Dustin Main's A Skinny Escape

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Who is Dustin Main? Media Now Contact

Start Here Tour To Myanmar This Myanmar Life Blog Follow Me E-Mail Updates Instagram Facebook Twitter About Who is Dustin Main? Media Now Contact

Dustin Main's A Skinny Escape

Escape into the Real world

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March 21, 2010

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Tours to Myanmar | This Myanmar Life | Who is Dustin Main

Meewasin Trail,

Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3H6,

Canada

dustin@lightmovescreative.org

Hours

All images and content copyright Dustin Main 2019 unless otherwise specified.

Cafe Chernobyl

When you picture the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse in your mind, what does it look like? Abandoned buildings? Trees without their foliage, and a world devoid of colors? This was one of the reasons I went to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in winter

Honestly, it's pretty true. An overcast winter day has it's way of sucking the color, and life out of a place. The wind whistles through the barren trees as you make your way through snow that goes up to your knees with each step. It's a feeling, and it comes out in emotions and in my case, photography

That made this cafe, in the abandoned city of #Pripyat, extra special. Located on the river going through the city, this would have been as hip of a spot you could find in the Soviet Union in 1986, or at least around these parts

Pripyat, a town of ~50000, was made for local workers at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The average age around here was about 26, and this was a great place to be. Good jobs, a fully stocked modern grocery store, and excellent amenities and parks

As I approach from the cafe from the front, the faded colors of the stained glass windows give a hint of color. Around back, I pass through a side door, avoiding debris strewn about the ground from damaged walls and a ceiling that is slowly collapsing. And then I enter this room

With the backlight of the last hints of daylight pouring through, the colors of the windows hit my eyes in a way nothing else has here for the past three days in the zone. Stretching 6m (20ft) tall, they're beautiful enough to be in any metropolis today

I've never been terribly interested in human history, partly because I find it hard to put myself in a place while trying to imagine what it was like at that time. But here it's a bit different. The #Chernobyl disaster happened during my lifetime, when I was a young child. Standing here, I'm beginning to understand what it was like to be here

This was a place of joy, of hope, and of possibility. The hope of nuclear power that would eliminate all of our energy worries. A new world

Today, it's a lone bright spot on a landscape that shows us what happens when something goes terribly wrong

Cooling Down

Since leaving Ukraine a couple of weeks back, I've been consuming documentaries on long flights and reserving books at the library to have at the ready. The more I learn about the story, the more I want to know

The Chernobyl nuclear reactor site had 4 functioning reactors in 1986, but the actual plan was to have 12 total within a few years. This cooling tower, for the 5th reactor, was partly built at the time of the disaster in April of '86, and abandoned as it was

As I wandered in, it felt easy to get lost in the enormity of it. Looking up, listening to the echo of the walls, I had to be careful not to lose my focus. Taking that next step could be dangerous. The floor is riddled with debris, made up of twisted metal and busted concrete, some covered in a thin layer of slippery ice. Needless to say, it's easy to trip and lose your footing, and this isn't the sort of place you would want to test your tetanus shot's validity

The base at the center of the tower is the most dangerous, as radioactive material that came from the nearby reactor fell down from above. I didn't walk there

This mural was one of the few I found in my time in the exclusion zone, perhaps showing one of the workers who was tasked with cleanup duty in the days or weeks following, and with the most minimal of safety precautions

While many people died in the days and weeks after the disaster, it's likely much less than you think. I'll delve into that in the coming weeks... #chernobyl #ukraine #nuclearpowerplant #documentary #documentaryphotography #yomadic #passionpassport #bbctravel #thediscoverer #streetart #chernobylzone #coolingtower

Discovering Chernobyl

This trip was years in the making

Ever since I was a young nerdy kid, I have been fascinated with nuclear power. This mysterious energy that we couldn't see with our bare eyes, but had so much potential for good in the world

And how things can go terribly wrong

8 years ago I had my first trip to Chernobyl planned, before the permit was revoked a few weeks prior. As they say, better late than never

Nearly 33 years on, some places have been ransacked, with metals taken and sold for scrap, and other things like bedding disintegrated. But in the many villages around, with windows and doors that have mostly kept the elements out, you can have a sneak peek at life back in the Soviet Union in the mid 80's. Pictures of Stalin mark the walls of classrooms, while chemistry sets collect decades worth of dust

Like many of my favorite places, the sense of discovery is high here... You don't know what you'll find as you enter a place

And I can't wait to go back

#chernobyl #ukraine #documentary #documentaryphotography #sonyalpha #passionpassport #bbctravel #soviet #chernobylexclusionzone #fallout #nuclear #darktourism

Epiphany

Traditions are a funny thing. If they've always been around us, we feel like they are completely normal. On the other hand, seeing someone else's can often feel like looking into a different world

Epiphany in Kyiv is a curious one for my outsider eye. With roots in Orthodox Christianity and the baptism of Christ, a cross is cut out of the frozen Dnipro river on January 19th each year. A priest then sanctifies the waters in preparation for the event

Scores of believers gather around on the shore and atop the ice on the river around the cross. One by one, the shed their heavy winter jackets, warm hats, mitts, and everything else until their underwear (and sometimes more...) Each person then enters the waters, most dunking their entire head, some in more dramatic fashion than others. Afterward they rush out, walking barefoot on the cold ice to a towel and their hopefully dry clothes
It's thought that plunging into the near-freezing water 3 times will rid one of illnees and cleanse the soul

I for one was feeling just fine watching from the sidelines, and still am :) #kyiv #kiev #epiphany
#ukraine #documentary
#documentaryphotography #iced #coldasf #dnipro #passionpassport #bbctravel #thediscoverer

Young Nun Life

I had been observing the street market for a couple or hours already, as the sellers traded their vegetables for cold hard Myanmar kyat (the local currency)

You might think that photography means you're always on the move, capturing photos and then moving on to the next spot. More often than not though, it resembles something more like fishing from a canoe on a still lake, as patience and observation makes those special moments easier to anticipate

These young Buddhist nuns had been walking through the market, collecting alms throughout the morning. This would be as scoops of rice, personal supplies, or often small amounts of money

As the cool morning gives way to the heat of the sun and the market begins to wind down, the nuns find a quiet spot to see what they've collected for their time before heading out

#UnTourToMyanmar #ThisMyanmarLife #MyMyanmar #Myanmar #burma #documentary #passionpassport #MyanmarMagic #documentaryphotography #everydaymyanmar #everydayasia #buddhistnuns

Longyi Life

When you arrive in Myanmar, there is an immediate visual change from where you're coming from, be it from the west or even neighboring Thailand right next door

When I flew to Chaing Mai (Thailand) a month ago from Yangon, I was still wearing my red and black longyi from Myanmar. This circular piece of fabric is a tangible link to the country for me, and what I wear all the time there, so much so that putting on pants again afterward seems strange. It's just so normal I don't even think about it

When I approached the gate, several Thais came up to me and told me how wonderful I looked and how they loved the color. When boarding, one of the flight attendants remarked how sharp I looked, and how seeing me in my longyi reminded him of his grandfather when he would visit him in the village as a child. The longyi for men in Thailand is mostly a distant memory, and for women there, saved just for those special occasions

In Myanmar, you still see the longyi, everywhere. With their bright colors and patterns, you can't miss them anytime you open your eyes. The same goes for thanaka, the bark of a tree ground down into a paste on a stone and rubbed onto the face for sun protection (or for style) that you see on the young girl

I 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

For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing images and stories from my time here in Ukraine. But for now, I'll be sitting by the heater, watching the life of the streets below from my window above, wearing my favorite longyi

#UnTourToMyanmar #Yangon #Myanmar #burma #passionpassport #myanmarigers #everydayyangon #everydaymyanmar #ThisMyanmarLife #longyi #MyMyanmar #documentary

2018 is a Wrap

I was in a small village in rural Thailand when the clock switched over. Honestly, I was happy to say goodbye to 2018. I don't usually divide my year up like this, but about 2 weeks ago, I felt myself coming free from a funk that has lasted more than a year (and I don't mean smell). Thanks Chiang Mai for helping set me back on the path

My 9 images this year are 100% Myanmar, a country that has inspired me over and over again these past 7 years

While my work and travels had taken me to a host of spots around the globe in 2018, including central Vietnam, the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, Pacific NW (USA), and Northern Thailand, none of them are featured here. Go figure :) Here is a breakdown for you

1) Inle Lake Fisherman, Southern Shan State
2) Yangon Streets at Sunrise
3) Sunrise over the Bagan Plains
4) Ananda Temple Reflection, Old Bagan
5) Lunar Eclipse @ Htilominlo, Bagan
6) The Caregiver - Daw Tin Tin Hla - This Myanmar Life, Moulmein
7) Sunrise over Ywama Floating Village from a Hot Air Balloon, Inle Lake
8) Crossing the Goteik Viaduct, Northern Shan State
9) A Dying Art - Nawi, Chin State

Do you have a favorite of mine from 2018? Also, feel free to send me a DM with your favorite photo you took on your IG feed for me to check out. I'd love to see em

Also, if you're curious to see Myanmar for yourself, my next Un-Tour to Myanmar will be departing in October 2019. Dates will be announced in February on my email list. Check the link in my bio for more details and to get on the list

#Myanmar #burma #MyMyanmar #myanmarmagic #UnTourToMyanmar #gotiek #Bagan #Ananda #myanmarigers #Yangon #inlelake #htilominlo #ThisMyanmarLife

Making New Traditions on the Other Side of the World

It took me counting on my fingers, twice, to realize that I have spent than last 10 xmas abroad. I'm a little stunned to be honest

I was never one for the whole gift giving of the holiday season. It always seemed excessive and wasteful. I'm also not religious, and that meant that escaping the west for xmas was an easy sell

For the first couple of years, I spent them on a mountain ridge on New Zealand's Fiordland National Park on a through-hike, then in one of the southernmost cities in the world listening to live tango music in a B&B with my Dad in Argentina

But for the past 8 years, I've spent it in Chiang Mai, Thailand. When I first came here, Dec 25th was just like any other day, and nowadays, it's not all the much different. It turns out Buddhists don't care all that much about it

One thing that living abroad has taught me is how crazy some of our traditions we think of as normal are. And I'm sure if we think about it, we can agree that cutting down a tree (or buying a plastic one) to put inside our house for a month is pretty odd. And that's before you put shiny balls and hang peppermint candy hooks and cheap blinking lights on it. But that's how traditions work: sometimes we just do things because we always have

For the past 5+ years, I've had my own tradition here on the 25th of December. I rent a van, gather a group of friends, and we head up to the famous Wat Doi Suthep overlooking Chiang Mai to watch the sunrise over the city below. It's an early one, but it's always worth it

For those of us who aren't religious, Dec 25th may just be like any other day. But our history growing up where we did helps associate it with spending time with friends and family. Living abroad often means those usual people aren't often around, and here in Chiang Mai, we have a different kind of family that pops up every year

So thank you to my friends and family from around the world who treat me like one of their own no matter where we are

And thanks for trusting in me that sunrises are always worth it

#chiangmai #Thailand #doisuthep #watdoisuthep

A Bridge Between Two Times

This wasn't my first time crossing this bridge. In fact, nearly 7 years ago, I crossed the #Goktiek Viaduct on my very first big trip to Myanmar

Opened at the turn of the 20th century and measuring nearly 700m long (and over 100m high), it was quite the marvel of engineering in its day. Still, you can imagine that building it today up in the #Shan Hills would be quite the feat

I recall the first time crossing the bridge as part of a 12hr train journey that day, low on energy as I was slowly recouperating from a nasty intestinal illness. At the best of times, the train rarely moves at a speed anyone would recognize as fast, but as we near the bridge, the train slows to the speed of a literal crawl

I recall hanging out of the train as we crossed, with my fingers wrapped around the handrail as I dangled out the door, trying to get a good angle as the train curves at the beginning of the bridge. From what I recall, the pictures were good that day, though most of the rest of the journey was a blur

I had been eagerly anticipating this journey back here again as the plans came together. And as the train neared the bridge now more than 6 years later, I wanted to capture passing over it again

But in time, things change. I no longer shoot with a camera strap, preferring to hold my camera with the grip only. This makes my movements with my camera feel deliberate, like an extension of myself, and I think it had been great for my work

As we approached, I could feel my hands getting sweaty, and for the first time, the grip I had on my camera didn't feel so rock solid. I'd wipe my fingers and palms on my longyi, and even try to "dry" the rubber of my camera grip, but it didn't seem to accomplish all that I needed

When the time came to reach out of the door to nab my shot as before, that grip on the handrail didn't seem as solid as I would like. As I held my camera in the other hand, reaching out with my body and arm, trying to keep it level, I could feel it slipping ever so slightly. I took a couple of frames before the grip on my camera loosened enough for me to call it, and I pulled myself in (Continued below)

Looking Through Another's Eye: Lashio

Growing up, I never thought of myself as a creative person. I was more interested in science and math than I was at trying to draw. In fact, my friends from school still talk about how I would (and still) draw people to this day. It would start out fine, with a circle for a head, a neck coming down, out for a shoulder, down torso and legs. But each time getting up to that second arm, it would essentially turn into a wing. The people I drew were half-human, half-bird

I didn't study photography formally, and I don't know many of the famous photographers by name. I'm not really affliated with any other photographer groups, and I don't have a lot of photographer friends who I see on a regular basis. I'm often found in my own little corner of the world, or at least it feels like that

So I'm pretty keen when I'm hanging out with other creative photographers... even when I'm the one teaching. You'll find me watching the others, seeing where their eyes look, and lead the way for their lens

What has caught their eye? Is it as simple as a slightly different perspective, or is it something bigger at play? What are they seeing in the moment that I'm not seeing? I love it, and I'm absorbing it like a sponge. Not to copy, but to open my mind to new possibilities

Even after all of these years, I still feel like I'm just one photo away from being found out as someone who doesn't have a creative edge. And I don't think I'm alone in that. Many days, I still struggle to share my work, be it here or in other forums

When I was younger, I often thought about artists who paint. How did they know when to stop and let a piece be finished? Assuming they would improve over time, how could they not just go back and improve on one from the past? This puzzled me for many years, and held back my work (and it still does to be honest). It's the analytical side talking

All this to say, that hanging out with other creative photographers really puts me at peace with the work, while pushing me forward. At its best, it is invigorating and inspiring... And reminds me why I do what I do

#Lashio #Myanmar #UnTourToMyanmar #passionpassport

The Lashio Market

7 years. I'd been wanting to visit the Lashio market since my very first big trip to the country

And it was so worth the wait

Spanning a number of buildings, taking up a few blocks and multiple levels, the market has just the right mix of things to keep me happy. Oodles of shops, many just the size of a small shed, packed to the brim with stock and supplies. Vegetable stalls spilling out into the streets. Tailors working colorful dresses on manual sewing machines. Jewelers polishing their clients rings and making them like new. Even the areas that were quiet were lovely, in that way that things are when they are falling into disrepair and disuse

I honestly could have spent a week just wandering around this single market, looking for new angles, new subjects, and tracking how the light changes the view. The light, and the long shadows later in the day, we're to die for. I'll be back soon for an extended visit

#UnTourToMyanmar
#MyMyanmar
#longshadows #Myanmar
#burma
#Lashio
#shan #passionpassport #thediscoverer #marketday #goldenland #MyanmarMagic #documentary #documentaryphotography

Villages of North Eastern Shan State

It has been nearly 7 years since my last trip to northern Shan State, and I'd been anticipating my return for a couple of years. It was on my very first big trip to Myanmar that I last visited the region. Now, nearly 20 trips later, I was finally back

This time, I came to see how things in this corner of the country are changing. With a close proximity to the Chinese border a defining trait, I was curious how that might be shaping the culture

I spent a few days in villages outside of Lashio, with major differences between them. The first was a small one, with basic homes and no electricity besides some small solar panels. The other was in some ways one of the most progressive I've come across, with strong leadership keeping the community tight, and even a village trash pickup program that had been recently implemented

Daw Naing Tun prepared breakfast in the first village, where her home doubled as the village's sole shop. Here in the kitchen, she prepared steamed vegetables on an open fire, with the early morning sun filtering through the slits in the wall. The view was as good as her food

I'll be sharing more from in and around #Lashio in an upcoming blog post, and several stories from people I met right here as well

@maoutfitters #Myanmar #burma #MyMyanmar #shan #documentary #UnTourToMyanmar #thediscoverer #magnumphotos #lp #bbctravel #myanmarmagic