Photography Tours

December 10, 2017

Vietnam – food & photography as the ultimate connectors into intimate cultural experiences

Every time I share this story of Sa Mei and myself meeting in 2007, and coincidentally reuniting in 2017 I’m amazed and inspired by the power of photography to connect. Sa Mei is a member of the Red Dao hill tribe and lives in a small village about a days walk outside of Sapa, Northern Vietnam. We had met her in 2007 on the trail, and I was taken by her warm smile and welcoming face, asking her to pose for a photograph. We only had about 30 minutes to connect, and limited English to communicate initially but she made an impact on me and I saved her photo on my phone.

Photo of myself with Sa Mei in 2017, holding photo I took in 2007 saved on my iPhone

In 2017, we were back in the same area leading a small group of photographers on a tour when we happened to run into Sa Mae on the trail. As you can see from the two photographs, she looks nearly identical, but I wasn’t sure it was her until I pulled up her portrait on my phone to compare. When I approached her and shared this portrait she was of course surprised and I’m sure uncertain of who I was, then nearly began to cry as she examined the photograph and we began to share memories of this encounter.

Portrait of Sa Mei in 2007 & 2017, a Red Dao hill tribe women near Sapa, Vietnam

Sa Mei and I shared stories of our lives the past decade (she has become more fluent in English with the influx of tourism & in fact speaks 4 languages), and we discovered that we were the same age though have led very different lives. As she walked along the trail with our group I learned she is a grandmother and has a small farm where she lives with her husband and her son and daughter in law and grandchildren. When she invited our group to join her family for lunch we happily changed our schedule and met her the next day at the trailhead.

Sa Mei walking on trial to her village Giang ta chai of the Red Dao hill tribe people outside of Sapa, Northern hill tribe areas, Vietnam

Sa Mei and her daughter in law guided us along the paths to her village, about an hour walk outside the main tourism trekking areas to a delightful village we would have never discovered on our own.

Sa Mei holding my hand as she leads me on trail to her village Giang ta chai of the Red Dao hill tribe people

When we arrived we were greeted with a bountiful welcome – the family had gathered the equivalent of a thanksgiving feast including fresh vegetables and poultry from their farm and a freshly slaughtered pig all being cooked by the family on open fire in the middle of their house.

Man May Lo cooking lunch for our group inside her home

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November 21, 2016

Varanasi, India – a photographer’s personal reflections

Every dawn and dusk thousands of pilgrims travel to the Ganges and perform the Ganga Aarti ceremony; making a wish, lighting a candle, and setting it afloat on the river. One of my wishes – to align my life and photography in a more balanced way. How? A surprising example may be this story of the photo I didn’t take.

Hindu girl selling small candles inside a cup of leaves and flowers.

The Sadhu was striking in appearance – white long hair, golden robe, radient weathered face and sinuous body. Something about the way he walked, held his head, and his calm eyes was different than the other Sadhus I’d encountered, too many eager to ask for a donation to pose for a photo. And it was obvious that I was in search of photographs, walking the ghats with two cameras around my shoulders, my eyes scanning the scene for images. As our paths converged in a relatively quiet area, where perfect morning light softly lit the colorful, graphic stairs of the ghat, we glanced at each other as we passed. I think we both took each other by surprise – that I didn’t raise my camera to take his photo, and that he didn’t stretch his hand out for a donation. I turned around to glance at the Sadhu one more time, and he turned simultaneously. He paused, the slightest gesture of his head communicated that he was inquisitive, possibly even open to being photographed and certainly curious that I hadn’t asked or tried to candidly captured the moment.

But I was tired of the superficial transaction I knew taking a quick photo would be, briefly regretting that I couldn’t linger here for days. For awhile I’ve been focusing more on capturing the perfect photo than the experience. Now I was searching for something more. In this circumstance, by not taking a photo I was able to connect – if only for a moment – authentically with him as a person. In the holiest of all places for Hindus, I had to believe there were still some things sacred. I smiled at him, did a slight bow and brought my hands to prayer as a sign of Namaste in greeting , and he graced me with his smile. He was indeed a “real” Sadhu, and this may be the most memorable experiences I had in India.

The bustle in one of the world’s oldest cities, Varanassi, is never ending and can be simultaneously wonderful and overwhelming to the senses. This photo of the cow serenely standing in the middle of the road with traffic buzzing by on both sides exemplifies the spirit of India to me, the ability to maintain calm in chaos, and the importance of finding your own center balance to adapt to the environment yet stay steady.
In 1897 Mark Twain said “Benares (aka Varanasi) is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”

Cow roaming ancient back streets of Varanasi, India

The Untouchables. Politically active Untouchables prefer the term Dalit, which means “oppressed.” They are the Hindu caste in charge of cremating bodies. We walked through their neighborhood on the way to the cremation ghats on the Ganges, I wasn’t sure what to expect but certainly not outward signs of normalcy. Or warmth in their smiles as they greeted us, children playing, goats wandering, same scenes we’d encountered in so many rural villages. But where are the men you may ask? The scene blocks away from this neighborhood was entirely different. And the caste issue runs far deeper than I can do justice in a caption

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November 17, 2016

Rajasthan, India

Camel silhouettes, Thar Desert near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Although we set up this scene for our photo tour, it was still a
challenge to find a clear spot without background distractions, and enough distance to use my 300mm lens on my Nikon d500 (dx sensor making non dx lens focal length 400mm). I love the gesture of the camel leg kicking up the sand and the individual postures of each person & camel. I chose to bracket this scene, allowing for a little bit of detail to show in the camel’s decorative blankets. India’s skies are extremely polluted in comparison to what I’m accustomed to, in this circumstance it worked well to shoot straight into the sun for the orange glow (no filter needed).

One of the world’s largest camel fairs in the world is held in the town of Pushkar, India. Each November at the time of the full moon, historically over 11,000 camels, horses, and cattle are traded over this two week festival. The men were sifting the sand out of the grain to feed their their camels to be traded. We camped on site and witnessed this epic spectacle from dawn to dusk

I’ll never know exactly what this Camel trader at Pushkar festival was thinking, but I have a good idea. I took this photo the day after the USA presidential election results were announced (we were lucky -or not depending on your perspective – to get news via a borrowed cell phone hotspot in the middle of the remote Rajasthan desert). It was a surreal place to hear news that will effect the world, yet for these camel herders the big news was the sudden halt on the most common currency notes – 500 and 1,000 rupees in effort to stop counterfeiting of the current banknotes allegedly used for funding terroism and black money in the market. Though most agree the intent of this ban is good, it has had serious repercussions – especially for many of India’s 260 million farmers have no bank accounts. Although I typically don’t pay money for photos, this time I sympathized with the traders dilemma and am sure the tips he made from foreigners that day outweighed cash earned by camel trading. And the lessons I learned from those in India to be flexible and adaptable in the face of great adversity is priceless.

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February 12, 2016

Cuba – Photography tour through Havana, Trinidad, and Viñales

Cuba, the energy of this place captivated me. The openness of the people, the rhythm of the music and dance, the layers of art, history, and culture. I’ll return, and write more impressions in the future – in the meantime here’s a few photo highlights of my visit in Jan 2016 in Havana, Trinidad, and Viñales leading a photo tour for http://lumariaworkshops.com

A beautifully restored red cadillac with driver wearing Cuban hat, Havana.

It’s not just tourists in the classic cars. According to Chris Baker’s “Cuba Classics’ book, “About 60,000 cars – one in every eight cars in contemporary Cuba (compared to one in every 400 cars in the USA) – is a pre 1960’s American model.”

Washing the car in a backstreet of old Havana

Boxers train at Rafael Trejo Boxing Gym (Rafael Trejo Gimnasio al Aire Libre), an open air ring with stadium seating in old Havana, lead by Cuban Olympic coach Nardo Mestre Florez. Boxing is perhaps the second most popular sport in Cuba, behind baseball.

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December 13, 2015

My Top 50 photos slideshow 2015

As the year comes to a close, I always savor the time to reflect on the journeys from the past year. Trips that are a whirlwind while they unfold, but experiences that reverberate long after the travels. 2015 was a year of many spiritual encounters: Peru, from the breathtaking Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca & vibrant Latin American cultures, to the sacred Buddhist dances and monasteries throughout the country, to a trek up to Jumulhari base camp and the 16,200 foot pass to place prayer flags. Japan was a completely different immersion into Buddhist culture of the meditative temples and onsen (hot springs) in Kinosaki, Kyoto, Nara, & the bustling city of Tokyo. After six weeks of SE Asia, I returned home briefly then began an assignment for the New Zealand wine growers association on sustainable vineyard practices, creating a video and photo essay, and continuing to focus on those stories when returning home to wineries in Oregon & Washington.

2015 top 50 photos Slideshow – Images by Andrea Johnson

If you’d like to view the slideshow full screen on your computer, click the full screen icon on bottom left menu bar, captions on top left of screen ….) On an iPhone or iPad, this slideshow defaults to html, best viewed horizontally, captions can be seen by clicking ‘i’ button.