An Old Taoist Saint in Quanzhou Photo

Photographer’s Note

At the foot of the Qingyuan Mountain sits the figure of an old Taoist saint, carved during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It is 5.5 meters high and 7.3 meters wide.

The figure has become a symbol of health and longevity. A local Quanzhou saying is, "Touch the nose of the Old Stone Saint and you will live up to 120 years old".

The surrounding area, on the outskirts of Quanzhou, has now been turned into a beautiful country park. There is also a famous temple at the top of the mountain. Both are popular tourist attractions.

The photo was scanned, reduced and sharpened.

atilgone, travelyurt has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

chalcone (761) 2003-09-18 6:19

Imposing! It would be nice to selectively adjust the light level on his face (maybe by Photoshop), as it appears a little blown out -perhaps you took the foto at noon? I would love to go there myself, as Fujian province is my ancestors' hometown before moving to the Philippines way back during the Spanish colonial period.

[2]

light (865) 2003-09-18 10:29

I like that one! well captured, inmense statue, nice statue colors, and first line trees, last line trees and mountains quite weak. Beautiful photo.

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rich7691 (355) 2003-09-18 10:43

Bel endroit, beau sujet et belle photo

BobTrips (1857) 2003-09-19 1:16

If you select the statue and decrease the brightness a bit you will see more detail in the stone.

Sharpening will bring out more detail. I notice that you did sharpen but apparently not enough. Perhaps you sharpened prior to reducing the file size. Most software requires a further sharpening after reducing.

I don't see an easy way to crop this one to get your subject out of dead center. I suspect that you would have gotten a better image had you moved a bit to the right and incorporated more blue sky.

BTW, there is quite a bit of noise in the sky. That could be cleaned up with Neat Image.

Not picking on you, it is an interesting shot and you did give us some good notes.

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PeterDF (300) 2004-02-17 1:00

I am really quite impressed with this Taoist saint figure! It is one of the most impressive statues I have seen. I appreciate you sharing this with us! I wish the background were not quite so dark, but really very well done!

Jeppe (18624) 2004-03-04 13:56

Oh - this one before my TE time.

I like the light/shadow in this shot - very well spotted and captured - this figure seams to fit perfect in the nature. Good work Andrew.

emralc (172) 2004-08-31 3:22 [Comment]

Show Comment

saurabh (104) 2004-09-17 2:23

Wow! This is quite a gargantuan statue, very interesting post. Thanks for posting this.

The tress on the mountain are indeed faded, and the head of the statue is getting mixed up with the rocks on the mountain, which are actually quite a distance away.

A full frontal still lower pov might have been better, to maybe show a little bit more sky and emphasize the height.

NicoleP (520) 2007-01-20 17:08

Imposant, surprenant ....

MichaelTrezzi (3170) 2007-04-14 11:08

Hi Andrew, interesting POV, to be honest the central position fits here quite well. Peace and health radiates out of this sculpture. Well done. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Michael

gostol (265) 2008-06-22 2:46

Hi!
WOW!!
Super big stone. Good shot, good work.
cheers, Agnes.