Clichéd title. Probably even used it before. No matter! My writing will not make me rich and famous anyway, might as well recycle my own clichés! Anyway to become a cliché it has to be extremely good. Or popular. Wish I could become a cliché!
This particular Field of Dreams is a rice field in the mountains of East Laos, driving towards the village of Nonghat close to the Vietnam border. After one day in the capital Vientiane – awful touristy place, more on that later, whoever rebuilt this city ruined it – we flew to the remote town of Phonsavan and met our car, driver and guide. We drive up the mountains on curvy small roads snaking their way through gorgeous landscapes and charming villages with nothing but wooden huts, smiling villagers and simple country living. I never want to leave. As the sun starts setting and golden hour is upon us we start scouting for a nice location. Being me I want a big wide open space, not easy to find in mountains. But suddenly this beautiful flat dry brown rice field appears as if someone heard my request. Perfect timing, perfect location. Perfect colours as the dry orange rice crops really pick up the colour of the setting sun. Perfect moment that I captured this way:
You are not really supposed to walk off road or off path. Laos is still home to so many unexploded bombs dropped by USA during the Vietnam war. US Airforce used Laos as a garbage bin, you don’t want to land with bombs on your plane so if the pilots had any leftovers returning from raids in Vietnam, it was dumped unexploded on Laos before returning to base. Thanks USA! So any step off track could be your last. Here, it is a rice field though so plenty of footsteps before me and I was careful to only walk on the paths.
This is a stitched panorama of 7 or 8 images, developed in Lightroom and stitched in PTgui. Images like these are easy. Nature is the artist. I merely composed, shot stitched, colour balanced and also painted a bit with light to enhance the hut. But Mother Nature is the artist here, love her to bits!
Field of Dreams in Laos was truly beautiful. Stay tuned for the sequels, Solitary Tree in Laos and Outback Road in Laos. I warned you I am a cliché!
15 Comments on “Field of Dreams in Laos”
Absolutely stunning image Flemming, and great story to go with it.
I just love the simplistic living values that are highlighted in this shot, no John Deere rice harvesters, just plain simple techniques to living.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Thomas, thanks for the comment! I love the simplicity here as well something I really strive for.
Beautiful, Mate. Definitely looks like a Field Of Dreams. Hanging out to see some more from your adventures!
Cheers Beau!
Flemming I think this photo displays where your head is at, at the moment. Your craving for simplicity in life is showing in your photos and providing stunning results. You don't need a complex composition along with complex post processing to make a stunning photo. Well done!
Your mention of the unexploded bombs is extremely interesting. Do they have a plan to remove the old ordanance at all?
Jamie
Jamie, I think that is a great insight. You are totally right. I am attempting to boil down everything to the very simplistic basic core. The true essence so to speak! Glad you like it so much!
Laos has the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in the world. There are Unexploded Ordnance Programs running along with foreign aid to clear it but the country is huge and the job almost impossible. Very sad.
Hi Bo,
It seems like you are becoming a thrill seeker mate!
Great story and photo.
Cheers,
Mark
Cheers Mark! I think walking on unexploded ordnance is probably a tad too thrilling though!
nice but would like to see the hut a tad more to the right and a little more light in the crop. Great adventures your having mate, thanks for sharing with us.
it's your monitor mate, or perhaps your eyes 😀 😀 I painted light onto the crop already hehe. Hut should have been a bit more to the right, but I didn't want to loose the shadow.
nice Flembot, good to see you're getting some nice light there 🙂
sounds like your travels are coming along nicely now!
cheers Stephen and yes, Laos was a brilliant start!
Nice picture..
It is sad that the people of Laos still dying 30+ years after the war ended. Over 2 million tonnes of bombs were dropped in span of 9 years and 30% of those still failed to explode.
there's a movie called field of dreams, 'if you build it..they will come'
yup, good movie
🙂
i love mother nature too, she's incredible and where would we be without her? .. what would we photograph
stunning photo flemming
Hehehe, I know that movie very well, have seen it 100 times and love it. Which is why I keep stealing the title.
Without Mother Nature I would not want to live. Cities are a necessity but I hope to someday do without a city, city make ya sick of it. Want nature!
and glad you like my image!