Late Night Prayer Photo

Photographer’s Note

Unlike some of the monk praying by candlelight shots I have posted, this was not a planned shot. One night, we were coming back from shooting at a sunset shot at a temple, when we noticed that some nuns were praying at one of the pagodas off to the side of the row. We stopped the van, but I was too lazy to drag out my digital gear and heavy lenses, so I simply shot with my b&w camera with the much lighter 50mm lens.

TriX pushed two stops to 1600.

hugolef has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

hugolef (4909) 2005-01-07 10:38

The laziness is not always a defect... Good exposure, good enframing.
The photo is divested of useless effects, but it is full of feelings. Simple but beautiful.
thanks for sharing

maciekda (19599) 2005-01-07 16:10

this is really nice, where are comments??
good composition and great moment, i like this B&W too - quite different than digital... i wonder if photo would be better if you came closer to her a bit - bow her head is on the same level as this small wall. anyway, it is a good shot

scalerman (25787) 2005-01-07 17:56

a beautiful and maybe lucky result: just a great, somewhat eerie feel to it. Almost an infrared quality. It somehow fits Burma...

markoci (3917) 2005-01-07 19:46

very nice darren! i love the flames and their reflections on the tiles, the black sky, and the monk's shadow (what was the light source?) i'd also have cropped it a bit tighter myself (to the tiles on the bottom and to the nun on the left)

manny (21378) 2005-01-08 11:33

Interesting scene. Interesting floor pattern. You've managed the exposure well. A bit sharp though especially the face of the nun. But I give you credit for creating a dynamics between the nun and her shadow.

clodreno (0) 2005-01-11 6:05

a great catch here darren. Happy new year to you, i missed some shots, being cut off of the world for 2 weeks during my move..
I wonder how it would be in color, they are so beautiful there.. the compo is just perfect.
Great.

shangri-la (353) 2006-06-07 10:16