Asia Up Close

Most people visiting Asia think of huge temples, amazing food, and busy everything. Everyone wants to snap a picture of a monk, 14 people riding one scooter, or a water buffalo standing in the middle of a busy highway, but that’s not all there is to it.

While playing around with macro photography on my last two trips to Asia, I stumbled across a facet of travel that I never really paid much attention to before. The pictures do the talking, and they focus on the details, not the grander scene. I’m no expert, and my photos will show that, but when I look back on them, these macro shots tell a completely different story to me, focusing solely on the subject and not on the location. It gives me the opportunity to see a destination I have been to before in a different light.

Asia in particular is a wonderful place to try this out. Colours abound (I drool just thinking about India), and beautiful flowers, fresh produce, and foreign wildlife are everywhere.

Next time you’re on a trip, try it out. You know that little flower button on the back of your point and shoot? Go on, press it, it won’t bite.

Mike Poppe is about to depart for New Zealand, so we’re expecting some beautifully composed close ups of woolly sheep curls.