Kee Monastery Photo

Photographer’s Note

For today its going to be one of my oldies ... and yes no slow shutter speed effects in this one.

Well this is Kee Monastery in Spiti, HP, India.
The monastery is at top of the small hillock in the picture and the other houses in the hillocks belong to Monks or some other villagers. It lies in the rain shadow areas of Himalayas. This area is very similar geographically as well as culturally to Tibet. I spent a week over here in the winters and it was amazing week.

I took this photo in 2002 mid January.
This place tends to get very cold after the sun sets. My room temperature used to be -25 C in the night. I had some great time over there

Only problem I had was that initially some monks over there had a hard time to believe that a normal trekker should travel to Kee in the winters. So they looked at me with suspision for a whie(because they must have suspected that I had done something wrong in the city due to which I was trying to hide from the police in the remote area). But all of them were super cool in few hours after they got to know me and talk with me.

I took this picture after going 1/10(my guess) of the distance to climbing a mountain on the side of this monastery. I got some more picture from the top of mountain also that I will try to post sometime soon.

IN a nut shell: WOW .. this place rocked

somak_g, Luan, bazal, marieaude, apache, mumek, DaveMacPhee, amol, caliane, mukesh, PixelTerror, phrozen, fayeulle, simonekarl, riclopes, Clairedelune has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Luan (15935) 2005-04-15 5:06

Hello Sarju,
this isolated village seems to be so peaceful but it's must be very cold. Nice PoV and note.
Have a nice day
Luan

pnphan (3900) 2005-04-15 5:21

wow... that place rocked
very nice capture. must be nice being there and capture that beautiful landscape.

bazal (7898) 2005-04-15 5:28

It's an amazing and wonderful place you present here. The contrast and colors are superbly enhanced by exceptional light conditions. The landscape is somptuous and I really would like to have a larger view on these superb mountains. Well seen, well composed and well presented. Thanks for sharing !

clodreno (0) 2005-04-15 5:34

Very nice view Sarju...
Last time I was in Ladakh 2 1/2 years ago I wanted to go there. The person I was travelling with didn't want to.. Unfortunetly..
I hope I can make it one day.. This Gompa is really beautiful.
I am sure the conditions during the winter must be something. How did you get there?..

I believe the Dalai lama will retire in a Gompa not far from there.

marieaude (1196) 2005-04-15 7:48

Hello, this place looks really like the top of the world with people living there. I think it has to be a great place for meditation and reflexion. The sky by night must be wonderful with all the stars lighting.... Thank you for sharing

amol (952) 2005-04-15 11:25

hi Sarju

perfect framing and the light is good...
the sky has a bit of more contrast...
overall a good capture...

colinbrenchley (6130) 2005-04-15 16:27

Your endurance in getting to the place was well rewarded with bringing to memebrs of TE a site of a place that I should imagine is seldom photographed.

cam (8880) 2005-04-15 21:46

It takes a Canadian to go there in winter.My wife says that it is a sandcastle that you built.This site is marvelous.You work hard to get this and I am sure that you enjoy yourself a lot.By the way,did you take any nightshoy under a full moon,it should be interresting?
Charles

apache (1426) 2005-04-16 2:37

Hi Sarju,
You have a great picture to go with your very good notes. But you must be crazy to go there in the winter...:). Man...-25 C? Brrr..
Ranjith

jeanfrancois (1259) 2005-04-16 9:29

I Sarju,

Thanks for posting this.
I stayed at the Kee Gompa in 99. That night I had the most terrible mountain sickness I ever had (I had walked to the villages above at 4200 metres and come down during the day.
I keep great memories of Spiti too.

Leonie (8627) 2005-04-16 14:37

Hello there! A fantastic site sourrounded by impressive landscape...I can imagine it was great there...I would love to go !

CHeers, Léonie

BlaiseCendrars (0) 2005-04-19 7:01

Wonderful photo. Thanks for your nice critique of my Kyrgyz photo. I have seen a few documentaries from Ladakh. It's one of my dream destinations. Going in winter must have been difficult but astonishing.

Regards,

Chris

mumek (17466) 2005-04-20 3:35

Good evening Sarju!
Very beautiful scenery from India.Good colors and the details. Charming chain of the mountains in the background.The note is very interesting and informative.
best regards
ziggy

DaveMacPhee (1136) 2005-04-22 0:50

Hey Sarju,
This is a great shot. Love the compostion and it's really quite a spectacular scene. But I thought it could be improved on so I did a workshop, hope you like it.
Dave

[workshop] [compare] +

overcome (1109) 2005-04-27 14:33

Great picture, never see a house like this shape.
Well done

ramesh_lalwani (3209) 2005-05-01 7:54

This is a beautiful shot.Frozen river and snow clad mountains add to beauty.Thanks for sharing.
Ramesh

caliane (610) 2005-05-02 22:44

Hi sarju!
It's an amazing shot. I like the altitude, the buildings and the snow.. how high are these mountains? wasn't it hard to breath?
BTW -25 is too cold!! i'm just wondering how any human can sleep in such a cold temperature! lol!

mukesh (408) 2005-05-19 14:01

This looks so unreal and so out of the world. It is a brilliant picture. Love it for its clarity, composition and a beautiful note going with it. Sarju bhai... you surely rock here...

PixelTerror (86038) 2005-06-10 4:00

Hi Sarju,
You posted one today, but I found it too blur, however I loved the place so researched deeper in your gallery to find this one that is imo much better, the settlement is superb and your framing accentuates the depth and the sensation of heigth, how high are we here actually ? Ligth and colors are also fine to complement a very nice shot.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

puffy (263) 2005-07-04 16:02

Excellent shot Sarju, amazing landscape, is there really still anyone live in this village? Unbelievable, it just that it look soooo.... KOOL! Very well captured, nicely composed. Thanks very much for sharing it with us. :)

simonekarl (404) 2005-10-31 12:59

Wow intersting note, -25 C in the night but had some great time there...? I would have been wrapped up in a million layers of clothes doing impressions of the michelin man and that's just my pygima's!! : )
Seriously what an impressive view of this monastery you have captured it's tranquility well in this image. There are some issue with brightness & contrast but I guess this is due to the scan? Did you scan from slide or print?

riclopes (32905) 2005-12-06 4:51

Hi Sarju,
I have to say, that this place is quite impressive and I fell so attracted to go there some day. I love wonderful places like this one in remote areas. But has I say before, the cold will not be a pleasure. You really amazed me when you say, that in your room was -25ºC and you had a great time there!!!! How can you have a great time with -25ºC?!
Anyway, this POV and composition is pefect and the landscape is gorgeous. Nice climbing to have this shot.
It's a magic one!
Thanks a lot for sharing it,
Cheers,
ricardo

Clairedelune (4885) 2006-01-29 20:00

Great shot Sarju! I would like to see that place with my own eyes! So nice to see that little nest of houses, in the middle of the arid surroundings. Yes, the scan suffered a bit, but a little bit of PP would do it alright (like what did Dave). -25ºC in your room and you find winter of Canada kind of cold? :) Yes, I read your explanation about the good sleeping bag. I understand their suspicion in seeing you! Who would not? Okay, just joking here! I "suspect" that you had a great time there, especially since you stayed for one week. Thank you for this picture!
Claire

manu_itu (305) 2006-08-02 10:16

The best part of the best photograph is honestly witnessing of what eyes refuse to beleive and heart sinks to the mystic beauty that nature has to offer. Great that you were their at that time. I visited chandratal in sept. last year and have kind intention of repeating the feat. in December or Jan(Bottomline: I want to see all the white spread-out). It's great to know you have already seen it real cold and frozen. I'd been spending hours over net since a week or so to have a clue or dos and donts of Spiti in Decemer-Feb. 2006-2007. Hey sarju, can you mail me details of it. I plan to walk it across, Starting from Jagatsukh-Khibber-Back to manali. I am manu_itu@yahoo.com Please...Puhleeeease! Get me going.!!