Shunsuke Miyatake

A man peddling cleaning supplies, Tuol Tom Poung, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Hustle and bustle, Orussey Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Little monk on his way to clean the temple, Tuol Tom Poung Pagoda, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Yoshiaki Ishizawa / Professor

Professor Ishizawa, 83 years old, launched Restoration Project for Western Causeway of Angkor Wat in ’93, has been working on it since then. “I just want to help Cambodians restore, revive their culture and be proud of it by themselves. I am just coming here and learning a lot from them”

The street is back to life / Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Raphael Pech / Photographer

I was born and raised in France, but root in Cambodia.
My mother is French and my father was Cambodian. He died when I was 9.
My Cambodian identity has always been something like I was looking for a way to be involved and to be connected. I came to Cambodia with my old friends since kindergarten in 2001 with two pictures and two letters from my dad. They supported to help me to find my lost family ties in Khmer Rouge
and finally I could find my cousins and grand parents here in Cambodia.
That miracle changed my life. That’s the beginning of everything for me and my story.
Because everything started like two pictures. In 2001, there was no social media, no sharing.
Photography was quite confidential, very private, and so precious moment like what happened to me.
I started photography as a street photographer for years.
I had a good session with street people and I thought that they were beautiful, and gorgeous. But most of the times, they are pretty invisible to the people.
For example, we are all used to the people selling popcorns, balloons, pigeon foods at riverside, everyday.
But they are almost invisible.
They will disappear in 10 years even though millions of people surviving with those things.
Economy is evolving and that is same as in France. Most of these activities disappear everywhere in the world. I want to continue to take these people another 10 years.
My ikigai is to be happy. And my occasion is to help the people around me.
Linearly and right now my mission is to find a way to feel good with my Cambodian identity.
And I feel way better since I started photographing. It’s all about putting studio lights into the invisible. It’s also a way of documenting life.

Regulars at the street coffee shop, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A young foreman in charge of the construction site

After the lockdown lifted, the construction sites are getting back to busy. Here is one site on St.111, and there was always a guardman sleeping on his portable hammock and some excavator taking a rest. On the day, the excavator was fully in working with a young foreman.

It is always beautiful to see the Cambodian flags  fluttering at the construction site. 

A street market after the rain, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

Heng Setha / Street Coffee Shop Owner

A street coffee shop owner continues to serve a cup of coffee during COVID-19. He moved from his birth place, Kampong Cham province to Phnom Penh at 1982, and has been serving coffee to the local people since ‘90s.

Even during the civil war, he served a cup of coffee to the local community.
He’s been there all the time since 5am in the morning till late at night everyday for more than 20 years. Most of the customers call him “Ta Jok”, means “Grandpa Jok”.

One of his customer said “I come here everyday in the morning. Whenever I come here, I can meet some friends. Ta Jok always serves us a good coffee. We come to have a good time with regulars.”

And he said, “I may not be rich. I may not be famous. But I am happy with what I do.”

Mendicant monks in line on the wall, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Coral reef on the street, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

A man quickly taking out oxygen tubes from a container to keep fish fresh at a roadside market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

A mendicant monk with shield and mask, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

A market between night and morning, Doeurm Kor Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 