Category: Yunnan

The Good People

Life is slow in Yunnan. People walk with no rush; the fields can wait. The clouds change form in slow motion; the lush mountains are great company. Even the birds chirp melodically and without strain; it’s just the way it is. In a place like that, a bicycle fits so well for exploring at the speed of the land. I came upon a child and his grandfather walking with their shadows along the rice fields and enjoying the caressing rays of the gentle sun. I got off my bicycle and began photographing them after getting their clear unspoken agreement. Then I saw alarm in their eyes as they gestured towards me; I turned around and watched my bicycle tumble with my second camera and my bag into the rice field. This man with grace, ease and a smile, put his grandson down, helped me lift my now damaged mode of transportation, with its dislocated wheel. He gestured to me and we communicated with my limited Mandarin as he helped carry my bicycle back the other way towards his home, his little grandson following us shyly. The man asked me to wait as he brought out his toolbox and slowly and methodically fixed the wheel and tested it. He smiled and his granddaughter joined them as they posed for a last photograph before I took off feeling lighter, happier, and grateful for the good people who give without counting the cost, who help because it is human to do so.

Tags asia, bicycle, china, chinese, exploration, family, grandparent, help, inspiration, kind, people, photography, pictures, travel, xizhou, yunnan

CHINA inspiration Photography Yunnan

The Soul of Yunnan~

Golden dedication~ Yunnan — Golden Dedication

Every new journey gives me a renewed set of reasons to do what I love to do. I love the art of photography. Time stops when I am in the streets of a new place, meeting people, looking through their eyes, watching them from a distance as they do what they do, and feeling a rising sense of excitement at being part of it all. In my recent trip to the region of Yunnan around Dali, I had a lot of time to reflect and to ponder what it is about photography that keeps me traveling, venturing and adventuring in search of human connection. It came to me one early morning just before sunrise, it is the soul of the place, that is what meets me at those special moments and gives me permission to capture its magic. You may give it any other name you wish, for me, it’s the soul.

she bashfully ran in a swoosh of color~ Yi Minority~ Yunnan — She Bashfully Ran in a Swoosh of Color

Tags bai, china, color, dali, documentary, er'hai, ethnic minority, fishing, lake, minority, people, photography, street, sunrise, yi, yunnan

CHINA Photography Yunnan

For the Love of People~ Yunnan

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date April 17, 2015
8 Comments on For the Love of People~ Yunnan

Attempting documentary photography and not feeling compassionate love for people would be pointless as far as I am concerned.

I love feeling the humanity in other people’s eyes, to guess at what they are feeling, to lock eyes with them even for a brief moment, to be part of their world for the time I that I am there and later again and again through their photographs.

With each visit to Yunnan, my connections are deepened and I feel compelled to return. Simplicity is a gem in our complex world of today, a fountain of peace to a busy and crowded mind.

More soon from this amazing region of China…

Tags cheyi, children, china, documentary, ethnic, family, hani, image, love, mimo khair, minority, parents, people, photography, picture, portrait, street, trip, yunnan

art CHINA inspiration Photography street Yunnan

In Street Photography Expect the Unexpected~ Yunnan

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date March 28, 2015
10 Comments on In Street Photography Expect the Unexpected~ Yunnan

After about a 4 hour flight from Shanghai to Kunming in Yunnan and sorting out the small inevitable complications like changing cars, drivers, lunch and settling everyone to a journey of unexpected events, we set off to our first stop on the workshop, the town of Shiping.

After a first night not short of adventure and discovery in the streets of the old town, we set off in the morning with the freedom one gets after leaving a questionable hotel without having to look back.

All packed, cameras charged, armed with snacks and water bottles we set off only to discover that our bus (that we grew to love) had a flat tire. We were informed that the repairs will take longer than expected. When asked why, the answer was “people in these parts are just not efficient enough”. I swallowed the answered and decided to make the best of a bad situation.

I invited everyone to use the 2 hours to explore and we found ourselves in an unforgettable market! Photo opportunities everywhere, people, children, faces, color, it was wonderful.

During the time there, I was utterly charmed by a group of children who followed me around jumping, giggling, acting silly, jumping into every frame I tried to create. It then dawned in me that the best thing to do would be to just stop trying and instead of capture life, just live it. I played with them and my students photographed them and the whole affair was effervescent and a special gift to start the journey with.

Photo of me taken by Saima with the children at the market.

It is wonderful to be reliving the adventure in Honghe through the stories and images as I busily plan the next one in Dali this coming June.

Tags adventure, documentary, ethnic minorities, honghe, kunming, market, myyunnanadventures, photography, shiping, stories, story, workshop, yunnan

CHINA Photography Yunnan

The Ethnic Minority Culture of Yunnan~ China

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date March 22, 2015
12 Comments on The Ethnic Minority Culture of Yunnan~ China

I returned with a small group of photographers last week to this remote region of China’s Yunnan Province that haunted me since my last visit to the area a couple of years back.

It is the type of journey you would do if you were really in love with photography and different cultures that make up pieces of the puzzle of the human story on our planet.

The journey was a great challenge from the long drives, to the heat, the spare accommodations and the great element of unknown.

It was the opening of my series of documentary photography workshops that I am doing in Yunnan and despite all the challenges we faced, I can happily call this a great success.

I will be sharing here a series of images, stories, portraits and special stories about this journey into a unique and mysterious part of the world.

Tags cheyi, china, documentary, ethnic minority, hani, history, honghe, human, human condition, journey, my yunnan adventure, myyunnanadventures, people, photography, workshop, yunnan

Photography Yunnan

Family Ties in the Culture of Yunnan’s Ethnic Minorities

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date February 9, 2015
30 Comments on Family Ties in the Culture of Yunnan’s Ethnic Minorities

In my journeys into the remote villages of China’s Yunnan province, I was moved by the closeness of the older generation with the children of the tribe. Physical proximity seemed to be an easement factor relied upon in raising the children and arming them with needed confidence as they developed. Parents and grandparents went about their busy workdays with toddlers literally tied to their bodies in colorful embroidered sacks.

Something to consider in our modern world where gadgets are slowly taking the place of our warm human hugs.

Tags children, china, color, documentary, ethnic, family, grandparents, hugs, minority, parents, people, photography, portraits, ties, tradition, tribe, wamrth, yunnan

CHINA Photography Yunnan

Yunnan’s Smoke Culture~ 3

The province of Yunnan, stretching over 394,000 square kilometers in the far southwest of the Republic of China, is rich in color, tradition and history. More than 30% of its population of 45 million is made up of over 25 ethnic minorities like the Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Miao, Mozuo and Dai people. Most of the ethnic minorities live in compact communities with rich customs and traditions that live on despite the recent economic change that takes over the Chinese mainland.

Each time I visited the region for a new photographic adventure I was drawn to capturing the very dominant smoking traditions amongst the different minorities. From he pipes that are passed on through generations, hand crafted with care and art to the large bamboo pipes, to modern day cigarettes, for good or bad, smoking lives on in Yunnan as a tribal tradition.

This post was also shared at the Huffington Post, where I blog regularly.

Also I am very excited to announce a series of documentary workshops that I am conducting in Yunnan over the Spring and early fall of 2015. Read about it here!

Tags asia, china, color, documentary, ethnic, minority, nicotine, people, photography, series, smoke, yunnan

CHINA old age old people street Travel Yunnan

wearing her story ~ Yunnan

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date July 15, 2013
11 Comments on wearing her story ~ Yunnan

Every stitch on her costume, every threaded bead she decorates herself with, every wrinkle on her face plays a part in telling her story, a life so different to ours, a world so alien to 21st century culture, an existence rising out of old traditions, she belongs to a tribe that allows strangers no access. All I could capture was the sense of her presence and the few photographs that I always hope could link to the state of standing in front of these amazing people.

Tags asia, black and white, china, costume, ethnic minority, jewelry, lady, monochrome, old, people, portrait, square format, tradition, travel, woman, yi

CHINA inspiration old age old people Photography Travel Yunnan

ravaged~ Yunnan

We were driving along one of the long dirt roads leading to far off villages of Yunnan and neighboring Sichuan when I had a strong instinct to stop the car. And as instincts are mostly right if we choose to listen to them, down a slope on the side of the road this most incredible woman was sitting under a broken umbrella and an old straw hat trying to hide from the blazing sun of the Yunnan mountains. She spoke no words, only gestured with her hands and smiled her glowing toothless smile through a muddy face and tangled hair framing her warm face. In the end of her consenting gladly fo my friend and I photographing her, she asked with hand signals for water that she accepted from us with so much gratitude. She was adorned with strange jewelry and wore muddy rags, but she had the power to leave such a strong impression on us, that I most certainly found myself filing her memory in the ‘unforgettable’ category.

Tags asia, character, china, color, dirty, grungy, mimo khair, old, portrait, ravaged, road, straw hat, street photography, travel, unforgettable, woman, yunnan

children children's rights CHINA contemplations parenting Photography Yunnan

a bucketful of possibilities~ Yunnan

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 30, 2013
14 Comments on a bucketful of possibilities~ Yunnan

Children, no matter where they were born, under which circumstances, hold the whole promise of a better future. In them are the seeds of what has not yet happened and through them the codes of originality and possibility for human development. They are our greatest asset, let’s treat them with care.

Tags bucket, care, child, children, china, fragile, future, girl, human development, life, lijiang, mimo khair, photography, responsibility, street, street photography, yunnan