Heavy machinery in Myanmar

[The_Traveler]

This looks like total bleh in color (the shirts and dappled light making a chaotic scene) and not much better any other way but so I let it look a bit antique-y.
Most work is done the same way it was done 500 years ago - by hand.
Heavy work - more people.

 

[sleist]

The size of the posted image doesn't help you here. I can imagine this being a far better image when printed large.
As it is, I feel like there needs to be more blacks, but I can see how this might make matters worse by reintroducing some of the visual chaos you just removed via PP.
Maybe some dodging and burning to help guide the eye through the frame?

 

[goodguy]

I really like the guy standing on the walkway looking while everyone else is basting their asses to move that huge chank of rock.
Reminds me of my dear dad telling me that in a group of people working hard you can always tell who is the lasy bugger, its the one with his hands in his pockets and shouting Heeve Hoehhh, Heeve Hoehh

 

[The_Traveler]

this is much more interesting much larger.
The guys behind the rock would pry with a 2 x 4 when the guys on the heave, then someone would push a large rock in behind as a wedge.
All this messing around with multi-ton boulder being done wearing flip-flops.

 

[oldhippy]

I zoomed in to 200 magnification, and it is outstanding. You continue to amaze me. Thanks Ed

 

[The_Traveler]

For anyone interested in seeing how these guys work, I have uploaded a fullsize image that can be DLed from Zenfolio | Lew Lorton Photography | Myanmar 2013 Favorites | Photo 52
Just PM me for the password.

 

[tirediron]

GREAT capture Lew!

 

[The_Traveler]

My guess is that, except for the t shirts with writing and teh logos on the bags of cement, this picture could have been taken anytime in the last 100 years.

 

[Derrel]

Nice shot Lew!!! LOVE the composition and the scene, and ther timing, but I am not a fan of the processing...I like the faded look, but it seems simply "too darkly rendered". Really an interesting photo...the kind a fellow can look at and look at, there's so much to see in it!

 

[The_Traveler]

I will try it differently.

In case you find this interesting,

This is a map of Southeast Asia.
This activity above went on near Inle Lake in Myanmar (Burma)the yellow arrow in the picture on the left) which is a relatively popular tourist destination and fairly progressive.

Five years ago I was in Laos, red arrow, a landlocked country with no railroad, very few airports and (at that time) only 2000 miles of paved roads in the entire country. I was outside of a town called Luang Namtha, see map on right below.

To get there, I had taken two bus rides on execrable roads -(about 12 hours worth from Luang Prabang) [the town ONLY attracts trekkers and a very few mid-level tourists). If you are about to say, 'Isn't that the Golden Triangle where all the drugs come from' why yes, it is. I had been on my way to a small town 13 miles further north right on the border but some local troubles made me hesitant. ( a local tour guide had been kidnapped, either by insurgents or business competitors and his body AFAIK has never been found)

I was traveling for a couple of day with a very tall Welchman (6'5"); the Akka people (nomadic tribe in SEA) in town were astounded at his height and when he knelt down and was taller than this lady, she just broke up completely. I carried a collage of my grandchildren which was of immense interest because very few Western children, if any, are ever this far north.

I had rented a motor bike to ride around in the countryside, went up a side road to look at a dam and came across these guys building a watchman's hut. Carrying bags of concrete half mile up a trail, mixong it by hands, passing up buckets of mix which then gets tamped by hand.

 

[The_Traveler]

I love Southeast Asia and every single day I am sad because I may never go back.