The Floating Market, Burma, 2015

Located in the remote grasslands of Burma southeast of Mandalay, Inle Lake is an ecosystem and cultural phenomenon all its own. The average depth of the lake is 5 feet, yet in monsoon season the depth doubles. Ten miles long and four miles wide, the lake and its environs are different than any other part of Burma, a uniqueness that stems from its remote location.

Roads here are mere suggestions; going almost anywhere involves a voyage overwater in a long-tail boat. Everything is distant from everything else here, but no matter. The sights, sounds, and smells of Inle fill the senses. Images pop up around every corner: fishermen and their long-tail boats, their legs wrapped strangely around the paddles; small villages clustered along the water like clumps of muscles clinging to a rocky shoreline.

These are the Intha people; relatively few remain. Intha means “Sons of the Lake” and it fits these people well. They are a subsistence people, living on the fish they catch and the produce they harvest from floating gardens. Every five days, there is a movable feast: a floating market that migrates around the lake to serve all the areas inhabitants, providing the few things they need that they cannot provide for themselves such as tools, baskets, silks, produce, and even boat parts.

On this day, I saw three women paddling towards the floating market, with jewelry and Buddhas and I knew this was beyond special. Eyeing a bridge over the water, I knew this was the spot. What better vantage point than above the stunning boats filled with hidden treasure.

Looking down from above, I had seconds to capture this amazing site. In that fleeting moment, I captured another snapshot in time, of a way of life far away from noise and rumblings of their bigger city counterparts.

Although a photograph is seen with the eye, it is made with the mind. Capturing that moment in time keeps living that moment forever. This was a moment in my favorite country on earth. A perfect moment. One that I will keep forever etched in my mind. My love for this country no words can describe. This is Mecca.

Location: Inle Lake, Burma
Photograph Date: 2015
Medium: Chromogenic Print
Edition: 100
Available Sizes: 70cm – 150cm

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About the Photographer

Scott Stulberg

Scott’s love for travel and photography collided at a young age & have taken him to the corners of the world to capture the beauty and intrigue that this world has to offer. And from a young age, in his darkroom, under the safelights, smelling chemicals and listening to music, he lost all track of time watching his images come to life.

Although he has been using Photoshop since the beginning, it was the countless hours in the darkroom that made him fall in love with photography. He agrees with Einstein’s quote that “Imagination is more important than knowledge” as he says that his photographs lets his imagination come to life.

Scott has taught photography at many schools across the US including UCLA, where he won Instructor of the year for Photography and Photoshop. He also leads photography workshops all across the world and the United States. His coffee table book, Passage to Burma, showcases his travels since 2001 to his favorite country on earth.

From the faces of Burma, helicopters over New York City, the history and beauty of Europe, the eye candy of India, the wonders of the Galapagos Islands or the dazzling Milky Way and night sky around the globe, his images can be seen worldwide.

From Microsoft, Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, In flight magazines, Wall Street Journal, CNN and ABC News to greeting cards, calendars, puzzles, book covers and bill boards, his images are used internationally. They are in countless collections from top 5 star resorts to major hospitals & department stores and are also on permanent display in the United Nations. Scott lives with his wife in the picturesque town of Sedona, Arizona.

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