Photos

The monks I met in Laos were very young and were extremely interested in western culture. They wanted to practice their English and they were happy to sit and talk to any tourists who came by. All of the monks I met spoke good English, some of them spoke two or three other languages quite well too. Japanese, French and Spanish were languages I heard monks use when they conversed with tourists.

While talking to the monks, I took the opportunity to photograph them. As usual, I took a lot of photos.

This photo is a rather extreme portrait and I'm sure not everyone who views this will like the fact that I've cut off the top of his head.

However, this is the way I like to shoot portraits. I chose this framing because I thought the colour of his robe was important. I also wanted to exclude the background as much as possible.

On a side note, I really enjoyed talking to the Laos monks because they were much different to the Cambodian monks, who have taken to subtle begging ... asking tourists for money to help with study and other personal needs.

Your critiques on framing are particularly appreciated! :)