I first visited Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in 1996.

I traveled there again in 1997, before moving to live in the city in 1998 and 1999.

Cyclos still appear in HCMC's outlying districts -- such as Cholon, the city's Chinatown, where I made this series of photographs -- but there is now a total ban on registering new cyclos in HCMC, save for a few hundred brand new, shiny "tourist" ones that city officials will permit to ply their trade in the downtown areas of Saigon.

One of my fondest memories of living in HCMC was a warm Sunday afternoon, spent with three friends touring the city's outer reaches in the front of cyclos, exploring bustling local markets and tiny side streets with expert Vietnamese drivers at our healm.

It is a shame that the iconic cyclos are disappearing from the frenetic streets of Saigon, along with the colourful captains who pilot them.

Yesterday we rolled out Issue #2 of the SCOTT eNewsletter, featuring some of my latest work, including photography of Hollywood icon Oliver Stone captured in Singapore, photo reportage from The Chain Reaction Project's latest philanthropic endeavour in Timor-Leste, and Karma Life Yoga's advertising campaign shot in Shanghai.

Inspired by the covers of the countless magazines scattered around my studio, this HTML-coded electronic direct marketing initiative is my way of sharing links to my latest and most exciting photographic adventures.

Issue #1 was distributed at the end of July.

If you would like to receive this eNewsletter in the future, then please subscribe to my mailing list.

I have spent the past three days in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) shooting an assignment for the European edition of American Express' Centurion Magazine.

I used to live in HCMC in 1998 and 1999, so it is always a pleasure to return to Vietnam's economic capital in the south to see old friends, and how much my former home is changing.  HCMC is rapidly growing and developing: luxury hotels line the streets of District 1, modern skyscrapers rise up behind them, and less-and-less ubiquitous are the bicycles and cyclos of a dozen years ago, replaced instead by seas of swarming scooters, cars and trucks.  However, HCMC remains charming, and one doesn't need to go too far off the beaten path to catch a glimpse of yesteryear.

Each night I was in HCMC, I made one panorama photograph at dusk in the city centre: the first from a coffee shop overlooking Nguyen Hue Street and Le Loi Boulevard and The Rex Hotel, the second from the rooftop terrace of Shri restaurant and lounge, and the third from Saigon Saigon, the rooftop bar at The Caravelle Hotel.

I arrived in Hanoi this afternoon, and have four more days of shooting here for this assignment.  It was sad to say good-bye to HCMC and my friends there, but I am looking forward to exploring the nation's capital city.

Way back in January of this year, Oliver Stone was in town to lecture at the Singapore campus of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, as well as screen Commandante -- his controversial documentary about Fidel Castro -- at the Next Reel International Film Festival.  During his few days in Singapore, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet this Hollywood legend and photograph him exclusively for The Rake magazine.

Christian Barker, editor-in-chief of The Rake, and I decided to photograph Mr. Stone at the beautiful Capella Hotel on Singapore's Sentosa Island, in one of their exclusive private villas and in their gorgeous Rolls-Royce Phantom limousine.  The backdrop was perfect.  Now all we needed was the man.

"Oliver arrived, a little late, and in person he was all you'd expect -- his air that of a heavy-hitting Hollywood auteur", writes Christian in The Rake article.  "I was rather in awe of the man I was about to interview," he continues, "and our photographer Scott was understandably nervy that he'd soon be tasked with 'directing' one of the world's top directors."

Indeed, I was intimidated photographing Oliver Stone.

But this feeling was more because of the pressure I put on myself.  In fact, the three-time Oscar winner and four-time Golden Globe winner was not an intimidating person at all.  I actually found him to be quite the opposite: he was an extremely willing subject, very patient and happy to take direction.  Oliver was generous with his time, and he repeatedly ensured that I had the perfect shot before moving on.

Even the next evening, when I saw Oliver at the film festival, his first question when he greeted me was how the photographs looked and whether I was pleased with them.

I am pleased with them.

And, to coincide with the release of Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, the article has been published in the latest issue of The Rake (Volume 5, 2010).  I am very excited to finally be able to share this work.

See more photographs I made of Oliver Stone here.

Jasmine Wong, one of the founding members of The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP), wrote this article for September 2010 issue of Singapore's Shape Magazine about her experience running the Dili Marathon and TCRP's support of HIAM-Health in Timor-Leste.

A handful of the photographs that I made during TCRP's race, as well as at HIAM-Health, illustrate Jasmine's editorial.

It is fantastic to see the TCRP initiative -- as well as its founders and supporters -- getting this deserving recognition.

And, on a personal note, it is very rewarding to see my photography supporting TCRP's efforts.  My work with The Chain Reaction Project is a wonderful by-product of running my own photography business: meeting and working with inspiring people, having the ability and means to travel and explore the corners of the world, meet new and interesting people and being given the creative freedom to make photographs that tell a story.

See more photography from the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste captured on my documentary shoots with TCRP in 2009 and 2010.

Yesterday, WideWorld Magazine, a British online adventure magazine, published a short Q&A with me where we talked briefly about travel, music, sports, books and, of course, photography.

It was an enjoyable interview, and I had fun answering WideWorld's questions, almost all of which were framed within the context of 'adventure':

Who’s my adventure hero? Photojournalist James Natchwey

What's my favourite book by an adventure athlete, explorer or traveller? Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between

And what’s the best piece of travel advice I have been given? “You never know if you never go.”

Click here to read the entire interview.

It is, indeed, a wide world out there.

In June, I traveled to China to photograph an advertising campaign for Karma Life Yoga, a yoga education and fitness centre in Shanghai.

The idea for Karma Life's ad campaign -- "Your sanctuary in the heart of frenetic Shanghai" -- was conceived by Bonsey Design Partnership in Singapore, and the photographic execution of the concept was inspired by the mixed media Wonderland series that I produced with Allison Low.

It was a great brief to shoot, as I was able to photograph the yoga models (all instructors at Karma Life) in a studio, while the outdoor images were captured at iconic landmarks across Shanghai, which was an amazing way to experience this fantastic city.

The campaign rolled-out in Shanghai a week ago, and coincided with the relaunch of the Karma Life brand on the yoga centre's sixth anniversary.

Here are six launch ads, but there will certainly be other ads to follow as Karma Life rolls out more work in the month ahead.

Last night was the official screening of the documentary film and photographic work that Mike Rogers and I created for The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) in Timor-Leste two months ago.

More than 100 people attended the outdoor screening and fundraiser at Singapore's Mount Emily.  I always get a little anxious sharing my photography with a large group of people, but I am proud to say the work that both Mike and I produced for TCRP was warmly received.

As background, TCRP is a non-profit philanthropic organization born in 2009 when four extremely inspirational women in Singapore -- Ting, Alex, Jas and Anina -- committed to help change lives in some of the world's least-developed nations.

United by a love of adventure and a passion for philanthropy, TCRP seeks physical challenges and local organizations that can benefit from their efforts.

TCRP's journey began in August 2009 with the Tour de Timor, a 5-day, 450-kilometre mountain bike race across Timor-Leste.  Using the race as a platform and harnessing the power of social networking and media, TCRP successfully raised awareness for Timor and more than SGD$50,000 for HIAM-Health, a Dili-based malnutrition

rehabilitation and education centre for parents and children.

This past June, TCRP returned to Timor-Leste.  But this time a group of 22 "Catalysts for Change" joined them in running the Dili "City of Peace" Marathon to raise awareness for the poverty-stricken nation and its people, as well as to continue their support of HIAM-Health.

Together they delivered a SGD$28,000 Playpoint playground and more than SGD$10,000 for the children of HIAM-Health.

This is my personal donation to TCRP: a documentary slideshow of their journey and efforts that can be used as a marketing tool and a way to garner additional sponsorship and donations for their future endeavors.

See more photography from the ruggedly beautiful nation of Timor-Leste captured on my documentary shoots with TCRP in 2009 and 2010.

To view this video in HD, click here.

**If you are having trouble viewing the video, please download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player here.**

I recently spent two weeks' holiday with my family in Canada.  It is a long way to travel, literally half-way around the world, from Singapore to Toronto.

But there are two little girls there that make the 24-hour airplane journey worth every minute: my nieces, Brooke (4 years-old) and Paige (6 years-old).

I made this series of photographs -- in their front hallway with presents I bought them, playing fairy princess dress-up and swinging high, higher, highest on their backyard swing set -- while visiting with them at their home this past July, as well as on my trip to Canada last December.

Brooke and Paige are wonderful subjects to photograph. Like all little girls, they love the attention.  And like all young children, they aren't (yet) self-conscious.

I love Brooke and Paige for more reasons than I can count: their vivid imaginations, their boundless curiousity, their fervid individuality.

But I think I love them most because they love me back.

See more of my Diana Experiment imagery on Flickr.

Like the slideshow I produced for The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP) after last year's Tour de Timor, I am in the process of creating a new presentation that documents the work TCRP did on their most recent philanthropic adventure to Timor-Leste this past June.

It is a tedious task -- culling through the thousands of photographs I made in Timor, and choosing just the right images to tell TCRP's story -- but I do love it.  I was up last last night, editing and re-editing my selections and retouching the best pictures for inclusion in my slideshow, which will be completed and presented at TCRP's fund-raising event next Saturday night in Singapore.

As I worked away on my images last evening, I came across this trio of photographs I made at the river bed on the outskirts of Dili.  During Timor's dry season, the river bed is quarried for stone and gravel for the many construction projects in and around the capital city.  It is quite a sight to behold: dozens and dozens of men shoveling and throwing and sifting dirt and rock from sunrise to sunset.

From the bridge high above the river bed, the scene reminded me of armies of ants toiling away on their ant hills...

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.

Last week a friend and I took a short holiday to Australia. We spent a few days in Sydney, a few days in Melbourne and one (amazing) day driving along the Great Ocean Road.  It was a fantastic break, and a trip that I won't soon forget.

I have been fortunate enough to visit Australia many times over the years, and each time I go I seem to enjoy it more and more; this time was no exception.  Melbourne was fantastic and the Great Ocean Road was breathtakingly beautiful.  But there's just something I find so special about Sydney every time I visit.  It has a remarkable beauty and an energy that I find both palpable and infectious.

I spent a couple of hours on the afternoon I arrived wandering around Circular Quay, gazing at Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House, and being a typical tourist.  I only had my iPhone in my pocket, but it was all I needed to capture what I saw and felt as the sun set on this amazing city.

See more of my iPhoneography on Flickr.

Bridal isn't something that I typically photograph.  But narrative and cinematic fashion is.  So when the very lovely Faz -- who styled many of my favourite shoots, including Sin Palace and Golden Age -- offered me a chance to shoot with her for Singapore Brides, I had to say yes.

The shoot idea that Faz and I came up with was suburban-housewife-doing-mundane-tasks-around-town-in-a-wedding-dress; a simple idea with a slight social commentary on marriage and managing the day-to-day tasks of a household.

Assisted by Zam (Photographer's Assistant), Iggy (Stylist's Assistant) Dewi Mahoney (Make-up) and Ash Loi (Hair), we photographed the series in Singapore's Bedok neighbourhood.

It was a lot of fun to shoot this spread in such a public sphere, and (for once) not be concerned about people standing in the frame, staring at the camera or generally being part of the photograph.

Here are three images that didn't make the final cut for the spread (but I like a lot, anyway).  See the whole feature online at Singapore Brides.

It's been a long week -- a little rocky in parts -- but my friend and designing/programming guru Licheng managed to pull it all together late last Thursday night. This blog, along with my brand new website, officially went "live" early Friday morning with the launch of the SCOTT eNewsletter.

This HTML-coded electronic direct marketing piece, inspired by the covers of the magazines littering my studio, was also the brainchild of Licheng.  It will be created and distributed every couple of months to keep people updated on a handful of the more interesting and creative projects that I have been part of.

If you would like to receive this eNewsletter, then please subscribe to my mailing list.

A few months ago I spent a week in Cambodia photographing a commission for SilkAir's inflight magazine, Silkwinds.  With my assigned shooting completed -- and an afternoon free before my flight back to Singapore -- I decided to visit the majestic, millennium-old Angkor Wat temple complex on the outskirts of the Siem Reap, a small provincial cluster of old villages nestled between rice paddies and stretching along the Siem Reap River.

Angkor is a sanctuary of immense artistic and archaeological significance and doubtlessly one of the most breathtaking architectural masterpieces left standing in the world today.

Having been privileged enough to tour and photograph Angkor twice before, I wanted to try and capture the ancient city differently on this visit.  So, with my Nikon D3x and Diana+ 55mm and 110mm plastic lenses, I spent four glorious hours wandering and making photographs inside the walled city that served as the capital of the Khmer Empire at the start of the 12th century.

See more of my Diana Experiment imagery on Flickr.