Category Archives: Lao Culture

Summer Camp

H.A.G.S! (Have a Great Summer!) Thanks to LAS for again organizing the Kid’s mini summer camp.  Also thanks to Wat Lao Buddhakhanti for allowing us the space to teach and play.

Video: RLCD Festival

Notes: Just random clips thrown together, 5D mk II and D90, mostly handheld, and of course manual focus on everything.  One could see the advantages of the little “HD” cameras out there with their extreme depth of focus (i.e. every unnecessary thing in focus), but I still like the messups and the old 16mm look.  Song is […]

AAPA Awards

AAPA Convention | Marriott Marquis | Atlanta, GA When I was a kid, I wore thick glasses and read a lot of books.  Relatives would call me “little doctor.”  I guess it would have been a smarter career move, instead of this whole “artist / photographer / documentarian / lazy thinker” joyride that I’ve been on […]

Lao New Year 2010 – Wat Sattha Dhamma – Habersham County, GA

Wat Sattha Dhamma | Alto, GA Random Notes: Like most Lao things, humble beginnings on this one as well, but there aren’t many times in America these days where you can witness an old timey barn raising, people pulling together to build something.  Time will tell if this becomes a Lao “Bonnaroo” field, and more complaints from […]

Room to Read Event

The Lovett School | Atlanta, GA Notes: John Wood had a pretty comfy position at Microsoft ten years ago.  While travelling through Nepal he visited a quaint school in the mountains and found their “library” was merely a filing cabinet with things left over from hikers and travelers.  Apalled at this he vowed to return with more […]

Manophet: Lonely Buffalo

I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman in Laos, Manophet, whose life story is pretty amazing. As a farmer, monk, soldier, singer, translator, teacher, and father, his life was full of triumph and tragedy, that should make us all think about our own selfish desires and priorities. I’m saddened to hear that he passed away due […]

Lao New Year 2010 – Wat Buddha Moongcoon – Riverdale, GA

Tech Notes: 24-105mm IS on the Canon, 70-200 VR on the Nikon, and infrared Sigma.  Great combo.  Maybe since I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIII so much, with its 3 person fighting structure, figuring out tools for the bag is like setting up your characters for a battle.  Cars and cameras are similar and oddly enough cameras are […]

2nd International Lao New Year 2010 – Miss Lao International Pageant

2nd International Lao New Year | San Francisco Miss Lao International Pageant | Whitcomb Hotel Ballroom Miss Lao International 2010 Dolene Simmalavong Miss Lao International Dolene Simmalavong 1st Princess Aleta Rattanasith (L) 2nd Princess Busaba Sisounthone (R) Amy Chanthaphavong, current reigning Miss Asian America, addressing the crowd.  The winner tonight will go on to compete […]

2nd International Lao New Year 2010 – Performers

2nd International Lao New Year | San Francisco Here are some photos of this year’s performers at the Lao New Year in San Fran.  Photos by me, if anyone uses them, please credit me or my site pretty please.  Captions and of course thoughts by me as well, please note that taking pictures is much […]

2nd International Lao New Year 2010 – Prelude

2nd International Lao New Year | San Francisco Pre-festival and practicing photos from this year’s Lao New Year in San Fran.  Photos by me, if anyone uses them, please credit me or my site pretty please.  Captions and of course thoughts by me as well, please note that taking pictures is much easier than performing and organizing […]

LAY-OCEAN?

Notes: Been a while since I posted anything Lao related…as you all know by now, I started off as the typical Lao kid holding the sign with his name in the refugee camp, was lucky enough to resettle in the good ol’ U S and A, grew up with two cultures, studied art, went back in time to right the […]

Lao’d and Proud

Notes: All the images are screengrabs (D90 Movies) from a few weeks ago at our local Korean coffee shop with ai Thavisouk…I’ve wanted to do this type of documentary work for awhile now, just gathering some like minded people and sitting them in front of the camera.  Granted the environment wasn’t the most serene, but when a […]

The Betrayal

“…On the street they call me, you Chink, you Japanese, you Chinese, you Korean, you dumb Cambodian, What the F*** are you doing here? Go home.” That’s a powerful line from ai Thavisouk’s film “The Betrayal.” Not too long ago I was at a football game at my old college. I was just walking by […]

Photos: Atlanta Asian Film Festival

Notes: Very cool to have our Laotian people (both Lao and Hmong) on center stage with a packed house, and you could feel the energy in the room when the trailer for The Betrayal was shown…yeah, slowly but surely our people’s shared story is being known worldwide. More pix coming soon.

Photos: Lao Heritage Foundation Fundraiser

Lao Heritage Foundation 5th Year Fundraiser | September 19, 2009 | Alexandria, VA Notes: The LHF preserves and promotes Lao culture through visual arts, dance, and music.  In addition to connecting with people I’d only “passed by” online, it was nice just being around a good selection of creative Lao folk.  Master Khaen player Bounseung Synanonh was there, along with Thavisouk […]

Atlanta Dragon Boat Festival 2009 Photos

Hong Kong Association Dragon Boat Atlanta Festival September 12, 2009 | Lake Lanier, Gainesville, GA Notes: We didn’t do so bad. Rowed in all three races and still had time to take photos.  Saturday turned out to be blazing hot, but the Vietnamese Nón lá (conical hat) beats any tattered baseball cap.  Thanks to the […]