little church in the prairie Photo

Photographer’s Note

Laura Ingalls, Torajan style?

While Indonesia is said to be the most populous muslim country in the world, there are some regions, specifically on Sulawesi that remain deeply into christian faith.
Toraja christianity is quite particular as it mingles "usual" faith with animists traditions such as buffalo slaughtering at burials (not one or two, but most likely depending on the wealth of the dead person from 10 to 50 buffaloes).

We were trekking the rice fields north of Rantepao on august 15th, that day all villagers we came across were gathering to their churches even far in the distance.

But I'll come back to it later on.

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Critiques | Translate

gringofil (0) 2003-05-31 9:55

This is a nice and pleasant shot. Something different from you, Luko. I like how you got all the kids in the frame and the girl's expression on the right is amazing. Very well done!

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Aegean (2567) 2003-05-31 10:07

I love the way you did put the point of interest (the church) almost in the middle and how the walking kids leads the eye there...The little girl in the foreground is really lovely...Colors and sharpnes great! Well done!

Darren (6819) 2003-05-31 11:04

After looking at this, one thing that really strikes me as being effective is the slight diagonal line of houses pointing to the church. It is a subtle part of the shot, but this shot would not work as well without it. I think you have also done a great job with capturing the kids in action. Technically, there are a few things I wish were different. First, this seems to be slightly soft. Perhaps all it needs is a little bit of sharpening, I am not certain. Secondly, and I know this would have been very difficult to avoid, the boy taking up the largest part of the frame has his shirt quite overexposed, and there are portions of other shirts which are blown out as well. However, had you shot with a shorter shutter speed, I think much of the rest of the photo would be too dark. I have only really noticed your work quite recently Luko, and I certainly enjoy it. After seeing many of your other shots, I can't help but wonder how effective this shot may have been in b&w. Nice work.

philip_coggan (11) 2003-05-31 13:19

Can't wait to hear the rest of the story! You seem to have very extensive travels in SE Asia.

This picture reminds me somehow of a rather famous painting of the 19th century called Cracking the Whip (that's the name of the painting, not the artist). Children at play. I love the light you've captured here - was there a warming filter used?

aragen (81) 2003-05-31 23:15

Nice picture, specially the colors and sharpnes. Excellent!

clodreno (0) 2003-12-24 5:56

As you can see I am reviewing your pictures. This one i like particularly, because of the dynamismin it. The way the girl is looking on the right, the boy's feet cu on the left. A great shot.

maciekda (19599) 2004-06-13 7:19

boredom in the gallery today.. so i've thought i'd comment some old good stuff... so: very nice image Luko ;) great background and i really like all those kids scaterred around the frame, the expression and pose of the cropped girl are special. one small flaw - the kid on the left side is a bit cropped. the rest is good, wide angle, nice colors, deep DOF, good work