Faces and Places: Laos

If you want to get a good idea of what a country like Thailand looked like 30 years ago, head to Laos.  Besides having some incredible nature dotted by a bunch of friendly, laid-back people, Laos has a very rich culture and history that really set it apart from its Southeast Asian counterparts.  Bottom line:  this place is beautiful.  I'm already looking forward to the time when we can head back and really get to know her a little bit better:

For more photos from our time in Laos, head over to our set on flickr.

Faces and Places: Cambodia

For the holidays this year, we headed once again to Southeast Asia.  Our first stop was the beautiful country of Cambodia.  Despite its modern tragedies and poverty, it is an incredible place to visit, namely because of the ever-smiling people (isn't that what usually makes a place!?).  From colorful villages to ancient Angkor temples to bustling markets and everything in between, Cambodia is definitely a feast for the senses and the camera:

To checkout more from our time in Cambodia, head over to our flickr set.

Funky Monks

Just back from a three-week endeavor to Cambodia and Laos with a whole new batch of inspiration and photos!  Despite the incredible amount of poverty and their depressing recent history, these are two seriously beautiful countries filled with amazingly friendly people.

While there, I was intrigued and inspired by Australian photographer, Deborah Growe, who not only heads the Compassionate Camera organization in Cambodia, but makes some amazing images of local peoples, orange-clad monks in particular.  This is my take on what she does so well: