Morning Ritual Photo

Photographer’s Note

A morning ritual for some of the locals in Luang Prabang, Laos.

They offered food to hundreds of monks who go around. I was there, and I was suppose to join in the giving of food. Not after I took this shot, among others.

zto, Josh69, carper, orme, ChrisJ, GrahamB, eleparc, hispic, Burnham, cmartos, nwoehnl, avigur_11, mikhalych, ma-tibou, harold, Jeppe, thaprem has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

carper (64908) 2004-07-14 4:20

wauw Manuel,
Very nice photo you send. I like the depth in the composition, the great colours and of course the moment. Very good job.

jrj (34779) 2004-07-14 4:27

Good shot, good storytelling, focus on the women and the dof works well for the monks. Interesting

jhonny_blue (4938) 2004-07-14 4:35

Wonderful moment Manny ! I like the colours and the beautiful composition. The DOF is perfect.
Very well done !

orme (6746) 2004-07-14 4:52

Great shot, Manuel. Good clarity in the foreground and perfect DOF along the line of monks. I like the rich colours and the way the woman appears to be kneeling for the monks. Well framed.

ChrisJ (70271) 2004-07-14 4:55

Well composed & shot

GrahamB (939) 2004-07-14 4:59

Great shot. I love the shallow DOF with the line of monks in the background. It shows the scene very well.
One minor nit pick is that the lighting on the woman looks a bit flat - not a lot you could have done about it unless you had an assistant with a big reflector to get some light bounced onto her! ;o)

maciekda (19587) 2004-07-14 5:12

very nice picture Manny, very good moment and composition, interesting colors. interesting effect of shallow DOF, good work

sengir (4946) 2004-07-14 5:19

wow, stunning perspective, great DOF, those monks in the background...
I was trying to take this photo, I made some tries, but all my effects were far away from yours,
Congratulations!

p.s. why don't you want to be a proffesional photographer? I've seen many "professional" portfolios that couldn't stand any comparision with Yours

eleparc (24059) 2004-07-14 5:55

well Manny, you already know that i like this picture;-) as i said i wish i had had the chance to shoot this photo;-)) how is your vacation?

katsuhiro (479) 2004-07-14 6:10

Great DoF and composition. Good timing too!

elroyie (2750) 2004-07-14 7:09

Very good picture and very interesting one too, the composition is great, you caught them just in the right moment with good DOF.

pridel (233) 2004-07-14 9:53

Très jolie photo Manuel. J'aime beaucoup la composition, les couleurs, la femme à genoux .
---------
Grâce à la lecture de toutes tes notes, j'ai découvert ce que c'était que des moines, à part des sujets très photogéniques drappés dans de superbes couleurs oranges. c'est un pan social entier que je découvrais au fur et à mesure. Les prières, les processions,les offrandes, etc. Pour tout celà et aussi pour les superbes photos : un grand MERCI.

losteden (1500) 2004-07-14 10:23

What to say ? Just only. Like always.

Burnham (2426) 2004-07-14 11:37

perfect colours, nad the scene is very interesting. I really like how you focused on the girl and her work and left the monks as part of the blurred BG.

And here I thought I was going to miss your shots while you were gone ;o) I'm glad we have internet cafes:o))

cgrindahl (6109) 2004-07-14 13:30

This is so beautiful Manny, showing us a ritual repeated each day for thousands of years throughout Asia. Since there is no "god" in Buddhism, it remains clear this is a human exchange of caring and blessing. The woman does this for the monks, but the truth is we do it continually for one another when our hearts are open and intention clear. It is a sacrament you have capturing with this lovely image, the focus on the rice and the woman's extended hand. Thank you and namaste.

Proxilva (2157) 2004-07-14 13:58

wow Manuel...
learning so much about monks from you.. i like that... this shot show's the respect they have for them very much... i like your point of view... keep it up!!!

pratyeka (277) 2004-07-14 14:42

The sombre tones of the morning are captured well - a slightly longer exposure and stronger contrast would destroy the tone of the image. Only one negative: it's a pity the light shines off the second-monk's bowl-strap - it detracts slightly from the exchange in the foreground.

cmartos (6086) 2004-07-14 14:46

Hi Manuel, a wonderful picture you cought here. i like the low angle and the shallow DOF, all attention is spoted on the girls attitude and action. Very well done in all aspects, I like it a lot.

nwoehnl (120) 2004-07-14 14:58

Wow - very good composition here, Manny, with the woman offering the food in the lower left corner, and the diagonal row of monks passing, gradually DOF'ed out towards the back. Really ingenious. Again the great colors. One small idea might be to clone away the background structure between the heads of the two monks at the right. Great shot!

piozac (2058) 2004-07-14 17:50

Manuel. I love your monks series!
This shot is also great. Compo, DOF, colours, contrast. Everything is superb here.

Very well done!!!

dsidwell (9745) 2004-07-14 21:18

Rituals like this are so engaging to me. You capture the tone and emotion of this perfectly, and are able to communicate so well what is going on that takes place every day. Very nice!

avigur_11 (21293) 2004-07-14 23:04

Excellent composition, Manuel, DoF is very very effective. Very very well composed and captured.

mikhalych (1311) 2004-07-15 4:19

Your series from that monastery is very interesting. Fruitful trip you had.
Here I would like to note perfect composition and great effect of DOF.

Luko (13894) 2004-07-15 4:24

Wooo, very nice, a favorite, nothing to nitpick about : when it's good, it's good! This is very close to the L/Prabang ideal shots I have in mind.

I'll be in LP in 4 weeks : morning monk parade will of course be on top of my photo agenda. It would be very helpful to me if you could advise the actual f/stop-shutter speed of this shot and the hour it was taken (should be in your EXIF info) so I can assess which film I will be taking beforehand (lucky you don't have to ask yourself this question...).

Btw, any other hints about LP or more general Laos considerations : places to photo, not bother to photo, etc.

ma-tibou (4566) 2004-07-15 6:34

Très belle prise de vue pour cette photo haute en couleurs. Dépaysement assuré Merci pour nous faire profiter de tout cela Manuel.

ephemere33 (9729) 2004-07-15 6:38

je me regale chaque fois que je lis tes notes, et regarde tes photos car c'est un véritable partage que l'on vit en direct grace à toi, merveilleuse composition encore une fois, j'adore cette population et tout le mystère qui plane sur eux...merci ...bravo BI

RAP (1053) 2004-07-15 8:07

Bella y conmovedora Manuel. Excelente composicion y colores. Gracias por compartirla.

Beautiful and stirring Manuel. Excellent composition and colors. Thanks to share it.

harold (2271) 2004-07-15 10:43

La photo est très bien réalisée, avec des couleurs chatoyantes, et la note explicative est très intêresante.

Jeppe (18623) 2004-07-16 16:50

I like the fine blurry line of monks -and the sharp front showing us whats this interesting and pratical morning ritual - glad you got the time to take this and other shots - very fine work Manuel

Points later.

zto (292) 2004-07-18 8:11

Beautifull Manny. Meaningfull. Wonderfull colours, compo and DoF. Feel like going out and practice my skills in this area now...

Josh69 (1427) 2004-07-19 8:18

Another excellent photo, vibrant colours and a simple but very effective composition.

danarees (2493) 2004-08-03 0:17

Thank you for sharing this image. I find the use of contrast, camera position, and color saturation and somber lighting to be very effective.

Furachan (0) 2005-05-28 7:09

Hello Manuel. I've wanted to comment on this lovely image of yours for a while. I myself tackled the exact same scene (but nowhere as well as this!) recently in a pic called "The Swan". Your somber colors, and brilliant use of bokeh staring from the second monk down the line gives to the whole an immense dignity and yes, some sadness too. this is just a once in a lifetime kind of shot. Very moving. Thanks, Francis