Big Yellow Taxi

Nyaung Shwe, Shan State, Myanmar. October 2016.

 

https://soundcloud.com/user-564500617/big-yellow-taxi-kristan-emerson?in=user-564500617/sets/blurry-borders-exhibition

 

This is the kind of scene that is too busy for me to see what is going on in person but one where I can let the camera reveal the action over time.

I knew that there was a boat stop. Having walked past it numerous times and getting a glimpse of the people using it I knew it would be worth taking a snap. I also knew there was a golden stupa, or Buddhist temple, in the top right. I had also walked past it and these bright, shiny, big offerings to Buddha are something even my eye can see. I could also tell there were boats in the foreground balancing what was going on above them.

It was not untill I looked on a computer screen and had other people say what they saw that the details began to emerge. The people were the first thing I looked at, they are always the most important thing in my pictures, and they showed a nice slice of Burmese life. There is a novice monk, standing somewhat alone and detached. There are hilltribe ladies and girls adorned with their traditional headwear and a local man in more modern attire. Perhaps they are a family, perhaps not.

The golden stupa is there, a beacon of religious piety and worldly detachment. But wait, is it for rent? How much?

There are of course the boats and the more I zoom the more people going about life I can see. It is busyness frozen in time.

What else do you see? Tell me, I’m interested to know.