Beautiful patterns emerge from everyday life if you know where to look. Today’s post throws the spotlight on two Asian photographers who have trained their lens to capture the unexpected beauty of everyday life in different corners of Asia, the largest continent in the world by both land area and population.
Japanese photographer Ryosuke Kosuge (who goes by the artistic moniker RK) has travelled East Asia, particularly China, seeking moments of simplicity, symmetry, and elegance in city and country landscapes. He is adept at spotting the textures and patterns that occupy local life, whether through the rocky formations surrounding Heaven’s Gate Mountain in Zhangjiajie, an array of birdcages created by a woman in Guizhou, or the wires crisscrossing a market in Nanning. His captivating images are testimony to the unexpected beauty that can be found in every life, whether it is in natural and urban environments.
Another photographer with similar focus is Zay Yar Lin, an award-winning Myanmar-born photographer who lives in Yangon. Like RK, Zin has trained his eye and camera to capture alluring images of ordinary folks in Asia going about their daily lives fishing, mending nets, or making incense sticks in vivid palettes of colors. Completely self-taught, he has never taken a photography class but learned everything on the internet or via social networks. He works carefully, putting lots of color and human presence in his compositions. More than landscapes, what interests him are “the interactions between a place, a culture, and a people.”
Photos of Zay Yar Lin (taken in Vietnam and China)
Photos of Ryosuke Kosuge (taken in Japan, Vietnam and China)
