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Photographer’s Note

Thanks to Rich for inspiring me the title. This is of course the reverse view of the image titled Give.

The line of hungry monks (they have not eaten for some 18 hours) are coming down Luang Prabang streets, this is the start of the morning alms.
An old abbott is heading his monastery group, following a precise order, the younger ones will stand in the queue.

I will then let you imagine what you would think about having to trust your neighbors or unknown persons to fulfill your basic needs and everyday living. And this your whole life long... How would you feel?

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Technique : not sure whether my wife's shoulder could be called a tripod. I bet she wouldn't like to : "Oh your shoulder is soooo tripody tonight...errrh...".
So I'll click "no tripod".

oochappan, markoci, stephanielee, arnabchat, nofer, riaan, scalerman, pamastro, bfly, digi-mom has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

tucancr (24) 2004-12-21 23:51

Hi Luko,

Interesting shot. I like the monks coming in a row and how you used your dof. Good one!

nofer (3186) 2004-12-21 23:52

Boa cor. Bom tema. Bom tiro. Gostei

[2]

cgrindahl (6109) 2004-12-22 3:10

Once again the point of focus is not the first person in the queue. In this case it appears to be the third monk, whether on purpose or... An interesting juxtaposition in light of your note. The first man is the "old abbott" while the focus is on a younger monk who looks forward perhaps, to a lifetime of relying on the generosity of others for his food.

Jack Kornfield, a well known teacher of Buddhism in the United States tells the story about returning after a long stay in Thailand living with the forest monks. He wore his robe and carried his begging bowl in New York City until he concluded that Americans were unprepared to share their abundance with a barefoot man with an extended bowl. We will all draw our own conclusions about the United States from that story... ;-)

[2]

riaan (86) 2004-12-22 3:26

Great idea for a shot, interesting note too. I agree with oochappan, the dof is a bit too short. Anyway, great shot.

flydragon (0) 2004-12-22 6:20

hey Luko
je vois que tu as aimé ces moines
de Luang Phrabang, j'aime bcp celle ci
avec ce "vieux" moine en tête, et la perte
de focus dans le fond.
je suis un peu triste, je ne pense pas pouvoir
aller au Laos, probleme de budget, je vais donc
reporter, pour mieux shooter ;o) et me concentrer
sur la Thailande.
de bonnes fêtes
••simon••

eleparc (24059) 2004-12-22 11:49

So luko, you married a tripod? is that what it boils down to? interesting! a camera married a tripod! what about the rucksack? how many yet?

anyway, this is a classic photo! it seems you focused on the third monk, am I right? I am still thrilled when I see photos from LP...a pure delight!

jp80 (8437) 2004-12-22 12:41

Beutifuul colors here, and a great DOF. Very well made. The vertical framing is a good choise.

Pascal

scalerman (25787) 2004-12-22 14:21

Luko, brilliantly balanced. Just great work in color.

oochappan (22032) 2004-12-22 23:18

Nice idea , all those monks on a row, good bordered , DOF is a little bit short, colors are real natural, sharpening on the edge of artefacts maybe by the grains of the scan , perfect compo and framing. Well done Luko.

Darren (6819) 2004-12-23 9:30

Hi Luko. Good shot here; nice colors, and the line extending pretty much to the end of the photo looks good to me. I know this was shot quite early, but the lighting here doesn't look all that pleasing. Kinda bright and contrasty. I think it might be exaggerated by how you sharpen, I know that happens to me sometimes too.

I find the quality of your bokeh here to be interesting Luko: It is not as silky smooth and pleasing as I would expect from a Leica lens wide open. Maybe the lighting and the film has created the look, I don't know? I am sure a 135mm Leica lens should produce great bokeh, but this isn't an example of it for me.

sohrab (7423) 2004-12-23 13:48

hi luko
yes the shot is interesting, but i think it's not quite as good as "give" ..
darren raised a very good critique about the bokeh .. i read your reply that the quality might have got affected by the sharpening... but this one still lacks the "twinkle" in your other bokehs... ok maybe thats because of the weather conditions.. ( i don't know if making any sense here to you.. but let me compare it to the bokeh in time drops ) maybe that will give you an idea of what im talking about.
even without the sharpening i think the third monk would really stand out.. your focus is really good here..
i'm noticing something in your "lined shots" in most (atleast all that i remember right now) you have kept the focus not on the first person but on someone in the middle..
very interesting :)
it's quite different from what i would do and i guess what most other people would do.. but i like this sort of a focus.
take care :)

kinginexile (2440) 2005-01-04 5:36

How would you feel?
----------------
In Laos, good, in Paris or US, not so! :-)

Luko, I think this is a descriptive pix, as is your note, but you seemed lazy, compo wise. I think the short DOF destroys a bit the allure of all these monks in a long lane, the image you tried to convey, i think. maybe it's the scan or the resizing, but the backgroung blur comes out over-poweringly and very diffracted. Strange because you are a pro of the Leica.

I hope it's OK to be frank, I like very much your "to the point" critiques of others shots.

cessy (13647) 2005-01-07 22:59

very nice shot of the monks, love the angle and colors.
a little bit too much sharpening maybe, but still excellent shot

Curioso (9119) 2005-01-09 16:19

J'adore ce léger flou sur le premier moine qui conduit l'oeil jusqu'au troisième. C'est terriblement efficace comme truc et je n'arrive pas trop à imaginer si c'est facile à faire. En tout cas, j'adore !

En plus, les contrastes orange/vert sont géniaux. Il y a une homogénéité particulièrement forte dans la construction. Tout se conjugue pour renforcer la perspective et attirer le regard sur ce troisième moine. Magnifique !

Midnight_sun (1939) 2005-01-14 14:53

Hey Luko, this looks over sharpened to me, the grain is stronger than it should be and i guess you applied your sharpen script to it (which i've tried, but found to strong).
look at the third monk..... (ok i just read your reply to darren)

the note adds an extra element to this shot, the order, the discipline, yet they are starving! i wish some how this feeling of starvation was some how more apparent, a hungry looking dog middle left, an expression from the monk... suffering is never complete without recognition.
1/2 smiley for the sharpening : )

jtreue (133) 2005-01-30 18:31

I've got a similar photo of the same line of monks..We were staying in a guesthouse in Luangprabang across the street from a temple..We were woken every morning around 4.30 by a gong and 5.00 chanting that raised the hackles on my neck,,so eerie..By 6.00am the monks were walking the streets for alms..Lovely photo..

kenmac (529) 2007-06-15 13:06