I Lived to Remember, a photo from Phnum Penh, West

Photographer's Note

Buddhism has existed in Cambodia since at least the 5th century, with some sources placing its origin as early as the 3rd century. Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion since the 13th century (excepting the Khmer Rouge period), and is currently estimated to be the faith of 95% of the population.

The history of Buddhism in Cambodia spans nearly two thousand years, across a number of successive kingdoms and empires. Buddhism entered Cambodia through two different streams. The earliest forms of Buddhism, along with Hindu influences, entered the Funan kingdom with Hindu merchants. In later history, a second stream of Buddhism entered Khmer culture during the Angkor empire when Cambodia absorbed the various Buddhist traditions of the Mon kingdoms of Dvaravati and Haripunchai.

For the first thousand years of Khmer history, Cambodia was ruled by a series of Hindu kings with an occasional Buddhist king, such as Jayavarman of Funan, and Suryvarman I. A variety of Buddhist traditions co-existed peacefully throughout Cambodian lands, under the tolerant auspices of Hindu kings and the neighboring Mon-Theravada kingdoms.

Judging from his appearance as an Asian, this Cambodian Buddhist monk must be in his 80s. But he is certainly not weak, still moved around on a Sunday afternoon enjoying interaction with the public, especially the children. He has survived all these years on vegetarian diet and most probably does not have health problem like high cholestrol, diabetic and so on associated the meat eating diet.

At this good old age, his apparent frail eyes have seen the good and bad times since the Colonial years, through the years of Civil wars, the infamous Pol Pot era and later the war with Vietnam. Many Cambodians fled the country, others died of starvation, torture and war.

This monk survived to remember.

phwall, patdeph, shevchenko, skippy007, jusninasirun, axiotea, delpeoples has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

SergeMtl (290) 2009-04-10 18:02

Strong, very human portrait. Sad. strange and moving at the same time.

Serge

phwall (6787) 2009-04-11 0:57

Hello Alfred,
A simple portrait but what has this man experienced in his lifetime, war, famine, genocide, torture and so much more. A telling look into the eyes of humanity, an amazing portrait.
He's got really big ears too.
Superb image, congratulations.
Thank you for an informative note, a very good read.
Regards
Peter

Jeppo (17645) 2009-04-11 2:36

ciao alfred,

strong portrait...tired eyes and expressions that bear the scars of the tragic cambodian history

well done
silvio

kschanna (6) 2009-04-12 5:16

Hello Alf

Long history, written all over his face and one can see through his eyes.

thanks for sharing
Kamran

patdeph (35750) 2009-04-12 9:15

hello Alfred
splendid portrait,maybe a little bit overexposed on the background,but with beautiful colours,superbly framed,with an excellent definition!This monk has a very interesting expression,we can read the tragedy of Cambodia in his glance!Magnificent!
Cheers
Pascale

shevchenko (20560) 2009-04-12 21:56

Hi Alfred,
Like what you said in your note, the old monk looking very smart and healthy, but thin, good portrait shoot, clear to see his face with wrinkles, distinct photo, well done.
Ally

sacimar (38173) 2009-04-13 10:57

Hi Alfred,

impressive portrait, his face shows a long life lived.... excellent details and sharpness, well done,

Regards

Sergio

skippy007 (12510) 2009-04-14 18:33

Hello Alfred, I like this portrait, an old face with plenty of character, well captured, I'm sure he would have many interesting stories to tell, I would love to sit with him & listen, if only I could understand what he was saying. Excellent colour & detail, with the BG blurred & almost white this beautiful old Monk really stands out. An outstanding image, enhanced a good note that I enjoyed reading.
Well done my friend.
Take care
Santo
PS I suppose most things are OK in moderation, I could not imagine him overindulging in anything except maybe prayer. ;-)

jusninasirun (17529) 2009-04-15 8:13

Hi Alfred.

You have exploited this fast lens really well by opening it up to the max. Amazing sharp details captured in shallow depth. The eye tracking of D700 is amazing by the quality of the eye and the face of this portrait.

Congratulations for Top drawer image and I guess by now you are already in Melbourne.

Best regards,
Jusni

axiotea (21651) 2009-04-16 9:54

hello Alfred
A strong and emotional portrait for which we can see very clearly the details in a difficult light condition which you've handled quite well. The way the monk is looking at you is very touching...
The title and note completed this image!
Cheers
Marilyn

delpeoples (60342) 2009-04-25 4:38

Hi Alfred, the cropping here is superb. You've managed the shade so well and have captured that "look" in the old monk's eyes that is the goal of every portrait photgrapher. Excellent work, TFS, Lisa

Waylim (25436) 2009-08-26 0:44

Hi Alfred,
Very compelling portrait shot, taken with keen sensitivity. Technically good, the background is a bit bright and the colors are just a tiny bit hot. But your model is the main show here. Such a face, and behind each wrinkle there is a heart breaking story to share. Thanks for sharing this one.
Way