My Top 10 Instagrams of 2020
While there was far less travel for me in 2020 than years past, there was still plenty of good stuff to see. I crammed a lot of travel in those first 10 weeks of the year before I raced back to Canada and the world’s borders shut tight
This year, Myanmar and Ukraine featured in all of most popular images. And no doubt why… they’re two of my favorite places to photograph and visit (and admittedly I didn’t have a chance to squeeze in much more before the world locked down).
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#10 I Never Change Flights
I had planned on being in Tunisia as I type this. But my friends Laminn and Maung Maung who I've known for ~7 years, were having a massive celebration, the day after I was due to leave Myanmar.
So last week, I changed my flights to stay an extra few days. That also gave me a little extra excuse to scout out some other new locations and experiences on and around Inle Lake.
As for the event, their two sons are becoming novice monks for a week. It's a pretty serious rite of passage for Buddhist boys around the age of 7-12. I plan to share some photo stories of that down the line. Thousands of people attend, and the event lasts two days! It's pretty intense.
Before this, I had only changed flights for partners / dates. 🤣
In the meantime, here's a fisherman standing on his shallow canoe on Inle Lake, pulling in his net at sunrise. Wowzers!
#9 Bagan You Are So Fine
I recently went through and put together a little portfolio of ~35 images on my website. You can find a link to my portfolio here.
Have a peek and tell me what your favorite image from there is in the comments below.
#8 The First Team
A group of novice monks and other kids from the village watch as the next batch of boys prepare to enter the monastery.
It's a bit of a "rite-of-passage" for young Buddhist boys live and learn as novice monks, usually between the ages for 7 and 12. It's typically for 3-10 days, including time collecting alms around the village, studying under the other monks, and observing other monk-like ways of being such as meditation time.
This was part of a 2 day celebration in Khaung Daing village, a predominantly Intha village in southern Shan State.
#7 Kyiv Underground
A big part of the joy in exploring Kyiv happens under the streets.
Metro stations range from bland Soviet-era ones, to shiny 70's sci-fi, and everything in between. The deepest one in the world is here, and it takes several minutes to descend more than 100m on super speedy escalators to the tracks far below.
This one was an old and bland station, recently redone with giant murals. It's pretty amazing what a new paint job does to a place that was often seen as gray and drab.
Exploring all of the stations is on my to-do list.
#6 Colour Underground
In so many major cities, the underground public transport system is a major part of how the city functions, and is experienced. Devoid of natural light, it's actually a bit surprising that we don't do a better job of sprucing up these public spaces.
This station in Kyiv was once one of those drab places people would use to come and go. Recently, the ceiling was redone by a host of artists painting murals of different styles. One looks like a kids drawing, stick-figures and all. Another is a colorful and inviting portrait of a famous Ukranian.
This one, in a mosaic style that is a nod to a popular type of mural around here, also gives a much mode modern tilt to it.
#5 Balloons Over Bagan
It's an hour before sunrise in winter in Myanmar, and it's a little chilly, especially if you're on a motorbike. If you're like my buddy Aung Ko Myint then you may need "double trousers" to keep the cool air at bay and prevent the shivers.
Now at 45min before sunrise, the sky is changing rapidly. From pitch black sky and a dash of stars, to a deep blue that steadily lightens. We call this the "blue hour." Most people aren't here to witness it, and it is their loss. We're closer to the equator here, so the changing light happens quite fast and you don't want to miss a second.
Once the sun finally peeks over the horizon, the landscape is awash with light. Moments later, the first hot air balloons begin to pop up.
Bagan is famous for hot air ballooning. Pilots line up from around the world to work a season here. And who could blame them? It's an exceptional way to view the Bagan plains and the more than 2000 monuments here. The golden light that the country is known for certainly doesn't hurt.
This morning, were on the ground, and the iconic balloons are slowly floating by. Even down below, it's a pretty special sight.
#4 The Shifting Colours of Bagan
Usually I speak about Myanmar and the beautiful warm golden colors I love to capture. It is, of course, referred to as "The Golden Land" for good reason. But something interesting happens near the end of the winter season, and that is the haze.
Myanmar essentially has three seasons: rainy, winter, and summer. As of mid-February, we're at the tail end of winter season. As the rains basically stopped in mid-October, that means that it has been months with little or no rain.
With the lack of moisture, that means that dust and smoke has a tendency to stay around in the air. At its worst, a couple of months from now, this haze can be so thick that the sun will dissolve in it before it even reaches the horizon at sundown.
But right now is the perfect time. The colors that the haze brings out are unmatched, with pink and lavender tones painted on the sky just before sunset and through dusk. Pair that with a stunning pagoda and you have a sunset to remember on the Un-Tour To Myanmar.
Maybe next time you can join me for a dive deep into this fascinating country.
#3 Drying Time
A novice monk's robe dries in the sun under the monastery.
This monastery in Kaung Daing village was the location for a 2 day ceremony, celebrating 7 boys taking their turn becoming novice monk's for 9 days.
It was a full-on experience... The boys dressing up as princes and being paraded around town on horses (several times). Food cooked in large vats, and fed to thousands from the surrounding villages. Live music with a host of singers, at a very high volume mind you. Oh, and some chanting too.
So when the sun was at it's hottest, the crowds were at their thickest, and the noise was at it's loudest, I'd escape down here.
#2 The Scale of a Nuclear Reactor
It's not everyday that you can see the remnants of a decommissioned nuclear reactor power plant, but in Ukraine you can at Chernobyl.
Yep, *that* Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
After the disaster in 1986 that destroyed Reactor 4, perhaps you didn't know that the other 3 reactors continued to produce electricity for years. The last one was shut down in the year 2000... 14 years later.
This is the reactor room for #3, and that grids you see is where the fuel rods were. Yeah, wow is right.
But it's the scale of these buildings, these rooms, and the massive turbines that really stick with me. It's not that often you can enter an industrial site of this magnitude. What an incredible opportunity.
Cheers to the adventurous group of photographers who joined me on an Atlas Obscura trip of a lifetime. We spent 7 days in Ukraine including 4 in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone with our talented group of guides by our sides, so we could photograph stuff like this.
#1 A Fisherman’s Life
9kg of fish. That's what Aung Myo Thu tries to catch and take home every morning on the lake.
He lays out the traps overnight in amongst the weeds of shallow Inle Lake. Then the next morning, shortly after sunrise, he heads back out to see what he's got.
It's interesting to watch him manoeuvre around to check the traps. It happens so seemlessly. There are essentially no landmarks around to get your bearings when it comes to finding your place on the lake for something as small as this. But as he grew up on the lake, it's essentially his back yard.
The fish he catches find their temporary home at the bottom of his shallow and narrow boat in a tiny bit of water that slowly seeps through the bottom of the boat. When a few new catches drop in, they often flip and splash around... Hoping for an escape back into the lake.
These 9kg of fish will be sold in his village for about 2000kyat ($1.30usd) per kiloI write this from another world, an apartment in snowy central Kiev. Outside is mostly shades of grey, with the red-brown of the brick accenting the scene. From a visual perspective, it looks flat in comparison to the vibrant colors on Myanmar.
Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to follow along on my adventures in 2021 on Instagram, and see what I'm seeing, and live updates from my tours and photography workshops in Myanmar and Jordan in 2021 and 2022.
