Sojourner to Stoner: the Photographs

Gordon Schwerzmann

Description

“Sojourner to Stoner: The Photographs “is my impression of Southeast Asia in the 1970s. I spent over a year as an officer in the U.S. Army in South Korea and close to two years traveling throughout Asia, first as a backpacker and later as a Hippie (yippee-ki-yay).
“The Photographs” are a companion piece to my written book, called with great imagination: “Sojourner to Stoner: The Journal”
I have documented a time, the 1970s, before the all-pervading Western culture (sex, drugs, and rock and roll) and The Economic Miracle changed Asia irrevocably.
The book portrays the lives of ordinary people and their unique cultures, religions and traditional ways of life.
The Asia of Conrad and Maughan is gone, and the war-torn Asia of Vietnam will also pass.
This is my time-capsule vision of Asia, a bright shining light from a galaxy far far away that has already disappeared.

Sujets

• Photographie Créative
• Mars Pathfinder
• Regional
• Photography
• Travel
• Sojourner
• Subjects
• Themes

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 22 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665569514
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

© 2022 Gordon Schwerzmann. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.


ISBN: 978-1-6655-6952-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6950-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6951-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916182


Published by AuthorHouse 02/08/2023
DEDICATION
This is for my late hard-working parents that sacrificed everything to give me an education and for their love that gave me the understanding to accept different cultures, customs, and ways of life.
THE AUTHOR
I am a first generation American, born of immigrant Norwegian and Swiss parents. I was the first in my family to attend college (Lafayette College) on a Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship and a second-generation soldier (my father served in the U.S. Army during World War II). I served three years in the Army and close to two years travelling in Asia. I grew up in the 1960s, the High Noon of the American Empire and see myself as a child of both Woodstock and Vietnam.
The patriotic idealism of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy years dissipated in the societal division and carnage of a senseless war. Yet my generation believed that everything was possible, we could remake America to be that visionary “Shining City on the Hill “our forefathers had envisioned. The Peace, Love and Music of Woodstock seemed to be a harbinger of a new age, of swords into ploughshares.
It is this optimism that inspired my book. It is also my “Bildungsroman”, a young man trying to understand the world and himself. I have an insatiable sense of curiosity and wonder about the world and this Zeitgeist is what I strive to convey in my journal and photographs.
INTRODUCTION
The picaresque and strangely fascinating adventures of Flash Gordon continues. This, of course, is Volume Two of the author’s grand pictorial chronicle. Volume One “Soldier to Sojourner” explored Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong. Philippines and Burma. If you have not bought Volume I, you must go to the “Time Out” corner and you get no cookies and milk for your afternoon snack.
This Volume photographs the Southeast Asian countries that were accessible in the war-torn Asia of the early 1970s. This book has a companion volume called with great imagination “Sojourner to Stoner: The Journal”. I like to think of the two books as an OREO cookie: the chocolate crunchy sides are the photographs and the creamy white filling the written commentary of my travels, each part complements the other for a true gourmet experience.
Southeast Asia is a veritable Garden of Eden in the biblical sense and the Paradise that Mohamed promised his followers. However, for all the natural beauty, it is the people that made this journey so fascinating. I have tried to depict the ordinary people of these countries: at work, creating beautiful works of art in wood, stone and paint, celebrating their unique culture in dance, storytelling, worship, and festivals, and at leisure.
What made this experience even more memorable was the travelers I encountered along the way: the freaks, the tourists, the religious seekers, the ex-GIs, scholars, Peace Corps idealists, dope smugglers and beach bums. My “Comrades-at-Arms” did not desert me and enriched my discoveries.
The early 1970s was a time when the majority of native peoples still clung to their century’s old traditions, religions and way of life. This is what I tried to record in images and words. This is my “Magic Carpet Ride “to a galaxy far, far away”. So, buckle up, lean back and enjoy the show (you must supply your own popcorn).

“Soldier to Sojourner”are my impressions of Korea, Japan, Nationalist China, Hong Kong/Macau, Philippines, and Burma. “Sojourner to Stoner” continues the adventure photographing the people, places and lifestyles of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,Borneo, and Indonesia.
LAOS

Rubber harvesters in Indochina 1900

Beautiful Women of Indochina 1900

THAILAND

Canals of Bangkok 1900

Temples in Bangkok 1900