Buddhist monks at a temple – probably one of the most photographed scenes. Add a bit of sunset and sprinkle with some shallow depth-of-field – and you get a very classic image. yet I still love this photo. In Lightroom I have about 5 virtual copies, with different crops and filters applied. The most important part – I really enjoy looking at this photo!
It was taken the second day in Bagan, Myanmar, while waiting for the sunset.
This photo I took at one of the temples in the Bagan area. This lady was taking a smoke break from selling at the temple entrance.
Bagan in Myanmar is every photographer’s dream. On an area no larger than 40sq km there are thousands of temples. I think it is impossible to visit all of them – so there is still room for someone to find his ‘own’ favorite temple. Renting a bicycle and moving from place to place is the best way to experience this amazing place.
The magic moment is at sunset – when from one of the taller temples you can see the surrounding area – a huge plain dotted with countless temples.
I took countless photos of people from Myanmar – from children, field workers, monks, people on the streets of Yangon – everywhere you point the camera there is an interesting face. The only other place where I could literally not stop from taking photos of people was India. Myanmar is just as fascinating.
This is the beginning of a short series of photos I took in Myanmar, especially portraits of people.
Ayuthaya – the old Thai capital – is just 1h30 by train from Bangkok. So after a morning spent at the Myanmar embassy applying for the visa I decided to spend the rest of the day doing a short trip to Ayuthaya. So off to the train station – which fortunatelly is just 2 MRT stations from where I have the hostel.
The train ride costs a whooping 15 baht (the metro costs 18, and a beer starts at 60 baht), and riding the 3rd class is an experience in itself (good one, just to be clear).
Once in Ayuthaya I discovered that seeing most of the temples can be done either with a tuk tuk ride,or by renting a bike, as the distances are too much for simply walking. So after 2 or 3 years of no riding I decided to test the old saying that “biking once learned is never forgotten.”. True saying by the way…
The downside to the bike ride is that I took very few photos – meaning less than 100 – but being able to visit most of the temples, the floating market, and a few out of the way areas was absolutely great.
I definitively intend to repeat the experience in other cities.
Another photo from Sri Lanka, again with a boat at sunset.
I see a pattern here: depressing autumn outside – and I start dreaming about holidays.
I realized I hadn’t posted any photo from Sri Lanka – which is a shame as it is a very interesting and fascinating country. As I process more photos from that trip – with highlights as the ascension on Adam’s Peak in the middle of the night or tea-picking women – I will post a full photo gallery the following days.
Slow day photo wise, but I did find a very nice image I took in Sibiu. I really enjoyed the beautiful colors of the buildings -I am not used to see houses painted so full of colors in Romania.
