Watching the centuries Photo

Photographer’s Note

Bagan Archaeological Zone

Bagan today, in reality, is little more than an archaeological site—far less known than the Angkor complex in Cambodia, in part because of the restrictions long imposed on tourists by Myanmar’s military government. Yet it is every bit the equal of the Khmer temple-region for its historic and archaeological significance. This short essay provides a brief introduction to the historic regions and its architecture. Succeeding sections on this site feature a precious few of its major temples and stupas.
‘Bagan’, incidentally, is the closest approximation to the Burmese usage and is now the officially preferred transliteration. During their period of colonial dominance the British spelled it ‘Pagan,’ and that name is still commonly used. There is, however, no consistent system of transliteration of the Myanmar languages into English. While ‘Bagan’ is now preferred, both spellings are still used even, sometimes, on English boards at the same temple site!
The Bagan Archaeological Zone is the formal name used to designate the historic region of the ancient Kingdom of Bagan. It has been suggested that perhaps over 13,000 temples, pagodas and other religious structures originally were built in this 26 sq. mile (42 sq. k.) area during the height of the kingdom between the 11th and 13th centuries. The region clearly stands with Angkor and Borobudur among the most significant archeological sites of Southeast Asia and indeed of the world. It has recently (2002) been nominated for World Heritage Site status.

Text by Professor Robert D. Fiala of Concordia University, Nebraska, USA

All about Pagan

sam224, supereira, gaby, jrj, PixelTerror, fayeulle, Emile, CoolDan, joseelias has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

letuananh (2478) 2005-07-20 3:32

Hi Paolo,
Great POV, I like colours and compo in here.
Regards

bantonbuju (48334) 2005-07-20 3:34

ciao paolo, a nice landscape, it is amazing how much scattered are the trees and bushes, and the human-made objects; interesting colours;
have a nice day, jerzy

Furachan (0) 2005-07-20 3:43

Beautiful, dream-like scene with the frame neatly divided in half, like a flag. Everything works here with these rich, saturated hues. A familiar place, for sure, but freshly caught. Great stuff! Francis

Graal (57278) 2005-07-20 3:50

Hi Paolo,
interesting place, good composition and note. I like it.
Rgs, Aleksander

naxius (16679) 2005-07-20 4:21

Very good Paolo! I like this photo. The colors seems to be quite old and I like the result of the scan.
Superb light as well.
Alex

sam224 (5851) 2005-07-20 4:37

Bellissimo panorama Paolo. Buona profondità di campo e bellissimi colori pastello. Bellissima prospettiva. Questa distesa dà un grande senso di spazi sconfinati.
Bravo

AmiBe (6042) 2005-07-20 5:11

Hi Paolo,
do you remember on which temple you are ?
Nice view of the plain of Bagan, cloudy sky gives a special light, I like it.
I'm surprised that there aren't more green grass during the mansoon.
It's better if the horizon line isn't in the middle but I think you know it now... ;-)

Zepi (22848) 2005-07-20 5:15

Hello Paolo !
Elle est splendide cette vue !
J’adore les teintes de cette image, tout sonne juste !
Ce ciel est incroyable.
Sans parler du point de vue tout a fait indescriptible !
Très beau travail
Merci pour le partage
Sébastien

supereira (9576) 2005-07-20 5:32

Great view.I like the composition and point of view.I like the contrast between the sky and the erath.Good light,sharpness and colors.Well done!

jinju (14265) 2005-07-20 6:00

Seeing photos from this out of this world place is always fun. It amazes me what energy people put into their faiths, how faith can drive us to the highest forms of creativity or to the lowest forms of destruction. The spelling Pagan hjd obvious connotations, not exactly flattering. So Bagan is preferrable. The place though rivals anything Europe has produced. How can we call such people pagan?

gaby (19793) 2005-07-20 6:10

Hi Paolo, très bien composé depuis un super point de vue - les couleurs sont très jolies -
Merci
Gaby

jrj (34779) 2005-07-20 6:32

Very good this one p. Interesting setting with the grand open landscape scattered with the building structures around. Very good

PixelTerror (86032) 2005-07-20 8:08

Ciao Paolo,
The weather made it a bit dark, but is it clear enough to enjoy the view of these temple thrown like confetti all over the place, the white one adds a nice contrasting color. There are a few white scan scratches appearing as contrasting dots that you could eliminate with the clone tool. Nice view !
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

marieaude (1196) 2005-07-20 8:36

Hello Paolo,
I dream every time I see photos of this country with all those stupas in every place. Nice composition, it looks "imenso". Thanks for sharing. Bye

Coyotyto (1299) 2005-07-20 10:44

Ciao Paolo !
A nice light despite the cloudy weather. I like the color tones and the play of light on the ground, but I disagree a bit on your composition:

The sky is not so interesting here, and I think it's a pity you gave it as much importance as the ground.

Cheers,
Youssef.

fayeulle (26541) 2005-07-20 10:56

Hi Paolo
Very good note !
This photo is cutted in 2 equal parts ans I dislike a liiile bit this. You should crop the photo to avoid this.
Nevertheless, colors and landscape are great.
Sorry and regards from France.
JP

Emile (19803) 2005-07-20 19:12

Hola Paolo
Interesting photo, good compo.
Nice colours and contrasts.
Well done.

simozaur (2448) 2005-07-21 5:50

interesting shadows and mood of nature

CoolDan (2490) 2005-07-22 7:24

Bonjour Paolo,
Magnifique paysage aux teintes qui donne une note mystérieuse à votre composition.
C'est du beau travail.

joseelias (367) 2005-07-22 17:47

Interesting note. Especially concerning the relevance of this site with the well (maybe too much) known Angkor. The amount of temples once existing is an impressive number.

The photo shows how interesting the landscape is and how impressively the monuments fit there.