Red? Or Saffron

A monk’s lifestyle is said to be very pure lifestyle and because of that, monks set themselves apart from other people in society by dressing a bit differently.  It may not be that much different from ancient time but having being little change from past, into 2011, you see such difference.

Gold is considered a pure material since it never gets rust and in that, matches the pure lifestyle of a Buddhism monk, therefore one will observe the gold or gold color in use is overwhelm for the Buddhism temples.

The monk’s robe would be ideal in gold color but it might get mugged easily so instead the monk wears a color to be close to gold.  In the Pāli Canon (Pāli Tradition), the robe dye is allowed to be obtained from six kinds of substances: root of tubers, plants, bark, leaves, flowers and fruits. They should be boiled in water for a long time to get the dun dye.  And Saffron and ochre are the most prevalent colors today.

Buddha undercover

It was my first afternoon in Mandalay, the participants of Steve McCurry workshop have scattered around the monastery while I took a break walking on the stone-carving street. 

And this is what I learned from the master Steve McCurry, almost anything can be turned into a portrait, live or not, human or not.

I was suddenly submerged in the large chaos of Buddhism statues, stones that were prepared, some were carved but nothing can be told, semi-finished, just the body without the head, head only partially finished…….

Finally I found one is just finished, wrapped inside a thin plastic bag and I snap away a shot with my Canon 1DsIII with EF 24-105/4L.

The fan

The fight of claiming who invented the football may never stop, but people who love the game perhaps least cared it.

Even the monk!  Image shot at a small monastery at Mandalay, Myanmar.

Life of a monk

I would be honest to confess that I can’t image being a monk, and for a boy monk, is beyond that.

Life in many countries is similar, but many more are very different.  I spent my last 20 years living in Thailand, which is considered the most populated Buddhism country; but a trip to Myanmar still largely changed my understanding of a Buddhism country.  Myanmar to me is a Buddhism country, in comparison; Thailand is a country has lots of people believed in Buddha. What’s the different?  One has to see to believe.  

Is the life of Buddhism monk much different from regular people?  For one, they are not responsible for the most essential purpose of a living being on earth – to populate.  And they spend most of their time pray and regular people spend most of their time wishing and desire.  But besides the love, hate, attracted by opposite sex, the monk is essentially the same as common people. They need to study, work, and of course to eat and sleep.  And clean their blanket!

Expected and unexpected

Also shot inside the Mahamuni Temple, a young Burmese lady walking past where I stood (while waiting for the moment to happen) and I quickly snap the portrait of her.

Often one may find very similar situation that while waiting for one subject to appear, an unexpected encountered, and sometimes not less than what you planed for.

More on shades of color

Here is another shot in the similar location of my last picture post, but this time I chose a lady who walked away from the camera, in a turquoise dress.  To balance the color on the image I use a very large portion on the left-hand-side of picture in bold gold and red so the turquoise dress – small but very powerful, will not confuse the final image.  It was a little lucky the lady has a red basket on top of head.

Shades of color

Although Buddhist temple can be very colorful, they are mostly in similar shades, rich shades. Shooting in temple, particular in Myanmar, often similar to shoot monochrome. 

For example this image, taken also inside the Mahamuni Temple, the monk, the hallway, the architecture of the temple are all in very similar color tone which makes this image work.  Certainly monk is not the only person inside the temple, often there are many people walking across, passing by.  I waited for almost 20 minutes to get a clear shot of the right movement, color and composition, and of course some luck.