Watching You Watching Me is a selection of images portraying some of the people and places I encountered on my travels through Laos and Vietnam. Mostly a solo expedition, I visited towns and places off the beaten track. I was as exotic to the people as they were to me. My focus was to explore these topics through my lens.

I found myself drawn to the children who played

on the streets when the heat of the day settled

and long shadows were cast. School children

dinked each other home on their bicycles, the

passenger holding an umbrella for shade. The

children were undisturbed by my presence and

were naturally composed within my frame. They

portrayed sincere innocence and joy, playing in

the basic environment enveloping them.

Young and old invited me into their lives with

a sense of warmth and pride. In the cool of the

afternoon, towns came alive with activity and

colour as people commenced daily household

chores. I wandered the streets and was welcomed

into dirt yards with tin sheds as homes. I found

myself led across rice fields by young boys

helping me find my way home through holes in

fences. Chickens, dogs and goats roamed freely

and as a means of transport, everyone rode a

motorcycle or bicycle.

With limited language in common, we relied on

other means to communicate. Facial expressions

and body language revealed the mood and

willingness to be photographed. Intrigued and

curious, there were only open doors to be found.

As much as I was observing these people,

absorbing everything about their way of life,

they too were curious about me and my interest

in photographing them.

In presenting this collection, it is deeply apparent that while I was watching them, they too were watching me.