The Faithful at Cao Dai Photo

Photographer’s Note

Another shot from the fabulous Cao Dai Temple. Cao Daiism is a mix of six different religions (Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism,
Vietnamese spiritualism, Christianity and Islam). Most worshippers wear simple white robes, but some of the higher ranked (I think) wear colored robes. The color of the robe you wear is supposed to represent which of the six religions you are coming from. I don't know what the red is, sorry.

This temple is just so great, I have to get back here and spend a number of hours rather than the one hour my tour allowed.

ISO 200, focal length 148mm, tripod mounted, normal post processing, uncropped.

Nobody has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

clodreno (0) 2005-02-19 10:54

Nice image Darren. I likethe POV here, at the same time I would like to crop a bit on the left. Not much but a bit on the left and a bit on top , i think would makes us plundge more into the image.. A thought..

[workshop] [compare]

alexlie (5359) 2005-02-19 16:05

This is a very interesting photo. The composition is atypical... but I like it. I think Claude has right- a crop is a good idea. Regards.

Galeota (10334) 2005-02-19 16:39

Fine image again Darren. The uniformed colour of their dresses contrasts well with the patterns on the floor. I even like how the crops came out here: we'd say that the head on the lower right corner belongs to the guy on the upper right corner. I guess that's a fortunate coïncidence. As usual, as far as image quality is concerned, your Sigma does wonders (really one of Sigma's best lenses).

Midnight_sun (1939) 2005-02-20 8:05

A nice shot, i'm not sure about the crop- including half a head and half a knee makes the shot feel a little unbalanced, although the subject is very interesting. Here is an alternative crop, which makes the hands more central.

[workshop] [compare]

Ah_Thong (458) 2005-03-03 13:07

nice photo but i think it is a bit too dark..or maybe just my monitor? hmm.. and i think the composition can be improved..i just hope to see more of his face.. :)

danielswalsh (13310) 2005-03-06 11:06

Nice shot Darren;

I like the POV, and the seemingly repeating pattern of the worshippers in their red robes.

Well done!
- Dan

Luko (13890) 2005-03-07 12:10

hohoho... I suppose from the dress color that's a head or subhead honcho of Cao Dai. THis is well composed, specially how you arranged the characters along that diagonal.. it makes it very dynamic to look at.

As Maciek noticed previously there has been very few shots of specific Cao Dai people -I mean portraitlike- I had been warned by some faithful that photographying people was forbidden at the time I visited the temple, then I didn't insist on getting people shots... even though I would have cried for them :) ...