In Uzbekistan you can ask to take a photograph of a stranger and then be thanked for it by the same stranger. Where people ask (if not insist) you take a picture of them alone or with their friends and family. Where, without being asked, parents offer their children to be photographed without a cloud of suspicion and paranoia that the image might be misused on the Internet. Always smiling and always excited.
It is a portrait heaven, a very friendly place, uninhibited, full of beauty and positivity. This makes a welcome difference to the Western world full of scepticism caused by the abuse of privacy. It is dominated by portraits taken from behind, from the hip or in secret. In Uzbekistan, you can actually look people in their face and receive a smile.
The elders of Kiva
Samarkand girls racing to the window to get on the shot
A dress maker posing with her work
Uzbek soldiers on a Friday break
Angels parked outside a ...fish restaurant in Kyzylkum desert
A funeral party in Tashkent
Mid day prayers in Samarkand
'Highway services' for family tea break & other travellers welcomed to join
Old Bukhara girl
Selling water
Pilgrims
Uber driver at the local market
