Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, now has over five million residents. Its downtown area radiates from the golden stupa of Sule Pagoda. I made this street photograph from an overpass, looking down Maha Bandoola Road, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares. Far from a literal postcard view, it is an image rich in incongruities, abstraction, and human values. It gives us a good overall atmospheric feel for Yangon, the city. The gilded Sule Pagoda, dating back to 19th Century Rangoon, incongruously dominates the scene. Only the telecommunications tower at right stand higher. There are thousands of people jamming the sidewalks and vehicles of all kinds. We see a lot of them, but most are only suggested. Using a few to imply many is another form of abstraction. You must use your imagination to see the full extent of the surging, sweating crowds hidden within the shadows, and jammed into all of those vans and buses. If there is one human value to come out of this street photograph it is endurance. It takes a lot of it to work your way through the traffic on either the sidewalk or street, when it seems as if all five million of Yangon’s residents are sharing them with you.