A Beatific Expression Graces the Face of the Gods

 Yesterday I showed you the demons on the moat bridge of Angkor Thom and here lined up on the opposite side are the gods. The gods also carry a Naga or dragon, but most of the Naga is destroyed now.

At present, an international group…I think it is mainly a German organization…is restoring many of the old structures. As a consequence, the area is much changed since I was there 5 years ago. Then, you could wander alone and walk anywhere and everywhere. Now there are wooden paths that are roped off. Now there are huge crowds waiting their turn to have their photo taken in front of the famous sites. There are construction scaffolds everywhere you look. For a photographer, it is not an improvement. At the same time, I’m glad that these beautiful buildings are being preserved.

You’d think it would be easy to get good photos of Angkor Wat. In some cases, like the above photo, it is easy provided the traffic to and from the S gate is at a lull. This visit, I had plenty of time to get photos of the gods and demons lining the bridge with almost no traffic or tourists. They were probably stuck lined up to have their photo taken in front of Ta Phrom! Lucky for me.

The other difficulty in photographing these beautiful temples is that moss and lichen grows all over them, plus they are shaded and the sun that falls on them is dappled. Oh, this is hell because the contrast is so high that, to my eye, it ruins photographs.

The Demons of Angkor Thom

Cambodia: Angkor Thom 

Angkor is composed of many cities built by Khmer kings from 800 AD to 1300 AD. Angkor Thom is one of the largest and was built in the late 12th century.

The water here is the moat surrounding the city. The statues line the bridge across the moat which leads to the famous “S” gate. I’ll show that tomorrow. The bridge has statues on both sides. The ones you see here are asuras or demons. The other side has a line of statues representing gods.

Each side carries a Naga or dragon. A lot of the Naga is missing but you can see it here between the second and third demon. It serves as a bannister, or seems to. The heads of many statues have been stolen. You can see the lighter heads. Those are the replacements of the originals. Can’t you imagine one of these ancient heads in some ultra wealthy but unscrupulous person’s home? What else would a person steal one of these heads for but to sell it? They even steal the replacement heads!

The bridge is unique. Two long lines of large statues leading to a magnificent gate graced by four huge faces. It is reminiscent of Aztec culture, but these are less ‘busy’ and easier to discern.

I like the intense colors here. They say “Tropics” to me. I’ve always loved the idea of the tropics. Too bad I’m afraid of snakes and such. I’ll just love it at a distance.

Retired to California

Here are two of my puppets or more correctly, marionettes. A marionette has strings which are pulled to induce actions.

The smaller marionette is a Nat, a Burmese spirit and the larger is a Commissioner, I guess we could call him a politician. The Nat has some astrological markings on his stomach. Those are what drew me to him as well as his perky moustache.  It’s odd to see the buck teeth on the Commissioner. During my childhood it was common to see Asians portrayed with buck teeth in cartoons. Strange to see that the Asians themselves did this. Maybe the comissioner was untrustworthy.

I have these and my monk marionette sitting in my library in a bay window. I used to sit there myself on a chilly day and soak up the sun streaming in the window. Now I share the window seat with them. Once the marionettes are arranged, it’s not easy to get them back into position.

They lie against some pillows that are made from Turkish killims. I bought these in a Turkish shop in Hoboken, NJ when I was visiting my daughter. They were made by the Turkish family who ran the shop. I like knowing that somewhere near Trabizon a family sewed these hoping to sell them to someone like me.

The white balance of the above photo is off and I couldn’t get the colors the way I wanted to not even in Camera Raw. At the same time I shot the above marionettes, I shot the monk marionette in the photo below. He is sitting on the other side of the window seat. His colors are true. What a difference the angle of light makes. Or perhaps it is the reflection of his red robes. 

An Expression of Inner Peace

On the table at Rosemary's house

 Some times the sunlight falls on a favorite object in my house and I run down to get my camera and photograph it. There is a difference in what your eye sees and what the camera sees. I shot this at the beginning of 2011 when I was planning to shoot a photo a day. (hint: it takes up more time than you think).

I found it  today when I was looking for something else and thought, maybe I can make this into something if I try. It was too bright and too contrasty before. That sunlight, although beautiful to behold when you are carrying your coffee to your chair by the window, is harsh as all get out once you get it on your computer. And let’s face it the books and vase aren’t that dynamic without major enhancement.

What did I want? Less contrast, more texture, softer light, warmer light, deep rich colors and detail in the black background.  I wanted to make the books and vase seem as if they belonged together.  I played with all the ideas that I have listed above, then put a golden ‘prism’ as I call it, or texture as others call them, over the entire image. I changed the blend mode to soft light and decreased the opacity. Then used Snap Art 3 and in Photoshop, I used filter>artistic>poster edges. You know that is my favorite and I allowed myself to use it here. It is subtle and adds just the right amount of shadow.

Symmetry

Bagan, Myanmar 

Our little monks stroll solemnly toward us. Shooting this was a piece of cake. I was unnerved, though, after sweating through some monastery scenes where I couldn’t get the exposure right or couldn’t get the focus right or someone’s elbow protruded into my frame. I shot at least 25 shots of this scene as the monks walked to and fro. It was overkill. I’m glad I have my choice of shot, though. With digitial, why not shoot 25 shots, or 35 or 45?

A Tribal Bride in India

 A newly married woman in northern Gujarat stares placidly into the camera. She sits with her sister-in-law, watching her prepare chappattis. Her clothing is the everyday dress of her tribe, but the large nose ring is a rather special touch for the early days of marriage. Later, she will wear it for special occasions only. It is heavy and is held up by a ribbon attached to a strand of hair.

I added a distressed look to this portrait. I am interested in the era of the Raj, when England colonized India. In my imagination, this looks as if it was printed a hundred years ago.

A good book about the English in India is The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott.  It was written in the late 60′s and early 70′s and was on Masterpiece Theater. Watching that production made me want to learn more. Later I read all of Scott’s books and quite a few other books about the Raj.  J.G. Farrell wrote a great book called The Seige of Krishnapur, a very readable account of the great Indian mutiny of 1857.  If you like to read about Indian or English history in novel form, you’ll love both of these books.

Down South

 Can’t you just feel the glittering sun beating down?

There were horses with gleaming coats grazing in the pasture. Now and then they would swish away the flies with a flick of their long tails. They cropped steadily, their chewing jaws making a hollow, spitty sound. Sometimes we would lure them to the fence with a carrot and hop on their bare backs.

It was summertime.

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Leisure

This is another old negative. In fact, this girl is the daughter of the man I call Saladin. If you didn’t see that photo,  click on Morocco in the list to the right and you will find him . She is in her early teens and she embroiders for her sister’s upcoming wedding.

Shy

A small village near Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Some photos I never forget and this is one of them. I love this little girl. She is huddled into herself, wondering what on earth this strange woman can want at her house.  Our guide had misled us and told us that we would find a primitive tribe in this village, but it turned out to be a rather well-off village with a school filled with children wearing uniforms.

We wandered about in search of the non-existent  bow and arrow wielding  tribesmen and came across this little girl sitting in the doorway of her home. She acquiesced to my request for a photo although she was unsure what having her photo taken would entail. I love her huge eyes. They are so large that you can see the half-moon of light in the lower part of her iris even at this distance. Normally that is accented in Photoshop but I didn’t need to do anything.

Just a Sip

 A village on the edge of Rajasthan’s Thar Desert.

A woman from this family had just delivered a baby. Can we assume it was a boy? Because the menfolk are busy celebrating by sipping opium from the host’s hand. Was he the father? I didn’t ask. I was too busy trying to get a shot of these guys drinking the opium. Look at the expression on the boy sitting on the left. He’s thinking, “That is disgusting!”

The use of opium is traditional in these regions. This region of India abuts Pakistan which abuts Afghanistan and Iran and you have heard of the opium crop in those countries. The men in this gathering did not seem overcome by the drug. They were alert and able to have a conversation with me (via my interpreter). I asked them if the drug made them sleepy and tired. “No.” was the reply. It made them strong.

My guide had told me that ‘serving’ of opium was traditional at weddings, etc. I think he thought I’d be shocked. I wasn’t, because I didn’t believe him until I saw this with my own eyes.

The opium was prepared by placing it in a cloth and steeping it in water.Then the cloth was wrung out and the liquid caught in a silver bowl. A small amount would be poured into the host’s hand and he would welcome each man (no women take opium) by extending his hand to their mouth so they could drink.