Going High

A bus is something weird. Its intimate because you travel, often for a long time with strangers, you see their habits, you have eye contact, or you get annoyed by someone. You are locked in this container with windows for hours.

You watch and observe and that is definitely what I do as a photographer. Sometimes I ask permission sometimes I don’t. Usually I feel if someone agrees or not. My camera is rarely hidden so it doesn’t take people by surprise’. Eye contact often does the trick. This time my subjects are sleeping and I figure that is okay to take their image.
The sun is just rising over the mountains and the air is thin; I am approaching the Chilean - Bolivian border, which is at 4200 metres. Its rare that you can take an image where you see the landscape and the people in the bus. Usually its bright outside and dark inside.
It is a decisive moment which shows the silence and the tranquility in the bus. Passengers with their own thoughts. Where are they going? To another country, just to visit or are they leaving for good and thinking who they left behind.

Kadir van Lohuizen