Lepakshi - The Swing Pavilion Photo

Photographer’s Note

It's a long and winding journey to Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh, about 15 km from Hindupur. We travelled by bus for 180 Km, changed buses in Hindupur (crossing over from Karnataka to Andhra Pradesh) and arrived at Lepakshi just before noon.

It was scorching day with the temperature at around 40 degrees C. But it was a revitalising trip for yours truly who believes in heritage sites and marvel at the art of our ancestors, and willing to get away from the routine multiple-destination tourist routes.

At the height of its fame during the 16th century, Lepakshi was a centre of pilgrimage and trade. Its main claim to fame was its striking temple on the small hillock of Kurmasaila, which grew to its present dimensions when the brothers Viranna and Virupanna, both Nayak chieftains under Achyutaraja of the Vijayanagar kingdom, enlarged the shrine of Papanasesvara.

As I entered barefooted (we had to leave our shoes at the gate), I was almost jumping. The rock under our feet was scorching & i feared that I may have blistered. But who cared!

The Swing Pavilion on the right towers over the main temple, whose gateway can be viewed here. I have posted a closeup og the gateway in the WS.

I the following uploads, I will post the shots of the wonderful temple, which had left me at awe. I hope you all like them too

ChrisJ, ramesh_lalwani, pranab, thaprem, sayat, Henryk_Bilor, droonsta, emjleclercq, pastadog, pierrefonds, josepmarin, jhm, sam224, anavazao, postvikram, riclopes, TeresaT, RADEEH, plimrn, anew, cjmm, capthaddock has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ChrisJ (70125) 2006-04-17 3:47

Namaste Angshuman

A superb overview of thewse interesting ruins. Excellent pov with marvellous color lighting & contrast. The man adds scale. Tfs!

ramesh_lalwani (3209) 2006-04-17 3:50

Hi
Very interesting note.Is there some tilt of is it construction defect?Man in blue adds to beauty of shot.I look forward to see more of this temple.TFS
ramesh

pranab (5354) 2006-04-17 3:57

angshu,
wonderful color and texture in this shot.
good informative note, i think all the pains were worth it.
good composition, looking forward to more of the same.

jasmis (50248) 2006-04-17 4:06

Superb view and amazing photo. Nice composition. Regards.

Gerrit (35613) 2006-04-17 4:30

Hi Angshu,
a fantastic temple this one and very well realized with great eye for composition and details.
Thanks and regards, Gerrit

sayat (2944) 2006-04-17 4:46

Excellent photos Dear Angshu, both this one and the one in the WS. The light and tha colors are well balanced and the framings are great. The man's shirt has a nice color as if a drop of the sky is on him.
Best regards,
Sayat

Henryk_Bilor (20365) 2006-04-17 4:57

Hello Angshuman
Hot :). I would like to have a bit of this warmth ;).
Nice composition as in your previous images. But in this one I would try to straighten the buildings ;).
Best regards.

emjleclercq (14256) 2006-04-17 5:20

The small construction with pillars on the right is very good, as the rest of the right part (again because of the pillars). Iwould a perhaps tried the get the pillards more vertical but it is just a thought.

All the best,

Emmanuel

pastadog (12821) 2006-04-17 6:43

Hi Angshu, interesting and amusing note. Nice architecture and details well captured, in good light. I would have preferred without the man in blue shirt, but it's a matter of taste. Regards, Daniel.

pierrefonds (26167) 2006-04-17 8:37

Hi Angshuman,

A good POV of the swing Pavilion, the photo has nice colors and a good composition.

Pierre

josepmarin (33785) 2006-04-17 11:08

Hi Angshuman,
A very nice composition here. Good framing, beautiful colors and lighting, and good sharoness, too.
The man in blue give us the real dimensions of this temple.
Beautiful sky.
Regards,
Josep

jhm (82319) 2006-04-17 11:47

Hi Angshu,
You show us a wonderful old building almost ruin, the specially white stone is very nice, also the construction together with colours gives a very lovely composition, you did very well the man addition for scale!
Thanks a lot.
John

aravind_phd (237) 2006-04-17 12:46

Nice photo chatterjee,

But it really has many drawbacks, its isn't sharp.. the focus seems to be more on the front mandapam rather that the whole picture, which you expect in an architectural picture. The person in the picture seems to be looking at you rather than studying the architecture. The whole structure is tilted..

Aravind

anavazao (5592) 2006-04-17 13:09

Hi,
Architecture is indeed a great area for photographers,good details here!
I'm impress by this view, very well done!
Thanks Ana:)

riclopes (32971) 2006-04-17 15:43

Hi Angshuman,
I can see that you are going to do a series of this temple, which pleases me very much. In fact all the temples that you have been showing, are wonderful.
You have a very good composition in here, with a perfect balance of all the elements and that person to give the scale, which is very important in this type of photos. The lighting and the colours are excellent as well as the sharpness. I don't know if there is some distortion of the perspective, but I like the way the structure on the right seems to be falling down to the left. There is a lot of nice details that we can apreciate in this image and the closer approach in ws is magnificent. I think I even like it more and would give an excellent post. Congratulations for this excellent work along with the excellent note, that also was a pleasure for me to read.
Thanks for sharing,
Friendly regards,
Ricardo

TeresaT (10733) 2006-04-17 17:06

Hi Angshuman,
Beautiful view of this ruins.
Nice POV with great details.
Beautiful colours and light.
I only think the imahge is a little bit tilt.
Regards
Teresa

RADEEH (2762) 2006-04-17 21:34

The texture of the temple is very intersting and you have brillantly caught it. The PoV is good. This series on temples is becoming very popular in TE. Great going .
I would like to know why its known as swing pavillion . Great shot TFS

sam224 (5851) 2006-04-18 4:29

Lovely Indian architecture the one you show us here. Good perspective showing us all these magnificient arches and pillars.
Good job!

feather (49858) 2006-04-18 8:30

I am pleased to see some historic architecture from your own country. It does look like a magnificent temple. I wonder if the swing pavilion is safe being built on a tilt. Do you know the origin of the name?
I love the gateway image you posted in the WS. It is one of my favourite types of composition. I think I might have been tempted to post them the other way round so the main post was the WS.
Kath

markstaples (15670) 2006-04-18 9:15

Nicely composed. The man gives some idea of the scale. The image is nice and sharp ... very good quality. Nice work and thanks for sharing.
Best wishes
Mark

plimrn (19602) 2006-04-18 12:15

Hi Angshu,
There is nothing I can add to Ricardos excellent critique, The blue sky with the drifting clouds provides a perfect backdrop for the wonderful stone temple. Like feather, I like the details in the WS, but I can see why you posted this one. It's your first impression of this special place.
Regards, Pat

anew (580) 2006-04-18 15:37

Hi Angshu,
Great shot. Great job.
Regards,
Anu

cjmm (4019) 2006-04-18 15:50

Hi Angshu,

I like very much how you included one person in the composition. The POV is very good and the note brilliant.

Best regards,
Carlos

capthaddock (28640) 2006-04-19 10:35

Hi Angshu - wonderfully ornate architecture, great details, exposure is good despite the strong light, I hope to visit southern India one day.