This past March/April, Mike Rogers, Meghan Shea and I spent more than a week documenting our friend, Sam McGoun, as he swam, cycled and ran more than 670km across Cambodia to raise awareness of, and help to fight against, human trafficking.

Inspired by the challenges overcome by the students of Sala Bai Hotel & Restaurant School, Sam’s route across the Kingdom of Wonder followed the actual journey traveled by a former student named Khatna: from her floating village in Mechrey on Tonle Sap Lake, to Sala Bai where she studied in Siem Reap, to her graduation celebration on the sandy beachfront overlooking the Gulf of Thailand in Sihanoukville.

As the documentary photograph- and film-making team tasked with chronicling Sam’s odyssey, we did our best to keep pace with him as he dove into snake-filled lakes, crossed muddy rivers, ran through small villages and pedaled across the countryside of rural Cambodia on his way to raising more than USD$30,000 for Sala Bai.

We also tried to take the time to briefly turn the cameras on ourselves as we shared in Sam's epic journey, sleeping in active Buddhist monasteries, exploring abandoned 7th century pre-Ankorian temples and stumbling upon

beautiful, cinematic scenes of village women plunging fully-clothed to the bottom of a muddy river to catch trey phtok, a local freshwater fish.

Set to the recently released song "Anderson" by Wishes and Thieves, the result is a short two-and-a-half-minute video that Mike and I created to go behind-the-scenes and offer a brief glimpse into our personal experiences photographing and filming Sam's adventure.

Interested in more?  Click here to follow Sam's cross-Cambodia journey through our "Report from the Road" daily journal.  Or visit my website to see more of my lifestyle and travel photography portfolio.

This past December I was commissioned by The Daily Telegraph to photograph 'Homage to the New Cambodia' , a glimpse at Indochina's newest rising star, for the Spring 2012 edition of Ultratravel magazine.

I joined Johnny Morris, Ultratravel's creative director, at the beautiful Villa Romonea in the seaside town of Kep.  As Johnny describes, "[d]esigned by Lu Ban Happ, a key figure in the Le Corbusier-inspired New Khmer Architecture movement, [Villa Romonea] is one of the few intact private mansions of Kep’s golden era in the 1960s.  Fully renovated by its current owners, it is a shining example of how to mix Sixties interior design and contemporary furnishing within a striking modernist mansion.  Its bold white zigzags and organically curved atrium help make it surprisingly optimistic architecture."

We enjoyed ice cold Kingdom Beers by the villa's saltwater infinity pool as the sun set over the Bay of Kampot and then we ventured into town, accompanied by an American couple also staying at the villa, for cocktails at The Sailing Club by Knai Bang Chatt, followed by fresh crab and green Kampot pepper at Kimly's, "a classic example of the 'keep it local, keep it simple' destination restaurant that we all crave on our travels."

The next day we traveled to Sihanoukville, the jumping-off point for Song Saa, a brand new private luxury island resort

nestled 15 miles off the coast in the Koh Rong Archipelago. Johnny and I lunched overlooking the Gulf of Thailand with the owner, Rory Hunter, and his senior team before being whisked away on a tour of the two beautiful islands and the exclusive all-villa resort.

The final stop on my adventure with Johnny was Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh, a few hours’ drive from Sihanoukville.  As Johnny poetically recounts in the article, "Phnom Penh is [a] full-on live show with plenty of swagger and edgy improvisation...[a] million stories and a stream of colour from tuk-tuk and scooter lights."

This December assignment with Johnny and Ultratravel was my third shoot in Cambodia in as many months.  And next week I'll be returning to Phnom Penh to shoot a feature for a German-based magazine, followed shortly thereafter by another assignment that will start in Siem Reap and take me more than 600km around Cambodia in the back of a tuk-tuk.  Indeed, it's a beautiful country whose future looks bright, and I am privileged to be able to witness and document so much of this growth and change.

Read the full 'Homage to the New Cambodia' article online, browse my earlier Ultratravel work, 'Singapore Swings' and see more of my lifestyle and travel photography on my website.

About Sala Bai

For nearly ten years now, Sala Bai Hotel & Restaurant School has been offering tuition-free hospitality training to 100 impoverished young people annually.  Sala Bai's mission is to provide their students with the capabilities and experience necessary -- in one of four disciplines: restaurant service, cooking, front office and housekeeping -- to secure gainful employment in one of Siem Reap's numerous luxury hotels, guesthouses or restaurants. These skills, and the resulting economic independence, not only improves the students' quality of life, but those of their families as well.

About the Adventure

In the early morning hours of Saturday 31 March, Sam McGoun -- a Detroit-area native and current resident of Singapore -- will begin a seven day journey, swimming, running and cycling 625km across Cambodia in an effort to raise awareness for, and help fight against, human trafficking.  Inspired by the challenges overcome by the students of Sala Bai, Sam’s route will follow the actual journey traveled by one recent Sala Bai graduate, Khatna, as she gained an education at the school.  All funds raised by Sam will directly benefit Sala Bai, an organization that stops human trafficking before it starts.

The Adventure Begins: Singapore to Siem Reap

Sam and the team began our cross-Cambodian adventure early Thursday morning, departing from Singapore and bound for Cambodia laden with camera equipment, bicycles, energy bars and flush with excitement for our week ahead.

Soon after landing in Siem Reap, Sam dove headlong into his triathlete responsibilities, playing the role of bike mechanic as he assembled and prepped his rides after their flight.  Thanks to the ever-supportive staff at the Heritage Suites Hotel, Sam's bikes were roadworthy in no time.

Later in the day we touched base with our friends at Sala Bai.  Sam addressed a sea of smiling young students at the morning flagpole ceremony, explaining that his inspiration and motivation for his journey is in fact the students themselves.  Their commitment to creating a better life and future for themselves and their family has clearly left a very deep impression on Sam.  As a physical manifestation of this inspiration, on every day of the adventure Sam will wear a different shirt -- one for each student specialization at Sala Bai -- connecting each of the student groups directly to one segment of his race and showing his solidarity with the students of Sala Bai.

In the final throes of trip preparation, the crew gathered for an epic pre-departure meeting where we got a preview of what to expect on our week-long trek.  We’ll be camping at abandoned temples, waking before dawn to monastic chants, sleeping in pagodas, encouraging Sam and finding showers whenever we can.

As the documentary photography and film team chronicling Sam’s odyssey, we will be doing our best to keep pace with him as he dives into the rivers, runs through the villages and pedals across the countryside of rural Cambodia.  And if Internet gods smile upon us, we will bring you a daily Report From The Road every evening, sharing a few snapshots and the daily headlines from Sam's journey.  We are in for one fantastic adventure...

Donate to support Sam, Sala Bai and the fight against human trafficking.

- Meghan Shea

A few months ago, I spent a week in Cambodia shooting a small reportage piece for an inflight magazine.  Late one afternoon -- as the sun began sliding behind the rooftops -- I finished my assignment and snuck out onto the frenetic streets of Phnom Penh during the golden hour.

As I roamed the buzzing boulevards of the Khmer capital, I came upon a schoolyard.  The property was abandoned, save for a volleyball game being contested by half-a-dozen young men over in the corner of the field, and a young girl playing by herself on a statue of a small horse near the playground.  I watched her from afar, then slowly approached with my camera.

She smiled; I smiled.  She continued playing; I started shooting.  This is the series that I captured in those few seconds.

As I look back at this quadtych, as well as review a lot of my recent commissioned and personal work from the past year or so, I am seeing a pattern emerging in my lighting/compositional technique: I often shoot straight into the sun.  I really like the softness of the subject created by the sun's flare; it's this ethereal, nostalgic effect that moves me to keep practicing and working with this photographic style.