As part of both my ongoing Diana Experiment and From the Vault series, here is a photograph (actually, two photographs, merged together) that I stumbled upon yesterday while combing through one of my studio hard drives in search of something else entirely.

I made these images on my trip to Sydney, Australia last August.  It was my last night in town, and I had a few hours to kill before meeting some friends for dinner, so I walked from my hotel down to Circular Quay with my hi-fi/lo-fi set up in tow (a Nikon D3x fitted with a Diana+ 55mm Wide Angle lens).

I wanted to make some long-exposure night photographs of the Sydney Harbour, but I didn't have a tripod with me. However, after some searching, I was able to find some ledges and railings to rest my camera on while shooting. These images are the result of my efforts that evening: two 5-second exposures of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House fused together in Photoshop.

See more of my Diana Experiment imagery on Flickr.

Regular readers might recall a post I wrote a couple of months ago following the time I spent on assignment with the Elephant Flying Squad at Lubuk Kembang Bunga Village on the outskirts of Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park.  The feature I was there photographing is the cover story of the May edition of Silkwinds, SilkAir's inflight magazine, in airline seat back pockets now.

Excerpted from editor Rod Mackenzie's Silkwinds article "Sumatra's High Flyers": Deep inside the Indonesian rainforest of central Sumatra lives the Tesso Nilo Elephant Flying Squad.  This group of seven domesticated elephants and their 11 specially trained mahouts are operated "by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in collaboration with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry... [The squad's] mission is to provide a secure haven for Riau Province’s largest remaining wild elephant population... Elephant numbers have declined in Riau Province from more than 1,600 in 1985 to as few as 350 today, about 150 of which live in Tesso Nilo National Park..."

According to the WWF, "Because the region around Tesso Nilo is being logged so rapidly and the forest converted into agricultural plantations, elephants with no place to go are forced to wander in search of food, making farms and commercial plantations an irresistible temptation for elephant-sized appetites."

As Rod continues in his Silkwinds feature, "By patrolling the fringes of the national park, [the squad] helps prevent wild elephants invading farms and villages, where they can cause immense damage and also run the risk of being killed or injured" by carefully driving them back into the jungle.  The Elephant Flying Squad is in "constant battle to bring harmony to the local environment" by mitigating human-elephant conflict.  And, "so far, they appear to be winning."

The Silkwinds article contains only a handful of photographs I made during this amazing experience with the Elephant Flying Squad.  To see a much broader collection of my pictures from the time I spent patrolling the jungles of Sumatra with this supersize security patrol, please visit my website.

Over the course of four days in February, while photographing an assignment for the April 2011 edition of Malaysian Airlines' Going Places inflight magazine, I visited eight restaurants at Singapore's Dempsey Hill.

Formerly the British army barracks and the old Central Manpower Base National Service Enlistment Centre, Dempsey Hill's 18 blocks of colonial conservation buildings have recently been restored and converted into more than 40 bars, restaurants, art galleries and retail outlets.  In just a few short years, Dempsey Hill has been transformed into one of Singapore's most popular drinking, dining and leisure destinations.

My brief for Going Places was to visit eight of Dempsey's dining establishments, each specializing in a different cuisine -- Mexican, Spanish, Thai, Swiss, Indian, Japanese, Australian and Singaporean -- and photograph the interiors, a handful of their most popular dishes and a few of their staff.

Of course, making portraits of the chefs, servers and bartenders at the restaurants was the most enjoyable part of the assignment for for me; meeting these people and having only a few moments to make each of them feel

comfortable, and then capturing in a single frame a little piece of their personalities, is a challenge I relished.

This is a collection of my favourite portraits that I made over those few days.  If you see any of these faces the next time you are around Dempsey Hill, please tell them I said hello.

See more of my portrait photography on my website.

What makes my job most interesting is that I am fortunate enough to have a range of diversity in my photographic briefs and subjects.  I find the contrasts between working on personal projects, shooting editorial assignments and photographing advertising campaigns to be perfect for me.

Literally, one day I can be alone with just my camera, searching for a perfect moment to capture; and the next day I can be on a set with lighting equipment, assistants, models, clients, creatives, stylists and producers trying to manufacture a perfect moment to capture.  This variety in my life and in my work helps keep me challenged and inspired.

So, when I was recently approached to shoot a style feature for the Park Hotel Group's in-house fashion, lifestyle and travel magazine, I happily agreed.

My brief was to photograph an indoor/outdoor, location-based fashion spread that mimicked the look and feel of natural light.

So, in late-February, the art director, my assistant and myself -- along with the beautiful model and accompanied by a fantastic group of stylists -- descended on the Park Hotel Clarke Quay for a day of fashion photography.

The results of the shoot are here, and appear on the cover and across six pages inside the Summer 2011 edition of the Park Hotel Group's Sparkle magazine.

The photographs look great, and I am very thankful to the talented team of people who provided their expertise and worked very hard alongside me to achieve this result.

Credits

Art Direction: Shirley Saphir

Styling: Vernon Sim

Hair: Eileen Koh

Make-up: TG Goh

Photographer's Assistant: Zam

Model: Paula A. / Carrie Models

Retouching: Agnes Teo

See more of my fashion and portrait photography on my website.

Last Thursday night, I attended the premier of filmmaker Grant Knisely's documentary The Chain Reaction Project at The Arts House in Singapore.

In August 2009 Grant and I traveled to Timor-Leste with the women of The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) as they competed in the inaugural Tour de Timor, a five day, 450km adventure mountain bike race across nine of Timor's 13 districts.  Coined "The Ride For Peace", the mountain bike race presented the ladies with a grueling challenge on their way to raising USD$35,000 for HIAM-Health, a clinic dedicated to the rehabilitation of malnourished children in the capital city of Dili.

Grant's uses Timor-Leste's historical suffering as a backdrop for his film -- a result of a brutal 1975 Indonesian military invasion and a subsequent 24-year occupation that left over 100,000 Timorese dead -- while documenting the athletic achievements and selfless philanthropic work of the women of TCRP as well as the passion and dedication of the employees of HIAM-Health to help make a better life for the people of Timor-Leste.

As with many small, independent films, funding is often difficult to come by.  But The Chain Reaction Project was a labour of love for Grant and his small Code Red Films

production company, and he persevered in raising the human interest and the monetary capital necessary to complete his movie.

The end result is a short film that Grant should be very proud of.  Indeed, I am proud to have my photographs featured throughout his documentary, as well as gracing the film's DVD cases and movie posters that were on display Thursday night at The Arts House.

Click here to see a slideshow of my Tour de Timor photography.  More of my imagery of the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste and her people can be found here and here.

Friend, filmmaker and longtime collaborator Mike Rogers and I just returned from an amazing adventure assignment to Indonesia.  We spent two days with the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Elephant Flying Squad, living in their camp at Lubuk Kembang Bunga Village on the outskirts of Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park while shooting an editorial print and digital video feature for SilkAir's inflight magazine, Silkwinds.

According to the WWF website, "In 2004, [the] WWF introduced the first Elephant Flying Squad to Riau Province in central Sumatra, to a village near the newly established Tesso Nilo National Park.  It was a way to bring short-term relief to the intense conflict between people and elephants there and to create support for elephant conservation among hard-hit communities.  Because the region around Tesso Nilo is being logged so rapidly and the forest converted into agricultural plantations, elephants with no place to go are forced to wander in search of food, making farms and commercial plantations an irresistible temptation for elephant-sized appetites."

The mission of the Elephant Flying Squad -- consisting of 11 mahouts and seven trained elephants (four adults, two youngsters and a one-month old baby) -- is to "drive wild elephants back into the forest whenever they threaten to

enter villages.  It has proven to be very effective in reducing losses suffered by local communities near Tesso Nilo" as well as successfully reduced the number of wild elephants killed by angry farmers or scared villagers.

Perched high on the backs of the giant pachyderms, and holding tight to a bare rope that wrapped around the elephants' bodies, Mike and I were fortunate enough to accompany the squad on a typical patrol through the Sumatran rainforest.  It was a magnificent experience to trudge through the jungle on the back of these majestic creatures and document how the Elephant Flying Squad helps preserve the wild elephant population in Riau.

At the end of the assignment -- after my cameras were put away and while Mike wrapped-up his video interviews -- I sat with the 11 mahouts and their leader outside their small cabin in Tesso Nilo.  As we joked and laughed I pulled out my iPhone (which, amazingly, nobody seemed to have ever seen before) and, using the LomoLomo app, started to shoot a few portraits of the Elephant Flying Squad members.  It was a hit, and before long everyone wanted their photos taken.  This is the series we made.

See more of my iPhoneography elsewhere on my blog or on Flickr.

I spent a week over New Year's in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a city of 160,000 residents about 700km north of the nation's capital, Bangkok.  Chiang Mai is a laid back city full of colourful temples, quaint cafés, fantastic restaurants, used bookshops and roadside markets.  It was my third visit to Chiang Mai in the past seven or eight years, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

Having visited Chiang Mai before, I didn't feel compelled to lug my heavy 35mm DSLR camera and lenses everywhere I went, opting just to carry my iPhone in my pocket instead. One of the highlights of the visit was meeting a family from The Hague, Netherlands who were staying at our hotel.  Their two sons, Maarten and Sebastian, accompanied us to the Thapae Boxing Stadium for an evening of Thailand's very own Singha beer and Muay Thai.

I spent a good part of the evening wandering the stadium and shooting the action with the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone; this is a collection of some of my favourite photography from the night. Perhaps I should call this my "ChiangMaiPhoneography" series.

See more of my iPhoneography elsewhere on my blog or on Flickr.

Zhang Tingjun and the women of the The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) get some well-deserved love in this month's Reader's Digest (Asia).

Rightfully so, these catalysts for change are named "Heroes" by Reader's Digest; indeed their passion, tenacity and dedication to helping others is valiant.

I feel privileged to have met these women and documented their philanthropic endeavours to Timor-Leste in both 2009 and 2010, including their recent participation in the Dili "City of Peace" Marathon -- as profiled in Reader's Digest -- where they delivered a SGD$28,000 Playpoint playground and more than SGD$10,000 to the children of HIAM-Health.

Next stop for these wonder women: competing in the KILI[Man] in Tanzania from 19-27 February 2011.  This entails summitting the highest peak in Africa over a period of six days, biking 250km around the mountain over two days and running a full marathon on the final day.  All funds that TCRP raises will benefit AmaniKids, a home for Tanzania’s street children and AIDS orphans.

Heroic, indeed.

Today Magnum Photos posted the following message on their Twitter feed: "From now till 200k followers we want to see your photos. Tweet us a link, each day we'll RT a few selections. Use hashtag #magnum200k".

In the 60+ years since it's inception, Magnum Photos has grown into one of the most renowned cooperatives of photojournalists in the world.  According to founding member Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually."

Magnum's tweet got me thinking: if I had the opportunity to share only a single photograph from the past year with anyone -- particularly a community of Magnum's reknown -- which photograph would I choose?

I scoured my archives of photographs I made in 2010 and shortlisted a handful of images that I felt might resonate with Magnum and their audience.  Then I carefully considered each photograph based on it's originality, relevance and technical merit.

This is my selection.

I made this photograph in Dili, Timor-Leste in June of this year.  During Timor's dry season, the riverbed on the outskirts of Dili is quarried for stone and gravel to be used in the many construction projects in and around the capital city.

It is quite a sight to behold: dozens upon dozens of men shoveling and sifting and throwing dirt and rock from sunrise to sunset.

From where I took this picture, high on the bridge above the riverbed, the scene unfolding below reminded me of armies of ants tirelessly toiling away on their ant hills.

Truth be told, going through the photographs I created over the past 12 months was a great exercise for me today (irrespective of the Magnum challenge).  Being critical of one's own imagery is among the most difficult aspects of being a photographer, and forcing yourself to look closely at your own body of work is an excellent way to improve your craft.

What is your best photograph of 2010?

**UPDATE** Excitingly, yesterday Magnum Photos retweeted this post as part of their #magnum200k Twitter initiative.  If you are here via @magnumphotos, thank you very much for visiting.

I am extremely excited to be profiled in the 'Portfolio' section of this month's National Geographic Magazine (China).

The editor and photo editor at NGM (China) in Beijing and I went back and forth over the course of a few months on this feature -- selecting the portfolio of photographs, conducting the interview via email and then getting it translated from English into Mandarin for publication -- and they have done a wonderful job.

As expected, NGM (China) had some great questions for me, ranging from my thoughts on making engaging portrait photography and my use of backlight as a creative device to the story ideas that most interest me in China, how I view “travel photography" vs. "cultural photography" and my thoughts on photojournalism vs. fine art photography.

My amazing friend Sarah Gulston, who is fluent in Mandarin, translated this entire article back into English for me (so I knew what was written, how it was edited and what was cut from the original interview conducted in English).  Sarah's translation stretched to more than seven pages of single-spaced A4; far more than can fit here. And far more than anyone, except perhaps my mother, would care to read.  So here are a few highlights...

For you, what makes a good portrait?

"A few years ago, I received an invaluable piece of advice from a photo editor at the international edition of National Geographic Magazine in Washington, D.C.  At the time, she told me that my portraiture was too confrontational and posed -- that it needed to be more observational and candid.  I took this constructive criticism on-board, began adopting it into my photographic style and will always carry it with me.

"For me, what makes a portrait truly memorable is an intangible factor: the ability to create an intimacy between my subject and me. Ironically, this often means giving the subject permission to ignore me, to act naturally and go about his business without worrying about where my camera is.  When my subject forgets that my lens is pointed at him, he is free to be himself, and then the most natural and engaging portraits are made.

"I like think of myself a visual storyteller, and people feature prominently across much of my work.  But in many of my portraits you will notice that my subject is not even looking at my lens.  Learning from that NGM photo editor, the key for me has been shooting the moment that happens between the moments; capturing my subjects’ subtle expressions, throwaway glances, and real laughter.

"This is when a subject’s true personality shines through, and these are the instances that I seek when photographing beautiful, natural portraiture."

It is evident from looking at your portfolio that you like shooting into the sun and using backlight as a photographic technique.  Can you talk about this?

"Shooting into the sun, and using backlight as a visual effect, is a compositional and lighting technique that I have been experimenting with for the past couple of years.  It goes against one of the most fundamental “rules” of photography -- to always have the sun behind/beside the photographer -- but I love 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.

"Although I pride myself on making many different types of photography, I also recognize that I need to take my individual style and consistently sharpen and improve it, establishing a unique photographic voice for myself.  This is one of my ongoing goals, as my eye is always maturing and my inspirations are ever changing.  Creating a portfolio of images that uses backlight as a creative device is an attempt to develop a simple, yet memorable, personal photographic signature for myself."

What do you think the differences are between 'travel photographers' and 'cultural photographers'?

"By their very nature, both travel photographers and cultural photographers share much in common.  Both need an innate curiosity about others. They both must demonstrate deference for foreign cultures.  They both must be sensitive to the interconnectedness of the world, and how their presence and actions impact the foreign culture they are documenting.  And they both require the intellect and willingness to challenge their own cultural assumptions and stereotypes about what’s 'normal'.

"However, a cultural photographer is first and foremost a visual storyteller, able to weave together a series of still images into a captivating narrative.  To do this effectively, he must be able to demonstrate other, more advanced, cross-cultural acumen that a travel photographer won’t necessarily always possess.

"First and foremost, I feel that a cultural photographer should have an awareness of, and experience documenting, his own culture.  Many travel photographers rarely take their cameras out while in their own environs, never showing an intellectual curiosity for their own culture or a willingness to explore it deeply photographically or otherwise.  To me, one doesn’t need

to travel abroad to create cultural photography; there are fascinating stories and engaging characters everywhere, even in a photographer’s own backyard.  And until one truly understands and respects his own culture, I feel it will be difficult for him to understand and respect someone else’s.

"A cultural photographer should be more interested in the 'why' than he is with the 'what' when capturing a scene.  He should have a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of a place or person or event, and the corresponding historical, social and emotional importance attached to it.  This will doubtless help him make deeper and more meaningful imagery."

The full article is printed in the December 2010 edition published in China this month.  It is truly honour to be associated with anything National Geographic produces, and I am humbled to have my photography and my words published in the pages of the Chinese edition of their magazine.

Running my own photography business has taught me so much.  I have learned about entrepreneurship.  I have learned that passion is a strong motivator, as is the fear of failure.  I have learned how to open myself up to people and to take chances on ideas.  And I have learned about the power of partnership and creative collaboration.

Three years ago I had a chance encounter with documentary filmmaker Mike Rogers.  During that first meeting we talked about our respective businesses and experiences, and we quickly learned that we shared a lot in common, both creatively and philosophically.  We became fast friends, and shortly thereafter Mike invited me to accompany him on a documentary film shoot to Bhutan.

For as long as I can remember, I’d fantasized about visiting the remote and enigmatic Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.  It was certain to be a dream photographic adventure for me.  There was a catch though: it was a small, independent documentary production with only minimal funding, so there would be no money to pay me; if I wanted to go to Bhutan, I’d have to agree to work for free.

I decided to just go for it, clear my calendar and join Mike on what I imagined would be the shoot of a lifetime.

Accompanied by our small Bhutanese crew, my role was to shoot still photography to appear in, and advertise, the film, as well as provide a visual record of the creation of the documentary for Mike's production company.

Exploring and shooting Bhutan was indeed my dream assignment come true, and the result was the most amazing travel and photography experience of my life.

Ironically, the photography I made in Bhutan “for free” has also been the most commercially successful collection of imagery I have ever created.

Photography from the Bhutan shoot has appeared in National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times and Adobe’s Photoshop.com website.  In 2009 I was awarded an honourable mention for "Excellence in Feature Photography" by the Society of Publishers in Asia for my Bhutan imagery published by Reader’s Digest (Asia).  And earlier this year the prestigious Luerzer’s Archive selected me as one of the “200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide” (2010/11) for the photography I made in Bhutan to promote Mike’s documentary film.

This month, some of my Bhutan photography will also

appear in the "Himalayan" issue of Germany's GEOspecial, a bi-monthly monothematic travel magazine in Germany.

My image of the joyous novice monks careening down the hill at their monastic school will feature on the cover of the December 2010 / January 2011 GEOspecial, as well as across a double-page spread inside, while one of my Tiger's Nest photographs will run across another (nearly) double-page spread.

Mike’s film, Shooting For Democracy: The Emerging Lens Initiative, was completed earlier this year and has been screened at a number of independent film festivals across the United States.

It’s amazing to imagine where I would be if I’d not met Mike or taken the chance on our friendship or the offer of adventure in Bhutan.

My father has a great expression: You never know if you never go.

Well, I went.  And I am so glad I did.

In late September I spent a week shooting a commission in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam for the UK edition of American Express' Centurion Magazine.

Although I've recently written a handful of posts about this trip, as well as uploaded a series of images I made during this assignment, the Winter 2010 edition of Centurion Magazine UK is published this week, and I wanted to share the completed feature "A Tale of Two Cities" written by Anthony Dennis and photographed by me.

As Anthony writes in the article, "Hanoi and Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City, as it's officially though not popularly called) are members of the unofficial club of the world's great rival metropolises.

"Hanoi, the capital in the north, is a city of tree-fringed lakes, wide boulevardsand petite, Paris-style parks tucked away in neighbourhoods full of faded, mustard-coloured French-style mansions and elegant Belle Epoque public buildings which have somehow survived Vietnam’s turbulent times.

"While not without some Gallic flavour, Saigon...more reflects the American era, with an aggressive capitalist spirit still less evident in Hanoi.  Paradoxically, it’s the

nation’s turbulent history...that renders Vietnam such an alluring destination, particularly as seen through the prism of its two principal cities."

Although I am pretty certain which of the cities is my favourite, as Anthony notes, "experiencing Hanoi and Saigon, and deciding upon which one you favour, remains one of the joys of a trip to Vietnam.  It is a country, after all, where, when it comes to cities, it takes two to tango."

Visit my website to see a larger collection of photographs I made while in Vietnam, including imagery that doesn't appear in the Centurion Magazine feature.

Last week, a client and I got into a friendly debate about Vietnam's best city: Is it Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi?  My answer was unequivocally HCMC.

True, it is (just barely) controlled chaos on the streets of Saigon.  But it has a pulse, an energy that is infectious. Besides, having lived in HCMC in the late-1990s, it clearly holds a special place in my heart.

My client disagreed with me, bestowing the virtues of Hanoi: the climate, the greenery, the slower pace of life in Vietnam's capital city.

Personally, I think it's like comparing Canberra to Sydney, Ottawa to Toronto, Washington D.C. to New York City. Although all these capital cities are undoubtedly nice, to me there's just no comparing them to the economic and cultural hubs of their respective nations.

We agreed to disagree on Vietnam's best city.  But the conversation got me thinking about Hanoi.

Indeed, there are many great things about Hanoi; one of the best is Hoan Kiem Lake.

The heart of Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake is steeped in legend. The name Hoan Kiem, literally translated as "returned sword", is derived from a 15th century myth in which the gods bestowed upon the emperor a magical sword, which he used to defeat the invading Chinese.  Vietnamese folklore says that one day, while boating on Hoan Kiem Lake, a giant turtle appeared and snatched the sword from the king's hands, returning it to the gods, and giving the lake it's monicker.  Giant tortoises are said to still inhabit Hoan Kiem Lake.

A popular spot for lovers to cuddle, a fashionable backdrop for wedding photos, a favoured location for people of all ages to stroll and, each morning at sunrise, a wonderful place to watch local Vietnamese practice the ancient art of Tai Chi, Hoan Kiem Lake lures both residents of, and visitors to, Hanoi with it's history, beauty and charm.

See more imagery from my recent shoot in Vietnam here: Take It To The Streets, Cyclo and Saigon Baby Gone.

A couple of months ago I did a short Q&A for British online adventure portal WideWorld Magazine where we talked briefly about travel, music, sports, books and, of course, photography.

I was recently approached again by WideWorld Magazine, this time to contribute "10 Tips for Better Adventure Photos".  Although I don't necessarily consider myself an "adventure photographer", per se -- at least not in the conventional sense, or the same realm as true action or sports photographers --  I suppose that what I do, and the places I go to do it, is adventurous.

Therefore, I tried to provide a collection of tips that aren't simply applicable to adventure-related photography, but can be applied across all photographic disciplines, such as having a shoot plan, not over-packing, introducing a human element to images, understanding and using your camera's aperture and ISO settings, and getting creative with light.

I am not sure what WideWorld Magazine will suggest we do together next, but I am already looking forward to it.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I have been partnering with Adobe in the U.S. over the past couple of months. They were initially interested in licencing some of my photographs for use on their Photoshop.com website, which I was more than happy to agree to.

Then, while we were finalizing the details and licencing agreements, I had an opportunity to speak a few times with an employee in Adobe's Digital Imaging group.  One day we talked at length about Adobe's suite of imaging software and how, specifically, Lightroom is such an integral part of my digital workflow.

A short time later, Adobe asked if I'd be interested in being a profiled photographer on the "Spotlight" section of Photoshop.com.  I had a few telephone calls with Adobe's PR agency in San Francisco so they could learn more about me and my business, the type of photography I make, and how I integrate Lightroom into both my editorial and commercial photography workflow.  The agency then drafted a profile and I prepared a small portfolio of work to be uploaded online.

The result is the "Choosing a New Adventure" spotlight that went live on Photoshop.com this morning. I am extremely proud of this association with Adobe, and look forward to sharing more of my work as it appears on Photoshop.com in the future.