Going abroad, coming home

Chris Ryan never saw anyone so interested in his beard as the Vietnamese children pulling on it this past summer.

"They were kind of cowering, like 'Look at this guy' and they they started to laugh and realized it was a beard," he said.

Ryan, a professor in geography and geography information systems and his spouse, Jayna Conkey, a professor of graphics art, both at Western Nevada Community College, spent 70 days exploring 11 ports along the Pacific Rim as part of the Nevada Geographic Society program "Semester at Sea."

Ryan taught physical and human geography to the teachers aboard the ship last summer and Conkey, hired to take pictures, captured some of the more human moments in the countries of Russia, Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan.

Twenty-five of their photos, including the one Conkey took of Vietnamese children touching her husband's beard, are on display in the Western Nevada Community College art gallery in the Bristlecone Building. A reception is scheduled from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the gallery.

The exhibit will be open until April 1. One of Conkey's favorite photos from the trip is of a little girl in a market in Russia looking straight into her camera.

"We were walking on sidewalks that were falling apart and the apartment buildings were in shambles," Conkey said. "Many people put on masks when they have their photos taken, but kids make themselves a little bit more vulnerable. And you know that the image you made is magical."

The girl was with her mother in the market and stopped for Conkey.

"There was nowhere else in the world that I wanted to be at the moment," Conkey said. "When you look at the photo, it brings you back to the place like you were there."

During their trip, the couple took more than 1,200 images, a lot to cull through when picking out images for the gallery show.

Some of the ones they use show the contrast between the traditional lifestyle, like in Vietnam, with modern-style living, like in Hong Kong. Pictures from each country are in the gallery.

"These are recent photos of the other side of the world," Conkey said. "It's important for people in the community to see how other people live. It's not like looking at a book with images that are five years old. These were last summer."

The couple plans to go on another trip together next summer that will take them to Northern and Western Europe. Teachers interested in the Semester at Sea program, may call Ryan at 887-3194.

n Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at mo'neill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.