Snap Judgments
Insight Myanmar31 Okt 2025

Snap Judgments

Episode #423: Ian Taylor is a Canadian photographer whose life shifted from the film industry to decades of work and travel across Southeast Asia. His first experience was with a government-sponsored Asian Studies program in the early 1990s. His early visits to Burma during the junta’s “Visit Myanmar Year” left a strong impression, and he became involved for a short time in advertising there.

By the late 1990s, Taylor had left advertising for photography, focusing on family portraits and NGO assignments across Asia. A formative volunteer trip to Bangladesh further deepened his commitment to humanitarian work, and led him back to Burma.

Taylor left the country in 2015, but reconnected in 2023 through the Thailand-based Border Consortium (TBC). He soon embarked on a volunteer photo project in five refugee camps, describing them as “an active, bustling town with everything.” His photography resists exploitative “poverty porn” and favors portraits that reflect dignity and agency. “Every portrait, in some way, it’s a collaboration.”

Critical of the tourism industry’s distortions, Taylor remains focused on authenticity, connection, and service. In his words: “If you could go to a holiday in the Maldives or something... well, I’d rather go [to a refugee camp]!”

Episoder(507)

Picturing a Revolution

Picturing a Revolution

Episode #188: Min Ma Naing, a photojournalist and narrative visual artist, stumbled onto her path accidentally. While studying in Hong Kong, she often went to a park to take a break from the strain, w...

12 Sep 20231h 56min

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Episode #187: Guillaume de Langre, a former adviser to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy, paints a bleak picture of the country’s multiple, overlapping, energy crises. He describes how th...

5 Sep 20231h 34min

A Double Minority

A Double Minority

Episode #186: “The term ‘double minority’ simply means a ‘minority within minority,’” Christopher Win explains. “Rakhine is an ethnic minority group in Myanmar, and Maramagyi is an even smaller group ...

1 Sep 20231h 12min

From Reconciliation to Resistance

From Reconciliation to Resistance

Episode #185: Alan Clements returns to the podcast, this time to talk about his recent book, Burma’s Voices of Freedom in Conversation with Alan Clements: An Ongoing Struggle for Democracy, a four-vol...

29 Aug 20232h 21min

Rising Above Borders

Rising Above Borders

Episode #184: One of six siblings, Tu Lor Eh Paw grew up in a bamboo hut in a tiny village in Karen state. Her mother was a local Karen Christian missionary, and Tu Lor grew up celebrating Christian h...

25 Aug 202351min

Pabhassaro Bhikkhu

Pabhassaro Bhikkhu

Episode #183: Sebastian Copija began his journey amid the mesmerizing mountains and bountiful nature of his southern Poland home. Through the years, he developed a strong interest in American and Brit...

22 Aug 20232h 7min

The Dark Side of Teak

The Dark Side of Teak

Episode #182: “If you're a millionaire, or a billionaire, you want the best,” says Timo Schober, a German-based journalist who works at Papertrail Media, “and the best is natural grown teak [from Myan...

15 Aug 20231h 9min

Scot Marciel

Scot Marciel

Episode #181: “I was walking into a country that was in the middle of significant change,” states Scot Marciel, the US Ambassador to Myanmar from 2016 to 2020.One of the first challenges Marciel faced...

8 Aug 20232h 8min

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