Portrait

A monk under the temple
Another temple, a wooden one. I've seen others more shiny. A monk makes me a sign to come. I follow him with my bare feet. He shows me a stone house, open the lock of the door and he enters. I follow him. Inside there was a skeleton. A real one, with teaching purpose. He then shows me another locked room from another cottage, no windows and just a chimney with a fan on top, going outside. The room is painted with Buddhist scenes making you feel that everything was real. We go out, he shows me the space under the temple. A big place where you can lose yourself. There is my hospitable monk.
Jasmine boy
Beeing tired afer a day of walking I took a path that was less populated. A boy was playing alone and suddenly saw me. He was there with his parents selling chains of flowers for people visiting the temple. While I was looking at him, he brought me a chain of jasmine and put it around my neck. I felt like receiveng a dimond neckless. The flowers were smelling incredibly and I brought them home as a precious souvenir.
Little pink beggar
From all the children I've seen in Myanmar, this little one was by far the dirtiest. I met her in front of a temple gate with her mother, who was as dirty as her daughter. I offered her some sweets and she immediately took them and went back to her sit. I left the place with a sad feeling. However, when I was back home I had a chat with my 6yo daughter about this photo: Me: : What do you think about this little girl? Is she poor or rich? She: She is rich ! Me: How did you reach to this conclusion? She: Look mommy, she has money! To such an direct and blunt answer I was speechless.
Long-neck ladies
Long-neck women or girafe women are part of Padaung tribe in Myanmar.
Begging on the streets of Mandalay
After the monks line up for lunch, the tourists spread all over the city. Few locals continue their daily routine. Exactly like this mom begging to feed her child.
Lotus girl
I was photographing people around when an English woman stopped me and told to go and visit a wooden house and look for a lovely little girl there. It was a bit weird why she was giving me this info, but I felt I had to follow her advice. The moment I entered in a big room where some women were sewing in a very traditional way, a little girl almost jumped on my way with a happy smile. It was like she was waiting for me for a long time. It was like the sun rising in the morning. Her mother, a worker in this lotus and silk traditional factory, put her on a big table on the side, that was looking more as a theater scene. She danced for me almost for 15 minutes, radiating a happiness that you could rarely find. Photographing her it was not anymore my thing. I was just looking at her joy and let myself enter into her world. When it was the time for me to leave, she felt and she stopped, I grabbed the camera and make her some photos. That joy or that innocence from her eyes is difficult to be forgotten.
Poverty and technology
This little guy was the boy of a man who was selling all sort of touristic things. You could have easily notice that they were struggling with their daily life. However, this little boy was playing on a smartphone. Probably they had one for the entire family, but nevertheless you couldn’t pass without seeing the discrepancy.

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