Faces of Angkor

I first photographed Angkor Wat in the fall of 1991 on assignment for National Geographic, while following the Mekong River from its source high up on the Tibetan Plateau to its mouth in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. I was the first western photojournalist invited to visit since the retreat of the Khmer Rouge in 1989. The entire complex was under reconstruction by a French team of archaeologists repairing the neglect and damage reeked during the murderous regime of Pol Pot. There were many areas off limits due to the presence of land mines. The only “undamaged” ruins were those of Angkor Thom and the Bayon temple where I concentrated my efforts. In 2013, I returned to a totally different sce...View all