Light in Broken Colours
(A New Photography Book Project)

Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.
- Yousuf Karsh -

Under the darkness and quarantine of the Covid-19 pandemic, I developed this new photographic project. Unable to travel, I decided to revisit twenty years of documentary work from my archives, discovering new life in old forgotten images...this time in colour instead of my signature black and white. My criterion for choosing these photos is that the colour would enhance the image and its story, not distract from it.

In these photographs, I wanted to reveal the subject’s true persona in their own environment in an unguarded genuine moment. It could be from Filipino men playing basketball in a cemetery among the dead; or an elderly woman dedicating her whole life to Buddhism living in a traditional home in a remote Tibetan plateau; to orphans learning the Quran in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. I wanted to show the dignity of these people and their strengths to overcome life’s obstacles. At times, the created image was from a spontaneous split-second moment. At other times, the photo was a result of a nurtured relationship between the subject and I.

Looking back at these photographs, I feel so lucky and grateful to have all these generous people share a small part of their lives with me. Creating this portfolio during these troubled times is such an inspirational lesson for me to realize that there is still hope in this world.