Cambodia
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Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
I was asked by friend to visit Cambodia to be the photographer for his wedding. I was very honored, and a little anxious, because I did not want to screw it up. I was in for a great and long day! Traditional Khmer weddings start at sunrise for the morning fruit ceremony when the groom’s family delivers hundreds of platters of fruit to the bride’s family as a dowry. The bride and groom change outfits over ten times throughout the day for different ceremonies and parts of the party. It was a huge blessing for me to be able to do this and I am very thankful.
-Can you find the Khmer version of Chris Griffin?
Posted in Cambodia | 1 Response »
Tags: Art, Cambodia, Cambodian wedding, Fruit Ceremony, Khmer, Khmer Chris Griffin, Khmer culture, Matrimony, Party, Sing, Sunrise, Tradional khmer wedding
Friday, August 21st, 2009
If one thing shines through as indicative of the 20th century, sadly it might be genocide. All of our technological advances have lead to the more efficient killing of our fellow man. Estimates range drastically but it is almost universally accepted that over 100 million people died at the hand of genocide in the 20th century.
This picture is from inside the walls of the Tuol Sleng memorial in Phnom Penh where in the 1970′s the Khmer Rouge killed over 1.5 million of its own people. The torture was brutal and they murdered almost indiscriminately.
The warden of this prison, Duch, is currently on trial awaiting his fate. He fled Phnom Penh after the rebellion was suppressed and lived out in the countryside for years. After a conversion to Christianity in the mid 1990′s Duch was placed on trial earlier this year, and has asked to receive the maximum penalty for his crimes against humanity, asking even to be stoned if the court sees it fit.
Buy this print at RedBubble.com
Posted in Cambodia | 2 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, Duch, Genocide, Genocide trial, Kampuchea, Kang Kek Lew, Killing Fields, Pol Pot, S21, Tuol Sleng
Saturday, July 18th, 2009
As we walked by I couldn’t help but think, “Do these people know that they are standing in a massive pool of dog urine?”.
Posted in Cambodia | 3 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, Phnom Penh
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
In Phnom Penh one of the most popular things for people to do is sit by the Mekong. Night and day people gather and simply talk. Merchants line the river selling food and chatting with anyone happening to walk by. Watching the Cambodian people sit at the river makes it easy to understand why they are called the happiest people on eart.
Posted in Cambodia | 3 Responses »
Tags: Art, Cambodia, Phnom Penh, River
Saturday, June 13th, 2009
Cambodia has a traffic law that fines all motorbike drivers one dollar who are not wearing a helmet. What they do not have is a law that fines the other three people riding on the motorbike for not wearing a helmet. Needless to say, if the baby fits somewhere put it there.
Posted in Cambodia | 4 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Traffic laws
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
I saw these boys in the slums of Phnom Penh having fun and playing next to the drainage canal for the neighborhood. It continues to make me wonder if the real travesty in being poor lies in finding out that you are poor.
Posted in Cambodia | 5 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, happiness, Phnom Penh, Poverty, Slums
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
At midday Phnom Penh was buzzing with development as these three young monks walked down the streets and alleyways silently spreading the fragrance of their incense. Life as a monk is simple, and throughout Southeastern Asia they are allowed the board airplanes before anyone else.
Buy this print at RedBubble.com
Posted in Cambodia | 2 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Streets
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
On the spot where hundreds of people were chained to the floor, tortured, and starved a breeze pushes a flower inside. The Cambodian people have spent the last forty years re-building their country from the devastation of the Khmer Rouge. The expression is beautiful and it breathes hope.
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Tags: Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, Phnom Penh, S21
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
This boy rested on barbed wire as he begged for money to pay for his daily bread. He lived at the killing fields of Choeung Ek where millions of Cambodians were ruthlessly murdered by the Khmer Rouge. He survived off the money that curious tourists gave him as they walked over the bones left sticking out of the ground from the genocide.
Posted in Cambodia | 5 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, Choeung Ek, Genocide, Khmer Rouge, Killing Fields
Friday, March 20th, 2009
This series was shot on a rare sunny day during monsoon season in Phnom Penh. We rode mopeds to a restaurant on the outskirts of the city that was propped up by 2x4s so that it was overlooking the Mekong river. We laid in hammocks and enjoyed the gentle breeze coming off the river as we made conversation. The food finally arrived and my Cambodian friends tricked me into eating ant larvae, which actually tasted like Tom Yam soup. After eating we sat and watched as a family pulled up to the river bank in a boat and picked fruit from the surrounding area to sell at the market. Even as I was laying in a hammock the entire experience felt surreal, so the pictures probably tell a better story than I do.
Posted in Cambodia | 5 Responses »
Tags: Cambodia, Moto, Phnom Penh, River
