I haven’t travelled to Burma (Myanmar) myself, though stories from more intrepid friends about the land of ‘a million pagodas’, alongside a growing fondness for Burmese food, seem destined to lead me there in the not-too-distant future.
And now a new book by Hans Kemp (photos) and Tom Vater (words), Burmese Light: Impressions from the Golden Land, may be the final nudge that inspires me to retrieve my backpack from beneath my bed, remove the cockroaches from my hiking boots and head off on the road to Mandalay (apologies to Mr Kipling).
First up, let’s get this out there: Burmese Light is the best photo-travelogue that I have read or browsed through in 2013 or nearly any year for that matter. Yes! It is simply that good.
OK, granted, I should admit that my consumption of this field is not exhaustive, but having whiled away hours in airport bookshops – where this book form comes into its own – from Seoul to San Francisco this past year, I am not without some experience on these matters. So with this statement out there, what evidence can I provide to back my claim?
Let’s start with Kemp’s images. Burmese Light is fair brimming with evocative and enticing pictures of the ‘Golden Land’, where the aspect of light, referenced in the book’s title, is artfully portrayed across 100 plus photographs. Kemp’s shots take the reader on a comprehensive circuit of the country, from the lower reaches of the Irrawaddy to the uplands of the remote northwest.
Beyond this, however, one of the secrets to good travel photography – to me, anyway – is the capacity to capture iconic scenes (sthink the temple plains of Bagan or the famed Golden Rock pagoda) in a new and different way, breaking away from the expected and providing something different in angle and perspective. Kemp exceeds this test again and again as he brings his lens to bear on another scene or element of daily Burmese life in a fresh and intoxicating way.
For me there are numerous highlights in Kemp’s photographs: one image captures a couple of far from Zen-looking monks, let’s say ‘grumpy’, on the steps of a pagoda (living proof of a ‘bad monk day’ perhaps?); flyaway pigeons in downtown Yangon, and silhouettes of the U Bein Bridge (Amarapura), reportedly the longest teak bridge in the world.
My favourite photograph appears, on first impression, to be a straightforward shot of a worshipper pouring water over a stone Buddha at one of Yangon’s numerous pagodas. But look beyond the person and deity and you will see that the entire scene is being played out in shadows on a large elephant statue behind. Whether intentional or not, this alleviates the image in craft and impact. Beautiful!
But Kemp’s photographs are only half of the story here. As important are the words of his partner, Tom Vater. No slouch with a pen – Vater has authored several works of fiction and non-fiction – his words give breath and meaning to the shapes, patterns and rhythms that Kemp captures in megapixels.
What I particularly enjoy about Vater’s writing is how he personalises his accounts and reproduces his experiences in a vivid way. One example is his description of the sweat condensing on the ceilings of the Taungbyone Shrine, north of Mandalay, as the worshippers pray in the non-air-conditioned space below. You can almost feel the humidity as he relays the encounter. Elsewhere, we are regaled with tales of train journeys to the north and boat trips along the Irrawaddy, all with the same descriptive prowess.
Invariably, for such a vast country, some parts of the ‘Golden Land’ do not feature in the book. Kemp and Vater are also careful to avoid any in-depth discussion of power and politics in the region. If you’re searching for an insight into the latter, look elsewhere.
To fully embrace this book, I suggest that you travel to the Irrawaddy Restaurant (Street 334), that you crack open a cool Myanmar (the national beer) and order a biriyani, and that you then place your copy of Burmese Light before you and start to scroll its pages. It may not be the same as being there, but it could be the next best thing.
For now, I leave with you with some contemplative lines from Mr Vater:
‘For now a wonderful, quiet and dignified charm, an almost serene innocence, borne of decades of isolation, permeates the country… How long this innocence will last before it gives way to new and challenging realities is anyone’s guess.’
It really is time to get that backpack out, methinks.
Burmese Light, by Hans Kemp and Tom Vater, is available on Amazon.com for $23.33.