Shoot, Ask...and Run

“Shoot, Ask ... and Run!” The advice given to aspiring British photographer Chris Stowers, at the start of his travels, has never seemed so valuable. Buffeted by tempestuous forces of both personal and international affairs, he flees from the Jakarta mafia through the jungles of Borneo, is tear-gassed by riot police in Manila, and crosses an imploding Soviet Union by train, only to be abducted by a group of heavily-armed Serb militia.

In these pages, recalled from diaries kept at the time, Stowers paints a harsh, humorous and very human picture of media life in Asia—and beyond—during the boom years of the early 1990’s. Based in Hong Kong, in the dying days of both empire and analog photography, he finds himself constantly on the road, in trouble, and out of film. A natural-born observer and nomad, the question nonetheless arises: where is home?

Chris Stowers is a photojournalist based in Asia. He has traveled, lived and worked in more than seventy ountries. His work has appeared in most major international newspapers and magazines, among them:, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Forbes, Businessweek and The New York Times. He joined London's Panos Pictures Photo Agency in 1992. He is co-author of the Insight Guide's book of Travel Photography, and has hosted several TV documentaries. The wise advice given to him at the start of his travels, to "shoot first, then ask ... and (when that fails) run!", has saved him on many an occasion since ...