Smelling the roses

In the rush of being a freelance photographer, it’s hard to stop and smell the roses. Deadlines, meetings, research, pitches, more meetings keep me away from shooting for myself. Kinda like recharging the creative batteries so its nice to actually get a chance to go out and shoot just for myself.

I had a chance to do this on Sunday where I took a photography class out to Olympic stadium for a practical workshop. It was a great experience as the students were great and really took to finding their own style of photography.

I have been going to the Olympic Stadium over the years and I find it to be my favorite spot to shoot in the city. It’s a lively place no matter what time of the day.

A couple of images from the day:

Inside the Olympic Stadium

Painting the steps at Olympic Stadium

Last one is a portrait of a football spectator that I previously snapped 5 years ago.

Portrait taken 5 years ago

Portrait of a football fan at Olympic Stadium in 2011

He was very surprised that I remembered him from 5 years ago. I told him that it was very easy to remember someone as handsome as him. He just smiled and then slapped me on the shoulder.

Nice one.

Eb Chhay

Its a sound I hear every morning around 9 or so. “Eb Chhay…. Eb Chhay….”
Eb Chhay is a person (generally ethnic Vietnamese) who walks around town with a 2 wheeled cart and buy back pretty much anything that can be recycled. What doesn’t get bought by them gets sent to the notorious Stung Meanchey garbage dump.

Taken on Mao Tse Tung at a light near the Russian Market. A couple of kids hanging out in a cart goofing around.

Taking a break from the heat

Sue and I went to the Meta House last night to view a documentary in progress about Vann Molyvann, an architect who has built such iconic structures like the Independence Monument and the National Olympic Stadium.
Sadly, most of the buildings that he has designed are being left to decay or flat out destroyed in the name of progress.
So I am putting in another photo taken for the Cambodia Daily a year ago when the French Cultural Center organized a tour with the architect to view and talk about his lifes work.

Vann Molyvann at the Teacher Training College in Phnom Penh

Contrast

The Bassac River Front was part of an ambitious plan in the 60′s to create a new Phnom Penh and was originally designed as low-cost housing. Inspired by an Algerian housing project by Vladimir Bodiansky and co-designed by Vann Molyvann, it is 300 meters long and comprises of 6 blocks that are separated, yet joined by opened staircases.
Now, the building is left in disarray, occupied by squatters. Pretty soon, it will go the way of other historical buildings in Phnom Penh and will be levelled.

The Building