My pen... Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

We met that old monk in Bagan after my wife and I spent two hours visiting one of the many monasteries downtown. It was so hot... We stayed something like one hour sleeping on the ground, some different monks were passing by, eating rice, staring at us curiously.

When we got up to leave the place and try to get a carriage to go back to the archeologic side of Bagan, that old monk appeared from nowhere, smiling at us, talking to us very fast in Burmese and insisting so we visit his small place. He showed us any item he could collect in his room, after a while he asked me for a picture. When he asked him his name, he wrote it down we the strangest signs I've ever seen and flew with our only pen left :)

Well, we were a bit bothered but that pen was a small price to pay for this funny moment with him. Well, he's so serious on this picture but I swear he was smiling as hard as he could just a second before I took the picture...

ndb1958 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

DougC (47) 2006-09-05 15:31

Nice lighting, good cropping ... also, what is now known as "bokeh" (unfocussed background image) is very well-handled. The setting helps to tell something about the man. The only suggestion I might make for improvement is to get rid of (or somehow tone down) the very bright part of the background on the center left and upper left.

ribeiroantonio (21967) 2006-09-05 23:30

It is funny because his face is not at all what you say in your note. The guy looks very serious. This is a beautiful and very well presented portrait. I like it. Well done.
Antonio

DarkoG (2284) 2006-09-06 2:24

Good, sharp, expressive portrait. Everything on this photo is excellent except this bright left part of background.
Regards Darko

PauloAJPires (294) 2006-09-06 4:32

Great Photo...

I just will sugest that the passepartout could be in RED (like the Monk Garments), it will absorve the brigthness in the upper left corner...

Regards
Paulo Pires

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quetzal (3467) 2006-09-06 12:18

Bonjour Steven,
Voilà un portrait bien maîtrisé. On a l'impression que la photo révèle bien les traits de caractère du personnage. Le cadrage est parfait et la composition montre bien en arrière-plan des éléments composant l'environnement de prière et de méditation de ce moine.
Amicalement
Jean-Louis

ndb1958 (9248) 2006-09-09 7:27

Hi Steven,
I'm amused about reading your note. A very nice shot of the old monk. I like his serious expression, but I imagine his face with a full smiling or hard laughing.
Nino