Temple attendant, a photo from Pulau Pinang, West

Photographer's Note

Virtually all Asian temples have these large brass, or bronze, incense burners. Devotees buy and light incense as part of their rituals, and place them into the burner while saying prayers. When the burners start to get so full that there is little room to reach in and place new sticks this guy comes around and pulls out huge handfulls of the still burning sticks. He throws into another long burner, shaped more like a watering trough, where they continue to burn.

The burners are often partially filled with sand, to place the incense in, then they fill up with the ash of thousands of burned sticks. I noticed that, when this man pulled up on a handfull of incense, he closed his eyes. Not due to the smoke but because of the ash that is disturbed. You can see a puff of this ash just under his hands, it isn't the same colour or density as the smoke.

pgilberto, bgladman, Rinie_Hoff, Steely, rabani, bfly, ChrisJ, whereami, Kenny10pin, omritoppol, relaxjack, eleparc, Didi, veimann, pascalbene, Eagle, touristdidi, naxius, migtey, Albrecht ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

pgilberto (1136) 2004-04-07 5:21

Excellent, I love the reflections and the light

bgladman (1153) 2004-04-07 5:21

What a fantastic capture Ian! Tighly framed, great colour and detail. The smoke in the background creates a great visual effect. One of my favourites.

[2]

jhonny_blue (4956) 2004-04-07 5:23

Wonderful picture and composition !
The woman expression is great !
Congratulations !

albiback (8751) 2004-04-07 5:24

Superbe lumière qui ordonne la composition autour d'un magnifique contraste bleu /orange avec pour point de force cette offrande. Bravo!

Rinie_Hoff (9340) 2004-04-07 5:26

Hi Ian, very detailed pic, and so are your notes!, I wouldn't have seen the puff if you wouldn't have told.
i like the atmosphere that you captured, the attendant and all the smoke in the light. Very well seen. Thansk for sharing.

clodreno (0) 2004-04-07 5:27

This is a superb image Ian..
The light is incredibly beautiful in this shot.
Well done.

Steely (895) 2004-04-07 5:40

This is where relative darkness works to your advantage. The hilites on the face and arms shows the person , but not enough to overwhelm the smoke.
Low ambient light reflections on the burner gives a very 3-D feel( whats a better word? ). All works well becos you have great clarity and a dark background to showcase everything.

Good Shot!

[2]

rabani (9645) 2004-04-07 5:43

You could actually see him squinting and holding his breathe, in this smoky area.With the smoke playing against the light, it exudes this "ceremonial" effect. Very environmental photo Ian.

bfly (5775) 2004-04-07 6:01

very beautiful light..very interesting composition with his face, expression, his belly touching the belly of the pot, dust and smoke..all..thanks :)

cool_s15 (4050) 2004-04-07 6:03

Very beautiful atmosphere, espacially the soft lighting... The framing is also great here, very well captured.

kourosh (2346) 2004-04-07 6:26

great shot Ian, loved the smoke and the light. great expression on her face. well done.

ChrisJ (171818) 2004-04-07 6:38

Great backlighting, & I can almost feel the smoke in my eyes, thanks to the man's grimace.

gringofil (0) 2004-04-07 7:02

This is just an amazing shot. The light falls on the most important parts of the woman's face and the parts that are in shadow give depth to the image. There is also nice balance between the woman herself and the pot at her side. The background is filled nicely with incense smoke. Nothing to nit pick here. Wonderful shot! Well done!

khawaaja (1039) 2004-04-07 7:53

A lovely photo where light and subject are in perfect combination. I think the reason this image works for me is the fact that the light comes from the same direction as the incense - increasing the 'mystical' element. Deatil is wonderfully caught and the framing, tight and full, leaves no empty space in the frame whilst never being too busy. Nice work!

Danzi (2461) 2004-04-07 9:28

Wonderful picture and composition !

The light is incredibly beautiful I love the reflections and the light. Well done.

whereami (1477) 2004-04-07 9:32

Wonderful clarity and light in this photo. It's so eye-catching. I love the shape of the incense burner and the man's expression is meaningful too.
A very atmospheric shot beautifully taken.

Darren (6823) 2004-04-07 9:34

Good shot Ian. You are right about the burners for certain, and your shot has really given us a good look at a really big one. The lighting looks great through the smoke and your exposure is very good in showing details while not blowing anything out (camera gets some credit too;) ). I really love shooting the attendants at the temples too. I think you have caught a particularly good expression from this guy.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-04-07 9:53

very nice work here, it looks like she is in agony, arghhhhh, but great shot here, I like it alot and well done

PechePassion (483) 2004-04-08 0:21

La lumière qui se dégage de cette photo est magnifique et c'est ce qui fait le charme de cette photo.
Très beau résultat en tout cas !

omritoppol (826) 2004-04-08 4:15

What a great opportunity to see other's people life's. Great compo, I wish she had more light on her to see more details (did you crop the right side?). Good one!

eleparc (24063) 2004-04-10 13:10

Ian it is a very nice photo; the light , the compo and the subject are optimal here for our sheer pleasure! nice shot!

RGatward (20108) 2004-04-10 14:22

Just got back to looking again. after a break, and this one is really eye catching, great coposition, and again demonstrating te quality of that zoom of yours.

manny (22032) 2004-04-11 10:51

SUPERB..this is very very good. I like the lighting and the smoke. I also like the composition. A very beautiful shot indeed.

Gatis (925) 2004-04-12 4:25

I hate incense, and here we see a lot of it :) But picture is very interesting and dynamic.

Didi (61589) 2004-04-12 6:29

L'éclairage latéral donne un merveilleux effet 3D à cette scène.
Le cadrage est excellent et le commentaire très intéressant.

Side L'éclairage gives a marvellous effect 3D to this scene. Framing is excellent and a very interesting comment.

strangiato (10) 2004-04-14 11:35

This is a very nice shot. Especially the light is stunning.

taivo (1843) 2004-04-15 0:24

This is a great shot as the smoke is well captured. The timing is great too as you can see how she struggles to put the incense into the burner. The expression on her face says it all....

femkevdh (2633) 2004-04-15 18:05

Beautiful light conditions!!! Great scene too. I love the expression on her face and that great pile of incense. I can almost smell it. Good capture of the smoke too!

veimann (1269) 2004-04-21 16:15

For a long time did not come to you, has received the sea of pleasure) This photo looks grandiosely. Light and shadows, colors, an acuteness of details... I am relly in delight. You well done

maciekda (19895) 2004-04-22 0:42

good shot, good moment, her expression says - too much smoke. and there is a lot of smoke, nice vertical compo too with the woman on the side, well captured

pascalbene (1717) 2004-05-05 13:38

I just discover this expressive pic. Not usual and very well seen Ian !

Eagle (522) 2004-05-07 3:50

Beautiful shot with the lighted smoke and the expression in the mans face! The pot with incense looks really big (high), there must be short people not reaching it?

touristdidi (8583) 2004-05-10 5:48 [Comment]