American photographer John McDermott spent the first 15 years of his career in the US working in photography and film. In 1993 he moved to Thailand and covered the SE Asia region for a magazine based in Bangkok.

When the Asian currency crisis of 1997 broke out, the economy collapsed and the magazine folded.  Left with little choice, McDermott decided it was time to take a break and see if he could develop some sort of personal project to work on while still in Asia. He had previously visited the temples of Angkor in Cambodia in 1995 to see a total eclipse of the sun, and, recalling the surreal world lying in the jungle there, realized it had tremendous potential as a subject for a photo project and book.

A return visit in 2000 confirmed his intuition. Cambodia was just beginning to open up after a long dark period of internal strife, and a few tourists were starting to trickle in. He realized that there would inevitably be an eventual invasion of tourism that would have a major impact on the temples. Angkor would be changed forever. Luckily there was a window of opportunity where he could make a comprehensive portrait of Angkor while it existed as a collection of relatively remote jungle ruins, before it became a major travel destination hosting millions of tourists. 

McDermott spent the best part of a four-year period from 2000 to 2004 traveling back and forth to the US, shooting pictures in Cambodia and then processing the film and printing in the states. By 2004 the growing town of Siem Reap had developed enough to support a fine-art gallery. McDermott and his wife moved to Siem Reap full time and opened the doors of the first McDermott Gallery in September 2004. The gallery eventually expanded into three branches that exhibited McDermott's images of Angkor, as well as work from local Khmer artists, and work from other photographers around the Southeast Asian region.

In 2009 he published a book of this work , ELEGY: Reflections on Angkor, which is an artistic study of the temple ruins of Angkor before they became a destination for mass tourism.

With the rapid growth of tourism in the SE Asian region not only did the market grow for McDermott’s fine-art images, but the commercial market grew as well.  This allowed McDermott to expand his business into marketing and advertising for resorts and hotels, and visual support for the travel and tourism industries.

After a good long run of almost 15 years McDermott finally closed the doors of his galleries, and in 2019 he and his wife moved back to the US with their two young children. It was fortuitous timing as a few months later the Covid pandemic hit and travel and tourism shut down across the globe. They now live in rural Maryland not far outside of Washington D.C.

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American photographer John McDermott spent the first 15 years of his career in the US working in photography and film. In 1993 he moved to Thailand and covered the SE Asia region for a magazine based in Bangkok.

When the Asian currency crisis of 1997 broke out, the economy collapsed and the magazine folded.  Left with little choice, McDermott decided it was time to take a break and see if he could develop some sort of personal project to work on while still in Asia. He had previously visited the temples of Angkor in Cambodia in 1995 to see a total eclipse of the sun, and, recalling the surreal world lying in the jungle there, realized it had tremendous potential as a subject for a photo project and book.

A return visit in 2000 confirmed his intuition. Cambodia was just beginning to open up after a long dark period of internal strife, and a few tourists were starting to trickle in. He realized that there would inevitably be an eventual invasion of tourism that would have a major impact on the temples. Angkor would be changed forever. Luckily there was a window of opportunity where he could make a comprehensive portrait of Angkor while it existed as a collection of relatively remote jungle ruins, before it became a major travel destination hosting millions of tourists. 

McDermott spent the best part of a four-year period from 2000 to 2004 traveling back and forth to the US, shooting pictures in Cambodia and then processing the film and printing in the states. By 2004 the growing town of Siem Reap had developed enough to support a fine-art gallery. McDermott and his wife moved to Siem Reap full time and opened the doors of the first McDermott Gallery in September 2004. The gallery eventually expanded into three branches that exhibited McDermott's images of Angkor, as well as work from local Khmer artists, and work from other photographers around the Southeast Asian region.

In 2009 he published a book of this work , ELEGY: Reflections on Angkor, which is an artistic study of the temple ruins of Angkor before they became a destination for mass tourism.

With the rapid growth of tourism in the SE Asian region not only did the market grow for McDermott’s fine-art images, but the commercial market grew as well.  This allowed McDermott to expand his business into marketing and advertising for resorts and hotels, and visual support for the travel and tourism industries.

After a good long run of almost 15 years McDermott finally closed the doors of his galleries, and in 2019 he and his wife moved back to the US with their two young children. It was fortuitous timing as a few months later the Covid pandemic hit and travel and tourism shut down across the globe. They now live in rural Maryland not far outside of Washington D.C.

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