2014 Black Hour, a photo from Gandaki, West

Photographer's Note

Last time I uploaded three photos taken on the way to this place: Shanti Stupa, better known as World Peace Pagoda, sitting some 1000 metres above the lake Phewa.

I clearly remember two unusual encounters while at the stupa.

One was with a woman photographing the surrounding landscape with her ipad, methodically, bit by bit, creating a 360 panorama. “But people do that everywhere these days”, I can hear you say. Yes, but in this case, the landscape was completely covered by fog at that point, so the panorama of the Himalaya taken that evening was nothing but a blank canvass (quite disappointing for me too, as the pagoda is known to be one of the best viewpoints to photograph the Annapurna massif).

The other one, well after dark and on the way back to Pokhara, was my first ever encounter with a real sadhu. You may remember this photo uploaded earlier. The holy man I met on top of the mountain by the Shanti Stupa was wearing nothing (and I mean NOTHING) apart from a waiste-long dawn jacket (can’t blame him; it gets really cold in the mountains at night).

In WS two more photos taken on the way to the pagoda.

NOTE:
This part of Nepal did not suffer in the 2015 earthquake.

pajaran, holmertz, delpeoples, ikeharel, PaulVDV has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

PiotrF (52330) 2017-02-02 15:01

Czesc Kasiu
Magiczne zdjecie buddyjskiej swiatyni, swietna fotografia z nutka mistycyzmu.Dobrze, ze choc ten fragment Nepalu nie dotknal kataklizm i mozna tam wrocic dla swietnych widokow o ktorych piszesz... moze nastepnym razem aura bedzie bardziej sprzyjajaca.
Swieta prezentacja - Ty chyba lubisz ten kraj ;)
pozdrawiam
Piotr

jemaflor (136444) 2017-02-02 22:50

Hi Kasia,
Nice photogenic result with your photo well composed with tower and moonlight, interesting idea a presentation in b&w, well managed.

BennyV (32650) 2017-02-03 1:01

Hello Kasia

A fine ensemble of pictures, all very different and much fun to click through. I particularly like the one of the colourful group of people around the holy man.

The main picture is intriguing, though very dark indeed. On my screen there are circles (ripples coming down) in your picture, which I find a bit disturbing. I don't know how they appeared there, maybe somewhere along the line in PP?

Thanks for the informative posts, though.

Cheers

Benny

GyurMaster (21817) 2017-02-03 1:08

Hello,

Kasia few people would have opted to convert it to BW, but I think it gives it a graphic look and we can concentrate more on the shapes and light moon.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

Nicou (193806) 2017-02-03 1:08

Hlelo

Fantastique vue et ocmpo quelle belle coupole quelle lune et ce contraste la coupole dans l'intimité avec un rayon de lumière au sommet fantastique vue.
Bravo et amitié
nicou

holmertz (93726) 2017-02-03 2:19

Hello Kasia,
With a full moon this might have been too perfect. Now it's just a lovely composition of the stupa barely seen (but well enough) in the darkness. It must have been a quiet night and there's not even any noise in the photo ;-). I like the two amusing stories too. I understand your feelings regarding the meeting with the sadhu, but if he flashed his private parts you could have flashed your camera. ;-).
Kind regards,
Gert

No_One (4) 2017-02-03 10:48

Hi Kasia
I'm not familiar with the black hour but I'm glad to learn of it like this. I imagine these are very difficult to do, and you have a beautiful subject in the moon and structure. Excellent note too, I imagine the naked saddhu was a surprise
Cheers
Noel

delpeoples (60326) 2017-02-03 23:48

Ciao dear Kasia

A beautiful shot, I'd not heard of the Black Hour, but you illustrate it well. You note had me in stitches. The image you create in my mind is hilarious: naked gurus in the almost full moon. That's an experience you'll never forget.

Thanks for sharing and I wish you a beautiful weekend
Lisa

emka (153360) 2017-02-04 15:27

cześć Kasiu, po otwarciu jest zaskoczenie, wydaje się że zdjecie jest całkiem ciemne, ale widać jednak na nim tę białą stupę. śliczne. I jak zawsze towarzyszą temu ładne zdjęcia w WSach i arcyciekawa notka. Szkoda, że nie ma zdjecia tego świętego męża w niczym :). ( Ja widziałam takiego w niczym w Delhi, w mieście, wyznawcę jainizmu).
Fantastyczne black hour.

Pozdrawaim MAłgorzata

shreya2000 (2815) 2017-02-05 0:57

Hi Kasia,

Wonderful image taken by you. The soft cool dark colours are just great the the position of the moon is just very good. I like it.

Regards,
joginder

ikeharel (106451) 2017-02-11 6:30

All three photos along with the note written are interesting stuff, Kasia. The main photo is an immaculately photojob done at night, with superior contrast of the shining moon.
My best regards,
Ike

PaulVDV (55657) 2020-07-30 14:44

Hello Kasia,
You then went to the World Peace Pagoda in a different way because I didn't see a village on the way.
I probably took the shortest and not the most interesting route: crossing a part of the lake by boat and then climbing steeply up to the pagoda. However, I cannot remember a way around the lake. And then have to go back in the dark ...
I really like the photo of the pagoda in the dark with the moon at the top left.
I was there at the end of an afternoon and the weather was not too clear. So I didn't see a panorama of the snowy peaks ...
Best regards, Paul