Krister Halvars | Laos

Photo © Krister Halvars. All Rights Reserved

Laos is another country which I haven't featured often on the pages of The Travel Photographer Blog. I've traveled to Laos a few years ago, but it hasn't clicked with me photographically-speaking...despite its many attributes. Over the two weeks of my visit, I managed to photograph in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Vang Vieng but my favorite experience were the few days I spent on Khone Island.

So I was glad to encounter Krister Halvars' website which showcases Laotian photographs. The Laos gallery (you have to wait a few seconds for the galleries to appear) has 17 images of which, in my view, the one above of the Mekong fisherman is the most striking.

In his sparse biography, Krister tells us he was a fighter pilot in the Swedish Air Force, then a commercial pilot on SAS.

Laos is a single-party socialist republic, and its mainstay export is by generating electricity from its rivers and selling the power to its neighbors  namely Thailand, China, and Vietnam. That said, both Vietnam and Cambodia urged it to halt construction of a $3.5 billion dam on the Mekong because it threatens the livelihood of millions who live downstream.

Christina Feldt: Travel Photography

Photo © Christina Feldt-All Rights Reserved

"As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated by other cultures, faces, customs and ways of living."

And this is in essence how Christina Feldt started her photographic career. She was not joking...she writes me that she's just back from a 9 months trip through Mongolia, Myanmar, SE Asia and Ethiopia; a trip that generated enough galleries to occupy its viewers for quite some time. She has also established a Photoshelter website which you can view here.

I've gone through most of them...starting with Ethiopia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Mongolia, Bangkok and Singapore, and when I got to Vietnam...I paused at Christina's lovely photographs made against the yellow walls of Hoi An.

That done, I read the compelling blog post she wrote about Mai, a 31-year old Hmong woman from Sapa, who told her that her dream was to see the ocean and to be able to read and write, so she could read the text messages on her cellphone.

It's no surprise that I stopped at her Vietnam gallery...after all, this is my forthcoming destination where I'm holding a 15-days photo-expedition/workshop, and her photographs serve to reinforce the 'visuality' of Vietnam and its people.

Global Post: Ali Sanderson's Mekong River

Photo © Ali Sanderson- Courtesy Global Post-All Rights Reserved

Global Post periodically publishes a photo feature called Full Frame, which showcases some interesting work by emerging photographers. This one is on the Mekong River and is by Ali Sanderson, an Australian photographer from Australia who was based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She worked on productions with leading broadcasters such as National Geographic TV and Radio Free Asia.

In Phnom Penh, Ali, with three other Australian filmmakers, formed a film production company focusing on documentary films dealing with environmental and human rights issues. This led to projects commissioned by Radio Free Asia.

The Mekong is the 10th-longest river in the world, and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,909 km (3,050 mi) and runs from the Tibetan Plateau through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.