I’ve had  some feedback from the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2013 competition which was held last night at Earls Court in London.

The event included a presentation of each image in the show with input from  Simon Calder, Senior Travel Editor of The Independent newspaper, and the editors of Wanderlust magazine.

Last night the UK’s top travel magazine, Wanderlust, announced the winners of its Travel Photographer of the Year. I survived two rounds of judging to be whittled down from 8,000 entrants and was a finalist in the Portfolio category with five images taken in Inle Lake, Myanmar. The exhibition was held at Earls Court in London as part of the Destinations travel show.

Alas, no cigar or silly hat for me this year but it was great to be in the final along with some immensely talented photographers. I was unable to attend the awards so my cousin who is based in London went along for the free wine…oh, and to take a couple of snaps. Thank you, Emma.

Interesting to note that Wanderlust still refuses to accept the official name of the country and changed Myanmar to Burma on my image descriptions. Even the UN now acknowledges the name Myanmar, as of course do the entire population of the country.

I spent five days in Yangon, or Rangoon if you are of the colonial era mindset,  last week in a fabulous frenzy of food photography and will post images once I catch up with the backlog of other recent trips.

I’m pleased to be able to tell you that I have been shortlisted for the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year competition. Organised by Wanderlust travel magazine, it is the UK’s biggest and best travel photo competition.

The finalists, whittled down from more than 8,000 entries, will be on display in a gallery exhibition at the Destinations Holiday & Travel Show at Manchester Event City from January 23^rd – 26^th and in London at Earls Court from February 6^th – 9^th. The winner of each of the four categories, Wildlife, Landscape, Travel Icons and People, will be announced on February 7^th. If you happen to be in the UK at the time, pop along and see the show.

I was selected in the Travel Icons portfolio category with a set of five images from Inle Lake in Myanmar, one of which is shown above.

Competition will be stiff, so keep your fingers crossed.

Just time for a couple of quick posts before I head off to Cambodia. I’ll be in Phnom Penh for a few days photographing for sample page spreads for a new book on the country – a more comphrensive tome than the last one, Enchanting Cambodia. It’s almost a year since I was there and I’m looking forward to the trip. Phnom Penh is an energetic, fast changing city and will no doubt deliver a few surprises among the familiar.

The above shot was taken in a temple on Inle Lake in the Shan State, Myanmar. Once the sun became too bright to photograph on the lake I retreated into a temple where the light is often atmospheric.

Inle Lake has long been on the itinerary of adventurous travellers and those who quite rightly ignored the calls to stay away from Myanmar. Now of course, with a thaw in international relations, it is one of the country’s top 5 destinations and has quickly seen an increase in visitor numbers. As with all tourism this is of course good and bad but I’m not going to touch on those issues here. This is a primarily photo-blog after all.

As numbers on the lake increase, it’s a must for photographers to rise early – but then when hasn’t that been the key to better photography. As the British landscape photographer David Noton says, ‘the great thing about photography is that it forces you to be in the best place at the best time of day.’ On Inle Lake this is the crack of dawn when locals head to the market which moves from village to village on a 5 day cycle. Fortunately most tour groups prefer a leisurely breakfast and don’t get out and about until the best light has faded, leaving the markets free of the hoards during the early hours. It’s just me, the market traders…and other photographers ignoring my smile and morning greetings. But you know how most of them are…I must have interupted their Myanmar moment.

Inle Lake is ringed by mountains inhabited by several different hill tribe groups who come down to the markets to buy and sell. With their chequered headscarves, the beautiful Pa O girls are easy to identify and add flashes of colour to an already vibrant market scene.

It’s a curious thing but Westerners and others living in a media-merchandised world, who by their very nature are vocal about the rights of the individual and self-expression, are intrigued by the group identity and strong sense of community of hill tribes. Spend any time around ethnic minorities and it’s easy to feel that in our self-obsessed lives we have lost a great deal.

The markets are actually quite difficult to shoot as they a extremely busy and with a lot of contrast with people sitting half in shade and half in full sunlight. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for some good portraits. I’m already looking forward to a return visit.

Once again, posts have been few and far between over the last month. What can I say? I’m a busy man.  I’ve just submitted the text for the forthcoming ‘Enchanting Myanmar’ book which should be out in October. I currently editing and selecting photographs, a long and laborious task.

Anyway, here’re a few snaps from Inle Lake, one of Myanmar’s most popular tourist destinations. Located 35 kilometres from the town of Heho in the Shan State, the shallow lake covers over 110 square kilometres and is surrounded by villages inhabited by Intha, Shan and other ethnic groups and hill tribes including Pa O and Padaung.

Most visitors stay on stilted resorts over the water and around the edge of the lake, and make excursions by boat to colourful morning markets in nearby villages.

One of the curiosities of the lake is the leg rowing fishermen who also use large conical baskets to catch fish. Bobbing around in another boat, it’s a challenge to capture good shots but these do the job.

There’s a few more in the Myanmar Gallery.