Two Colombos

Two of the many Colombos in the City of Colombo. Slave Island, April 2024.

^{• 14mm • f/4 • 1/2000 • ISO100 • Canon R6 & RF14-35/4L •}

Return to Wekanda

It’s been a couple of years since I was here, shooting a documentary assignment. They’ve finally cut off the water and electricity, but there are still people living here, against all odds. Wekanda Housing Scheme, Stewart Street, Slave Island. April 2024.

^{• 20mm • f/4 • 1/1250 • ISO200 • Canon R6 & RF14-35/4L •}

^{• 35mm • f/4 • 1/800 • ISO200 •}

^{• 35mm • f/4 • 1/400 • ISO200 •}

^{• 14mm • f/4 • 1/400 • ISO200 •}

Enslaved in Slave Island #4

Beneath the ever rising skyline of Colombo’s downtown district, a National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) outreach team explains a pamphlet to an illiterate needle user. Slave Island, January 2022. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund.*

^{*shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Vertical Slums #2

The crumbling squalor of the Wekanda Housing Scheme, on Stewart Road, Slave Island; a short walk from the luxurious hotels, residencies, and malls of downtown Colombo. January 2022.*

^{*Shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L from Canon/Metropolitan.}

No One Knows

What shocked me most were the middle-aged addicts, lives enslaved to decades of abuse. On assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, I had expected the young guys, the teenagers; but these guys were my age. Having come through my experimental years unscathed, it hadn’t occurred to me that many hadn’t. Wekanda Housing Scheme, Stewart Road, Slave Island. January 2022.*

^{*Shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Wooden Latticed Houses, Messenger Street, Colombo

Once a common sight, offering both ventilation and privacy before the advent of air conditioning and tinted glass, wooden latticing is now rare outside of the oldest inner city areas of Colombo. Sri Lanka, September 2020.

^{*shot with an M6MkII and 15-45mm/3.5-6.3 lens, provided by Canon/Metropolitan Sri Lanka.}