As a western traveling to Cambodia it can be easy to focus on the negative the first time you go there. It’s easy for us photographers to cover things like poverty, prostitution and AIDS which are no doubt real problems in the country. But I wanted to delve deeper and find a more rounded picture creating something positive and artistic amongst the calm chaos that found itself in front of my lens.
Wanting to capture a feeling and rhythm of the country at a street level, I befriended my local ‘moto’ drivers outside my hotel. Playing cards and drinking the local brew they took me to places where most tourists don’t venture. I went into the country side where I stayed with locals, partaking in their traditional customs and sleeping on their bamboo house floors. I stayed with Monks on top a mountain where they were as much fascinated with a westerner as I was with them. My favorite thing to do was walking the back streets and alley ways where scenes would play out in front of you like classic theatre.
Cambodia is in its infancy stages of embracing western development. Deeply rooted in culture and Buddhist tradition, it’s a fascinating mix of east meeting west. Foreign investment is fueling a building boom at a massive pace that is seeing cranes and tall buildings shooting up all around Phnom Penh. Yet for all the investment the average Cambodian isn’t reaping the benefits as the country is heavily owned by outside investors. I just hope in the future they don’t trade their beautiful culture and deep rooted traditions for fast credit, fast cars, fat couch’s and wide screen TV’s.
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