling them around for each shot.

Great to work with the River Orchid team again and things went nice and sroool. With producer Vicheth Chea, art director come mathematician Paul Bermingham and post production Pirith Uch.

Portrait photography at Liger Learning Centre

I was recently hired to shoot a project during some of the hottest days yet this year, even hot for the Cambodian hot season, temperatures were up to 40C during this portrait photography session. My subjects were the talented students and staff at Liger Learning Centre in Ta Khmao district south of Phnom Penh, the heat didn't seem to bother the students, fans and surrounding foliage at the school grounds helped keep things a bit cooler.

The center is a charity foundation providing a proper rounded education to underprivileged children from around Cambodia. Out of around 1200 students aged 8 to 9, just 50 are accepted onto the 4 year programme. An exceptional school and a cool bunch of kids to work with, all of who could speak great English and hardly needed direction for the shots.

We also shot some architectural photography as well as groups, activities and class action photos. It was a nice change to the usual events and commercial photography. The photographs are to be used for the new Liger website currently in production. We shot the portrait photographs as requested in landscape format, outdoors. All the portraits were taken under a skylight on the roof of the school's main building. This diffused the otherwise extreme direct sunlight and created a soft natural look against the foliage of the surrounding gardens.

Below are some random samples from the portrait sessions.

Teuk Chhou Zoo Revisited

I recently revisited the privately owned Teuk Chhou Zoo in Kampot for the first time in about a year and a half. To my dismay I found many of the animals I had photographed in 2013 missing with empty enclosures. Namely the female leopard, two Bengal tigers, two Asian golden cats and a female gibbon and her infant, leaving her male mate alone where once together they lived a seemingly happy existence. The male gibbon still enjoys his head being massaged through the fence.

Other remaining animals looked unhealthy. Large birds of prey still in cages way too small for them with no shade from the baking heat, some with what looked like broken wings. I also noticed three new sun bears in the old orang-utan cage. A black bear in the tiger's enclosure and what looked like a different wild boar than the previous one I had photographed who foamed at the mouth.

Some people when asked informed me that the missing animals were moved to Prey Veng zoo, also owned by Nihm Vanda. I haven't been to Prey Veng zoo, but in a Google search the first results are "Zoo of Death" with petitions to "Close down Prey Veng Zoo"

Since the breakup between the zoo owner His Excellency Senator Nihm Vanda and NGO Footprints in 2013, the animals were in need of help yet again. Visible substantial improvements could be seen during Footprints short time at Teuk Chhou and positive stories were published in national newspapers and magazines such as the Phnom Penh Post and Asia Life. With titles in the realms of "Zoo on the rise" "Zoo back on track" Apart from the initial breakup these stories haven't been followed up since.

Are these animals dead? Have they been trafficked? Or have they been eaten, as the owner once stated if he couldn't get money. Or are the two zoo's being refurbished/cleaned/rearranged? If the animals are dying why introduce new animals? What is going on? It seems both zoos should be closed down.

PULSAR 200ns photography print ad

Latest commercial photography shoot for the new Pulsar 200NS Vipar Auto ad. Photographed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Bunsak But assisted me on this one as well as managing the final composite and retouch. Nice one mate!
These shiny bikes are tricky to light. We used a makeshift white tent to surround the bike. Unwanted reflections, reflections, and more reflections!!