Colours of Shwedagon Pagoda – Rangoon, Myanmar (Burma)

This is one of a trillion shots I’m working through taken at the incredible and huge Shwedagon Pagoda, which overlooks Burma‘s largest city - Yangon (also known as Rangoon).

Gleaming in gold and decorated with diamonds, the main pagoda is a spectacular work of Burmese temple architecture and is the holiest Buddhist shrine in Myanmar. This is one of the many temples built around the main pagoda, where the people of the city come to worship, meditate, reflect and socialise.

The timing of our visit came several days before Barack Obama rolled into town and held a photocall at this very same location as part of his state visit to Burma, the first ever made by a US president (and a pretty symbolic move building on the country’s gathering momentum in terms of economic reform). More photos to come…