The Boy on the Bike
Yangon, Myanmar · 2017

I was walking down a busy street in Yangon when I happened to look behind me. Coming toward me was a boy in a bright red shirt, riding on the back of a bicycle.

I managed six photographs before they passed. Most were blurred by the movement, but in one frame everything came together: the boy turned toward me and looked directly into the lens.

The photograph could have ended there, but the moment didn’t. As they rode farther down the street, the boy kept looking back. We smiled and waved at one another until the bicycle disappeared from view. We never exchanged a word.

It was one of those small encounters that happen while traveling and are over almost as quickly as they begin. I only wish I could have given him a copy of the photograph.

Nine years later, it’s still my favorite.