One of my favorite places to travel to is Burma, now called Myanmar. One of the great things about Burma is the Buddhist monasteries, both male and female. One morning I was wandering the streets of Rangoon just around sunrise. So I saw these nuns walking silently through this rain and I asked them, ‘do you mind if I follow with you as the community gives you the rice and the food that you need for the day?’. The Burmese are very happy to share their food with these monks and nuns, and this is a tradition that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. One of the things I like about this photograph is the color scheme of the way the nuns are dressed in their gowns of pink and red, and in the background this beautiful colonial building that sort of complements the color of the nuns’ gowns. And it was just by chance, just by coincidence, that I happened to see them that morning. So I spent about an hour walking silently through the rain with them, and eventually we ended up back at their monastery. They walk sometimes for miles around the city, collecting their food for the day. I was astonished how quickly they walk and how quickly they're able to go from house to house getting their ration of food.
Rangoon, Burma, 1994
