I’m not a photographer and I’ve never owned a professional-level camera. But I’ve been to some pretty interesting places over the last 15-20 years or so and taken some photos I like. You can find some of them here.
Elder ranger sits guard over the national park. Simien Mountains National Park, Amhara, Ethiopia, 01/2017.
A couple of wild chimpanzees chill out high up in a tree. 01/2019, Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda
Macaque enjoys a banana and contemplates inscriptions. 07/2008, Kampong Cham, Cambodia.
Cyclo driver advances through the massively flooded streets of Phnom Penh during a monsoon downpour. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 06/2009
Getting tattooed in a shady Phnom Penh suburb. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 03/2006.
Traffic jam at the edge of a floating village. 07/2008, Kampong Chnnang, Cambodia.
Some fairly straightforward propaganda from the tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar. This photo was shot before the 2015 elections, when the junta still fully controlled Myanmar, but sadly, it is once again quite topical. 05/2011, Mandalay, Myanmar
Farmer riding a water buffalo to the fields. Countryside outside Kyauk Me, Shan State, Myanmar, 05/2011
Novice takes a break at the entrance to a small village temple. Shan State hills, Myanmar, 05/2011.
Walking down the hill from Nwa La Bo Pagoda in heavy fog. Near Paung, Myanmar, 05/2011
Sellers having a laugh at Kyaukme Market, probably at my expense. 05/2011, Kyaukme, Shan State, Myanmar
A fairly full pickup taxi. 05/2011, Mandalay, Myanmar.
It can get pretty dusty carving statues out of limestone(?). 05/2011, Mandalay, Myanmar
Man drives a stake into the riverbank to tie down a river boat during a rising storm. 05/2011, Ayeyarwady/Irrawaddy river, Myanmar.
Kids spot Mawlamyine in the distance. Arriving by train from the north over the Thanlwin Bridge. 05/2011, near Mawlamyine, Mon State, Myanmar.
Dog takes it easy, as is the way in Don Det. 11/2007, Don Det, Laos.
How about some grilled bat? A farmer was cooking this over an open fire as we passed by. A heavy metal snack for sure. 10/2019, near Muang Long, Laos.
Coffee beans at various stages of ripeness. 12/2019, Muang Ngoi Neua, Laos.
Woman in canoe heading back to shore before the rain starts. Chau Doc, Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 06/2009
Shipyard workers pose hanging on the anchor chains of a ship being painted. Buriganga River, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 06/2010
Already scorching hot in the morning. Gaya, Bihar, India, 06/2010
In many Southeast and South Asian countries, motorbikes are for the whole family. Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 06/2013
A ride fit for a princess, or commuters. Horse-driven carriages were an integral part of the transport system in Dhaka in 2010. 06/2010, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The source of our clothes. Young workers on the literal factory floor of a Dhaka clothing factory. Dhaka, Bangladesh, 06/2010
Guide and security detail at the beach at Kotka, the Sundarbans mangrove area. Walking through the mangrove just minutes before, we came up close and personal with a Bengal tiger, so a rifle came in handy to scare it off. 06/2010 Sundarbans, Bangladesh.
Navigating the main road through Northern Sumatra and Central Aceh. 08/2006, between Sidikalang and Kutacane, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Houses, shops, mosques, entire villages are built on boats, rafts, and piers in many parts of SEA. On the Mahakam River near Muara Muntai, Kalimantan, Indonesia, 05/2013
High up on Gunung Bromo volcano, contemplative man with horse looks over caldera with Luhur Poten Temple and arriving tourists. 05/2013, Gunung Bromo, East Java, Indonesia.
Late comedy legend Par Par Lay of the Moustache Brothers strikes a pose. 05/2011, Mandalay, Myanmar.
Donkey enjoys some well-deserved grass by the roadside. 06/2013, Lahore, Pakistan.
The appearance of foreign tourists at Taxila archeological site causes quite a stir. 06/2013, Taxila, Pakistan.
Commando checks passport at one of the many checkpoints along the Karakoram Highway. 06/2013, Karakoram Highway, Pakistan
A landslide in 2010 resulted in flooding of a long section of the Karakoram Highway between Pakistan and China and the creation of Attabad Lake with its amazingly turquoise waters. Until 2015 all passengers and cargo had to be carried over in boats. 06/2013, Gojal, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Baltit Fort, the former residence of the Mirs of Hunza, watching over Hunza Valley. 06/2013, Karimabad, Hunza Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
A humble Pakistan Post office at the foot of some serious mountains. 06/2013, Karimabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Pakistan rangers in regular and ceremonial gear getting ready for the daily flag-lowering ceremony at the Indian-Pakistani border at Wagah. A reasonable weekday crowd has already gathered to watch. 06/2013, Wagah, Punjab, Pakistan.
Tiananmen Square on a rather rainy day. 07/2013, Beijing, China.
A disturbing red eye beckons from the top of a skyscraper. Guangzhou, China, 05/2014.
Men buying melons in front of the U. S. dental Ministry of denture. Must be one hell of a dentist! 06/2013, Kashgar, "Uyghur Autonomous Region"/Xinjiang, China.
Lizard on a stick and other assorted Chinese medical products at a streetside stall. 06/2013, Kashgar, "Uyghur Autonomous Region", China
Ducks enjoy delicious sludge and insects. Ducks form an important part of the unique rice farming infrastructure in Yuanyang. 11/2019, Pugao, Yuanyang, Yunnan, China.
Man crosses road in front of a range of minibuses. 06/2016, Paramaribo, Suriname
Quite the drop. 663 000 liters of water flow through Kaieteur Falls every second. 16/2016, Kaieteur Falls, Potaro River, Guyana
Choosing the rainbow path. 06/2016, near Surama, Guyana.
The highly poisonous flannel moth caterpillar hanging onto a branch at the edge of the rainforest. The wispy hairs of this creature have sometimes been compared to those of the 45th US president. Both creatures are equally toxic, at least. 06/2016, near Surama, Guyana.
Edge of the flooded rainforest reflected in the waters of the Rio Negro. 06/2016, Upper Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil.
An Asian water monitor slipping into something a little more comfortable, namely, water. 01/2020, Bangkok, Thailand.
Face of the Shigir Idol, oldest known wooden sculpture in the world. Found in a bog in 1894, now at Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore. 09/2019, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Mongolian ovoo, stone heap shrine, overlooking the site of ancient Karakorum. 10/2019, Kharkhorin, Mongolia.
Rock wallaby with particularly dreamy eyes and long eyelashes. 07/2018, Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia.
Mangoes and things for sale by the roadside. 03/2012, Hong Kong.
Carekeeper walks across the courtyard of Sunaysilah Fort. 12/2015, Sur, Oman.
A photogenic cow poses in front of a gate. Why? We'll never know. 07/2017, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
All these photos are released under the CC BY-NC 4.0 License. This means you can freely use them for any non-commercial purpose, as long as you cite me, Samuli Kangaslampi, as the photographer. If you want a higher-resolution version to use non-commercially or would like to license a photo for commercial use, please e-mail me.
I always do my best to request permission before taking close-up photos of anyone. However, sometimes this may not be possible or is lost in translation. So, if you appear in any of these photos and don’t like it, please let me know, and I will remove them promptly.