In focus: Worldwide Photo Walk documents a Saturday in Yangon
FOR the third consecutive year, the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk managed a small showing in Yangon. More than 30 photographers, ranging from the semi-professional to the novice, participated in the walk, which began at Maha Wizaya Pagoda and travelled around the Bahan Market before finishing at a mohinga joint, Myaung Mya Daw Cho, on Old Yay Tar Shay Street.
The event, held in hundreds of cities around the globe, raises money for the Springs of Hope Kenya Orphanage, which feeds, houses and educates young orphans in the African nation. Participants were encouraged to make a small donation.
For two hours, walk leader Rick Saint led the group, with plenty of stoppages for snapshots of Shwedagon Pagoda or portraits of Yangonites living their daily lives.
Saint, an American photographer who lives and works in Yangon, has helped organise the event since 2014.
Maha Wizaya Pagoda proved to be a photogenic start, as the unique pagoda is decorated inside to appear like a Myanmar jungle: Animals, painted as constellations, adorn the ceiling, and fake trees spread around corners. Kyee Myint, a photographer who attended the event, snapped his favourite picture at the pagoda using a fish-eye lens.
“I wanted to show how epic Maha Wizaya Pagoda is,” he said.
Photographers who participated are encouraged to share their best snapshots in the WorldWide PhotoWalk contest before the October 16 deadline.
Winners will be up for prizes such as DSLR cameras, gift cards, apps and camera bags from Canon, a sponsor.
The Worldwide Photo Walk is organised by Kelbyone, an online photography-learning platform.
The Maha Wizaya Pagoda, as seen through photographer Kyee Myint’s fish-eye lens, dominates a cloudy sky.
An old man reads a newspaper outside Bahan Market.The photographer, a Myanmar local named Nikolas, said the moment caught his eye because of the subject’s sitting posture.
This photo, by organiser Rick Saint, depicts a family maneuvering their front steps near Bahan Market.