Monsoon Season

Well, we finally got our first good monsoon storm the other night here in Phoenix and with it some much needed moisture here in the desert! Even though, the Sonoran Desert gets quite a bit of rainfall (when compared to other deserts of the world) and flash floods are a legitimate danger, I always have to laugh a bit when using the term "monsoon" in Phoenix. Anyway, it got me thinking about some of the incredible downpours I experienced while in Southeast Asia. You know the type, the daily deluge you see in every Vietnam War movie ever made. Trust me, there were times this boy from the desert wanted to start building an arc and gathering animals two by two! O.K. so that's a slight exaggeration but like everything else in Southeast Asia it was completely foreign to me at first. Hence, I loved it! And, like most things foreign to me, it inspired me to shoot and learn all the more.

Wading knee deep in flood water through the streets of Hoi An, Vietnam paid off when I made this photograph at what was a busy intersection only hours prior. Actually, for the people of Hoi An, scenes like this are as familiar as the colors of Fall would be to New Englanders; it's just another season. Hoi An's placement on the Thu Bon River, gives it easy access to the South China Sea only five kilometers away. This location has been both a blessing and a curse. Locals have been willing to adapt to the annual floods every October and November because Hoi An has been a major trading port in southeast Asia for centuries. There are imprints from the Chinese, Japanese, and French, all of which colonized the town at one point in history. Even during monsoon season it is one of the most enchanting towns in Vietnam. So much so in fact, UNESCO deemed it a crucial historical and cultural center and in 1999 added it to their list of protected World Heritage sites.