Mekong River Laos

[yass00]

Hello everyone, I was floating far south of Loas's captial city Vientiane to a place called Pakxe... We where traveling by car down the national high way & encounted bandit gunmen trying to fleece us of everything we had, bags wallets even shoes, thanks to our quick thinking driver, he was able to get us out of harms way...

My lovely wife Christina & I spent some time on the Mekong River heading south towards the Cambodian Border in the middle of December 2004...

I was feeling guilty & still do to this day... This guy was trying to feed his family & i was very inrtusive for my selfish satisfaction :(


http://www.photo.net.au/members/d/3360-1/RiverManEnhancedBorder.jpg

yass00

[EarthSeaSky]

Hi Yass, it's a tranquil shot and I would be doubtful that the fisherman would have minded you taking his picture unless, like some other ethnic groups, they have some superstition that cameras "capture their spirit".

As for your wanderings south of Vientiane, I can only say that whilst I still have a will to live you'll never find me anywhere near that part of the world!

[yass00]

Hi Yass, it's a tranquil shot and I would be doubtful that the fisherman would have minded you taking his picture unless, like some other ethnic groups, they have some superstition that cameras "capture their spirit".

As for your wanderings south of Vientiane, I can only say that whilst I still have a will to live you'll never find me anywhere near that part of the world!

For your first part of your reply Mark, reminds me of a comercial I seen on Tv around 10 years or so ago... Two africans walking around in their native costumes in the middle of the desert & a photographer pops into screen with his mate trying to take a shot, the two africans throw their hands in the air, the photographer thinks he has offended these fellas in taking their picture and thinking he captured their sole & the african guys say something in their native tounge like >> Bloody idiots had the lens cap on... Haha, it was very amusing...

As for the second, being out of my comfort zone in a land far from my own I could not have imagined being anywhere else other than where I was at that time in my life... My journey was spiritual, educational, at times a little apprehensive & many times stood next to my self looking from the outside in !!


yass00

[LyndaC]

being out of my comfort zone in a land far from my own I could not have imagined being anywhere else other than where I was at that time in my life

I have to agree, particularly in relation to the "that time in my life" bit. When we were in La Paz, Bolivia, we had the scariest cab ride in our life, mainly because of the area we had to go through to get to the airport etc. We wrote down the cabbies rego (in front of him) and kept a copy in our wallet and gave a copy to our hosts, so they would know what happened to us if we didn't get there. I digress, but at that time in my life, it was the most amazing experience I wouldn't trade for anything, not the cab ride, but the adventure.

Now, I have children, and in 15 - 20 years time when they tell me they are going travelling for 2 years, see you when we see you, I'll know exactly how my own mother felt.

Love the shot Yass, and I tend to agree with Mark in that I would think that you may have stressed about this picture, yet he would have shook his head and thought, "What does this guy want a picture of me for?", and then wen't back to his fishing.

[xa-coupe]

A nice Pic. Perhaps I would have zoomed in a bit though to make the boat centre of attention. I am sure he didn't mind, he is doing what he needs to do and I'd bet if he was in your position would have taken the pic too.
As for that part of the world being dangerous, there see,s to be anough car jackings going on in sydney these days that as long as you take care, it's as safe as can be expected.
I will hopefully be back in the area next year.

[yass00]

A nice Pic. Perhaps I would have zoomed in a bit though to make the boat centre of attention. I am sure he didn't mind, he is doing what he needs to do and I'd bet if he was in your position would have taken the pic too.
As for that part of the world being dangerous, there see,s to be anough car jackings going on in sydney these days that as long as you take care, it's as safe as can be expected.
I will hopefully be back in the area next year.

Dont forget to visit the tigers in Thailand if you'll be in that part of the world Xa-coupe, human contact in the future will be limited due to new enclosure being built... It will end up like all the other zoo's in the world... Look forward to seeing your photos...

Here is a link for guidance http://www.tigertemple.org/Eng/


yass00

[Mike]

A nice Pic. Perhaps I would have zoomed in a bit though to make the boat centre of attention.
Agreed about zooming in which can also be done easily with a crop at this resolution ..also i notice a lot of pics have blown out skys .. Digital photography has a tendency to increase contrast (as did slide film), good idea to shoot RAW and fix in PS or use ND filters as does kahkityoong to great effect..!