New secret pagoda discovery in Saigon.

November 26, 2014

Yesterday I got to hang out in a beautiful old pagoda in Saigon that my girlfriend was first introduced to as a high school student.

This little known pagoda is home to around 40 monks. Their day starts early with two hours of worship at 4am and another worship service at 5pm. After exploring this beautiful and tranquil pagoda we sat and drank tea and talked with three of the senior monks for some time, a surreal and unique experience seemingly far from the bustle of a hectic city.

Below is a photo of one of our new friends. Window light is so cool for a portrait but in this case it makes the image super atmospheric.

Luxury Yacht Building in Saigon, Vietnam.

November 17, 2014

I was lucky enough to visit the Saigon production facility of Corsair Marine recently to photograph a photo essay for Oi Vietnam Magazine. The images appear in the October 2014 issue of the magazine and the finished product is filed under my "tear sheets"page.

The facility was amazing, located down a nondescript alley in Saigon's District 7 you would never imagine that 400 local workers were producing luxury, ocean going and racing catamarans and trimarans up to 52 feet long and costing up to $2M USD.

It was super cool to meet the management team and the employee's and a pleasure to document their great skill and craftsmanship.

Lights, camera's, action. On a movies set in Saigon, Vietnam.

November 10, 2014

It's always well to expect the unexpected in Vietnam. Last week as I found myself on a movie set in Saigon's District 1. The yet to be named movie has been filming for 6 weeks and has some way to go. The talent includes well known local actors Pham Duc Long and Thu An. It was hot and the work was tedious. It made me happy that I'm nowhere near good looking enough to be an actor!

The 1 o'clock call

November 06, 2014

I'm always apprehensive about photographing people at worship, and so it was last Friday when I was invited to observe and photograph the 1 o'clock call to prayer at the Muslim Mosque on Dong Du Street in Saigon. The worshippers, most men and numbering around 200, started arriving early. They would climb the stairs to the mosque, wash their feet in a pool of water and then take up their position on the prayer mat facing Mecca.

The service ran for a hot and sweaty 45 minutes during which I quietly made some frames of the proceedings. After the service I sat bare foot and cross legged chatting to various members of the congregation about religion and life. It was a fascinating encounter and I made several new friends who invited me to return any time that I wanted.

One of two "mens rooms". Half a dozen women were segregated to their own room for worship.

A trip to a secret island

November 02, 2014

I spent a few days on Phu Quoc Island recently to shoot a photo essay for Oi Magazine on the mysteries of the Phu Quoc pearl industry. The photo's appear in the November issue of Oi Magazine. The main part of the shoot involved spending a day on a pearl culturing pontoon a few hundred metres off a beautiful stretch beach on uninhabited An Binh Island. The pontoon is built on stilts and is open on both sides. On one side the view was across crystal clear turquoise waters to the beach and on the other it was across a stretch of beautiful blue ocean to Cambodia in the distance. Not a bad office for the 40 odd people who work there.

And we went down to the river.

October 28, 2014

I had a hot but enjoyable day last weekend near the small town of Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta, two and a half hours south of Saigon. I was in the delta on assignment for Oi Magazine but after a wrap had been called on the shoot I went up river a little and found an interesting little scene playing out that is so typical of life on the river.

A boat had pulled up on the river bank and men were unloading large baskets of fruit. The heat was oppressive, as it so often is in the delta. The fruit baskets weighed 50 kilograms each but there were hefted effortlessly onto one shoulder, carried off the barge and up the river bank to a large building across the road where the fruit was peeled and put in wood fired kilns to dry. If it was hot outside it was hotter seemingly by a factor of ten inside the drying building where all of the work was done by hand.

The men were a lather of sweat as they unloaded the barge, their shirts stuck to their bodies and the sweat rolling down their faces like the river itself.

Despite the difficulty of their work and the working conditions everyone was incredibly friendly and welcoming, laughing and joking as they took a break for photographs.