The streets of Tashilhunpo Photo

Photographer’s Note

We stayed in the main assembly hall for the whole duration of the prayer session, which took about 1.5 hours. It felt special to be there, although we did not understand much of the mantras that were sung and the rituals that were performed.

After the session was ended, all young monks speeded outside, put on their boots and disappeared into the narrow streets of the Tashilhunpo monastery and I made this picture. As it was already getting quite dark, I had to use high ISO setting to use my telezoom without troubles.

The Tashilhunpo monastery is the seat of the Panchen Lamas (see also my previous note for more information). A large number of very impressive silver clad tombs of former Panchen Lamas decorated with gems can be found in the buildings of the monastery. We had only little time at the monastery and half of it attending the prayer session. The site is very big and there is much to see, so it's probably worth to spend a full day in this place.

Rinie_Hoff, pridel, PixelTerror, Fixfocus, robiuk has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Rinie_Hoff (9334) 2006-03-09 14:52

Huh, wat doe jij achter je PC?? Moet je niet repeteren? ;-)))
Succes morgen.
What a nice peek through in this liitle street. Michael. It seems like a late afternoon atmosphere and almost blue hour. The funny thing is that I have a sort of "carnival association" because of there hats. Also the whole scene could be from a movie, it's beautiful.

jinju (14265) 2006-03-09 19:09

Blue hour. Hey, I was thinking that this sort of light must be really common in this part of Asia. I was in the bookstore a few days ago looking at McCurry's "Path to Buddha" and I took note of this sort of light being really common in many of his shots from Tibet. Very blue, very soft and seems like perfect light to shoot in. In a way photography is a battle with light. Yeah, we need it as photos are just traped light, but sometimes light is so overpowering that we lose a good shot because of it. I know that Ive lost many shots because the liht was just too strong. Well, here, you got the perfect level of light, and as a rsult a nice shot with soft colors and very good exposure.

pridel (233) 2006-03-10 4:12

Hi Michael
Perhaps that it misses more contrasted colors. But the unit reveals a very serene mood and calms. The two dressed up characters are very enigmatic. I like very much.
rgds
Pascal

PixelTerror (87159) 2006-03-10 6:34

Hi Michael,
LOL better get back to your repetition, Auntie Rinie is watching you ;-)
I like a lot the atmosphere of this one, the dim light, the long coats and the unusual hats create something like a conspiration scene. But I'm not fan of this out of focus foreground to me a small bottm crop would be appropriate.
So I don't want to grab more of your time, or Rinie will flame me too ;-)
Have a nice week end,
Jean-Yves

hdl (6737) 2006-03-10 7:47

Dag Michael. Een heel interessant onderwerp hier met deze monikken. Wat ik persoonlijk het best vind aan je shot is je perspectief. Het geeft iets mysterieus aan de foto.

talikf (1290) 2006-03-10 14:36

I like this picture but I think that if you brought more light to the subjects the impact would be stronger. I tried a workshop but I think you can get a better result if you work on the original image.

[workshop] [compare] +

Fixfocus (9377) 2006-03-11 13:17

Hi Michael,
It really looks absolutely timeless!
The compo is spot on,the blured foreground adds a lot of depth.I like the soft light,the almost monochrome colors and the mood here a lot.
Prettige weekend,
Hermann

RGatward (19751) 2006-03-12 7:58

Clear well exposed shot, looks like it's out of another time with those monks the only people in the street.

robiuk (10763) 2006-03-13 19:22

At first I though it was a scene from some movie about medieval times... then I saw where it was taken!
Hi Michael,
an excellent 300mm catch with great DOF and architectural lines.
I love the low light and colours and your framing here is very creative.
If only one of them turned their head, it would be perfect!
See ya,
Robi

dsidwell (9745) 2006-03-20 9:13

I sure love the use of color here, Michael! The effective depth of field also puts focus on the men while at the same time adding an uncertain quality that negative space is supposed to add. Very nice work!