How to take more Intimate Travel Portraits

Getting Close Enough, a photo by Sam Antonio Photography on Flickr.

"If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough." - Robert Capa

Banlung is the provincial capitol for the Ratanakiri Province in Cambodia. Located in the northeastern part of the country, bordering both Vietnam to the east and Laos to the north, it is one of the least visited provinces.

I stayed at the exceptional Treetop Ecolodge run by Mr. T (not that Mr. T from the “A” Team). I rented a bicycle to visit nearby Yak Loum Crater Lake. Mr. T recommended I get there first thing in the morning to capture the best light. He also mentioned that I would probably be the only foreigner there since the lake is mainly visited by locals.

He was right about being the only foreigner there, but the morning light was terrible. The only people around were the local vendors selling food and drinks. I decided to just put my camera down and appreciate the crater lake with my own eyes. Afterwards, I bought a drink from one of the vendors and her two children started to play with me.

I took a couple of photographs of her daughter and she would laugh hysterically every time I showed her picture on my LCD screen. Because of the proximity that I was photographing her there was a clear connection between both of us. Her eyes were the landscape of Cambodia...one of struggle and hope for the future.

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Southeast Asia.

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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