Travel Diary: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Recently, a last minute opportunity came up and I jumped at the chance to have a sneaky weekend in Siem Reap. Home to the temples of Angkor Wat, the last time I got a chance to visit Siem Reap was this past February on a similar last minute decision. I mentioned a slick shiny airport in the last blog post and, as I walked off the plane, I was greeted by a bigger, newer, shinier, airport. By bigger, l mean massive. Towering ceilings, seemingly endless gates, around a 10 minute walk from gate to immigration, it dwarfs the Saigon Airport. Just for a bit of context, Siem Reap, with its population of 250,000 people had 2 million people travel through their previous airport last year while Saigon, with its population of 10 million, accommodates nearly 40 million folks each year. I hope the size of the new airport doesn’t indicate the projected growth in visitors to this little corner of Cambodia. The thought of that many people swarming Angkor Wat makes my head explode.

As I hopped in my transport to the city, I asked the driver how long it would be as I had to hop on afternoon call, and the response of “around an hour” was a bit jaw dropping given the small size of Siem Reap. It’s not like you need to drive across a sprawling metropolis to get to land that would accommodate an airport. In any event, after I spent the hour commute trying to wrap my head around this new airport, I remembered how much I love coming here. Life slows waaaaaaaay down, the countryside is gorgeous, and all that red dirt reminds me of my Georgia roots. Pair that instant slowdown with the awe-inspiring temples of Angkor and I’m a happy man. I only ventured out to the temples for an afternoon, but it paid off in spades. Incredible light completely complemented a nearly perfect backdrop and provided just the cure for the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Saigon.

I’ll be posting more of these images over on Instagram so go give that a follow if you’re digging these.

Travel Diary : Komodo and Nusa Penida, Indonesia

It’s been crazy busy lately, so I’ve had a backlog of images from some travel earlier this year and I’m just now able to get to these. Over the summer, Komodo was calling and I definitely answered. The small town of Labuan Bajo was a dusty little town the last time I was there and while its still a small town, it’s definitely not dusty anymore. Looks like a substantial investment in infrastructure has led to a boom in development. Nicer roads, a massive increase in food offerings and considerably more tourists. It felt like a different place. It doesn’t look like its spiraled out of control, so I’m hoping it retains its laid back vibes for a bit longer.

Following Komodo, I popped back to Nusa Penida to see some friends and have a pitstop before heading back to Saigon. It’s always such a good look to not worry about going to see much and just slowing down to hang with friends. Only there for a couple nights, I didn’t get to shoot much, but the light was incredible and I couldn’t help but including a few frames in this post.

For the photographers, I travelled light and fast so I shot all of these on my little Fuji x100s.

Recent Work: Furniture Photography for Totem Road

Totem Road, based out of Sydney, recently tapped us to create some fresh images for the upcoming release of their new line of furniture. Totem Road’s aesthetic is bright, airy and coastal, so we wanted to create some super clean images that reflected that beachy, cruisy vibe. In the past, their visuals were shot in a natural light studio, but I had other ideas. For consistency and not having to rely on ol’ Mother Nature, we opted to use artificial light to recreate these moods so we could shoot for a prolonged period of time, focus on details, and not have to worry about our earth’s rotation around the sun. We built a set and our aim was to create spaces that were minimal yet looked inviting. peaceful, and coastal. The collaborative process in preproduction made our shoot a breeze and it all goes to show that proper planning and being able to bounce ideas around before hand always results in better work. Endless thanks to the team at Totem Road for all the hard work in minding the details and being such a crucial part in how these turned out.

Go have a look at their new lines here and here and you can pick up one of these beautiful pieces for your house.

For the lighting folks, these were all shot with Elinchrom lights. We had a few 1000 watt monolights and a few packs and heads depending on where we positioned the lights. For the room scenes, it was a 3 light setup - 1 light in a big octabank camera right through the window to recreate that soft morning glow, 1 light to camera left in a v flat to ensure we were filling in any light fall off, and 1 light through a 10” reflector through the window to create the light patterns on the floor and walls. I used the curtains as flags to dial in the exact shaping of the light.

Travel Diary: Coron, Philippines

It’s been over 8 years since I’ve been to Coron and I’d heard things had changed drastically since then, so as I headed back to the land of WW2 shipwrecks and incredible scenery, I wondered how this sleepy town of my memory had changed. While there’s actually a pub that serves craft beer, and there’s a bit more traffic, it still had much the same vibe as I remembered. Super friendly people, incredible diving, and a laid back air that seemingly only island life can have. While most of my time was spent underwater exploring the Japanese wrecks from WW2, I made use of the surface time to wander around and take some street shots here and there. Of course, I tried (key word “tried”) to capture the jaw dropping vistas of the surrounding islands, but I’m well aware of what ticks the boxes as far as what I love shooting. Either way it was such a nice return to Palawan with new eyes!

For the photographers, these were all shot on my trusty little Fuji x100s. I love (and my back as well) having such a little camera for these types of trips.

If you like these types of images, head on over to my Instagram and give it a follow!

Travel Diary: Hong Kong

During my weekly scan through google flights, I came across cheap flights to Hong Kong and impulse bought a ticket so off I went to Hong Kong for a few days. With no real itinerary in mind other than gorging myself on dumplings and catching up with some friends, strolling around Hong Kong aimlessly with my camera was such a fun way to see the city with new eyes while revisiting some old haunts.

The way the tall buildings break up the light into little shafts of illuminated vignettes always hits that aesthetic bullseye for me and that coupled with the neon glow of Hong Kong’s nights, most of my images consisted of little pools of light and textures. Probably one of my favorite places in the world to shoot street photography, I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hydrant when it came to where to hit the shutter. Little alleys, interesting textures, incredible light and how it bounces off the buildings, the juxtaposition of new and old. It’s a street photography dream.

Travel Diary : Alor Archipelago, Indonesia

A recent trip took me to the Alor Archipelago in Indonesia for a week of scuba diving. Yes, I know there are going to be questions about why there aren’t any images from the dives and I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t shoot underwater. At least not yet. Diving is about flow and meditation for me and the last thing I’ve wanted to to do when I’ve been underwater is to think about f,stops and exposure and composition That being said, it has been creeping into my mind lately, and I may…. maaaaaaay try to get into some underwater photography the future. No promises though. In any event, this little bit of paradise is just as stunning above water as it is below water, so during the times between dives, I wandered around and took some little travel snaps to keep my creative juices flowing. Incredible vistas, traditional markets, and mountain villages are all the things I love about travel. Meeting new people and watching new horizons. These are just a few of my favorite frames and I can’t wait to get back. Perhaps there will be some underwater shots next time a post goes up about Alor.

Recent Work: John Lyle Design

Recently, the good people at John Lyle Design tapped us to make some images of their incredible furniture. After a visit to their workshop and watching the artisans craft these pieces, we knew we had to make some super clean images to showcase them the way they deserved. We had two looks - one on a white background and one with a bit more mood to it to differentiate for the multiple channels they’d be used. We opted for pretty simple lighting setups with a single key and a fill to carve out the angles. We bounced some light with some white cards and cut some light with a flag or two, but nothing super complicated as far as lighting is concerned. To achieve the two different looks, we adjusted ratios for the, but kept light placement the same to maximise the efficiency of the shoot.

Live Music Recap: The Black Lips and Skeleton Goode

Last week, Atlanta hometown heroes, The Black Lips played a small one off show here in Saigon after their gig at Coracle Music Fest up in Mui Ne. It was all a bit surreal as I’ve seen The Black Lips more times than I can probably count and it brought back memories of beer-soaked ridiculous shenanigans years ago when I lived in the A. It was so good being able to indulge in some nostalgia while partying with the Saigon homies. Skeleton Goode opened up with their take on Psych rock and absolutely killed it. Super solid opening set. The Black Lips followed and played to an increasingly rowdy crowd as the night went on. Booties shook, rugs were cut, good times all around.

I only took my Fuji x100s anticipating maybe a few beers flying and wanted to avoid cleaning the Sony kit after night of rocking out, but it turns out Saigon has a bit more manners than Atlanta so everything stayed dry. Shooting with the Fuji was ….. not ideal. While this little camera is completely capable in travel and most other situations, it is not exactly fluent in autofocusing in low light situations. That being said, I loved the rawness of these frames and they definitely matched the vibe of the show. It felt like the DIY punk shows I grew up going to nearly every week. I wish more of these type shows happened in Saigon , but based on some info I heard recently, this may be changing in the near future. Fingers crossed! Now onto the images!

Skeleton Goode

The Black Lips