Sri Lankan Moods - STEVEN R. TABOR

Sri Lankan moods

Can a place have a mood?

Travel photography is often about capturing the exotic or spectacular sights of a foreign country. For me, what matters most about travels is the unique mood that a particular place, time and people seem to display.

Sri Lanka, at the start of 2023, was in an utter economic mess. The government had defaulted on its public debt; inflation was running at over fifty percent; the currency had been massively devalued; and there were shortages of essential medicines, fuel and power. In response, the people had risen up, stormed the Prime Minister's residence, and the President had fled the country. But shortly thereafter, old guard politicians came back into power, and started to implement austerity policies.

When I flew into Sri Lanka, I expected to find a country that was truly vanquished. Instead, the streets were busy; the restaurants were packed; little children in their sparkling white uniforms were off to school; and religious holidays were being celebrated. Apparently, a combination of remittances, private charity and village ties were keeping large numbers of people afloat. Moreover, after decades of civil war, the tsunami and the Easter bombings, the population knew quite well how to survive practically any crisis. And, since nobody believed that the government was capable of solving the country's problems, they carried on as if their future was theirs to make.

In February 2023, my wife and I visited several parts of Sri Lanka, staying with old friends. I was most struck by the different feelings or "vibes" that different parts of the country seem to exude. In this photo series, I highlight three of the different Sri Lankan moods. The first are the way if feels in the highlands, where rituals and traditional ways of life have survived for ages. The second is the carefree mood on any given sunset in Colombo's Galle Face Green. The third series was shot on a small beach in Ahungalla, in the southern coastal region of the country. It focuses on the artisanal fisherman who line-up, chant and pull in the nets of the traditional fishing boats to collect the day's catch. Each of these series is aimed at documenting the special mood that I sensed after just a few days in different parts of this precious land.

For the series on the Hill Country, download the PDF photobook here. For the series on Sunset on the Galle Face Green, download the PDF photobook here. And for the series entitled Pulling in the nets, download the PDF photobook here.