Wat Phan Tao

Photographer's Note

There are over 120 wats or temples within the municipal limits of the city of Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai wats typically have three common structures, the viharn, or main meeting hall, the ubosot, a small, consecrated meeting hall for monks, and the chedi, a ceremonial stupa, in the shape of a rounded or faceted-sided pyramid. These structures may be gilded, adorned with glass mosaics and lacquer, and faced with teak, and beaten silver or aluminum.

Wat Phan Tao, also written Wat Pantao, is a Buddhist temple in the heart of the old city. The name Wat Phan Tao means "Monastery of a Thousand Kilns". The name is believed to refer to the casting of the numerous Buddha images for its even bigger neighbour, Wat Chedi Luang, located right next door.

Wat Phan Tao has a beautiful viharn (main prayer hall), a majestic structure that is today one of the few remaining all-wood buildings in Chiang Mai . The viharn was originally the ho kham which means the palace (or literally, the "gilded hall") of Chiang Mai's king, Chao Mahawong, who ruled from 1846 to 1854. This magnificent building was reassembled here and today functions as a monastery.

Note over the central pelmet, a magnificent gilded panel featuring a peacock straddling a curled-up dog. The dog is featured here because it happens to be the zodiacal animal representing the year that Chao Mahawong was born.

Exif data shows India time.
Time this picture was taken in Chiang Mai: 09:33

The sky we got in Chiang Mai & in entire North Thailand, even in the mornings, was in dull shades of grey or blue....not the most ideal for photography. This is due to the haze which envelops the entire region (North Thailand right upto Myanmar & Laos) due to slash burning done by farmers. The smoke emanating out of burning the residual crop stumps spreads out across kilometres creating a smoke & haze screen. This happens every year during March to mid May & I don't think any government will do anything or take any step to stop this practice.

Your honest criticisms solicited

serp2000, Kofman, papagolf21, ChrisJ, pierrefonds, danos, dip, Graal, Didi, prasun984, holmertz, jhm, josepmarin, bukitgolfb301 ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

Turkoglu (0) 2012-04-04 23:21

Merhaba Angshuman

iyi bir çalışma,detaylar gayet iyi özellikle netlik ve renkler.Iyi günler

ciakgiak (30) 2012-04-04 23:40

Ciao Angshuman,
Perfetto il POV dal basso per esaltare la struttura ed i particolari costruttivi di questo piccolo tempio. Grazie al perfetto sharp si possono ammirare i fregi e le decorazioni, e grazie anche ad una buona luce se ne possono ammirare i bei colori. È altresì bello leggere le note a corredo di questa pregevolissima fotografia. Grazie per la condivisione.
Un caro abbraccio.
Giorgio

serp2000 (47063) 2012-04-04 23:55

Sawadee krap, Angshuman,

I was here one week ago. Perfect quality, outstanding photo. The note is very useful.

Serghei

papagolf21 (152607) 2012-04-05 0:59

Bonjour, cher Angshu,
Votre album photographique est un véritable trésor patrimonial du Pays.
Ici, encore, merci de nous faire profiter de ces temples d'une beauté exubérante.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Nicou (193814) 2012-04-05 1:07

Hello

fantastique cpatage et iamge usperbe quel temple une merveille ce dorures ce rendu sur le bois avec les statues fantastique cadrage et compo.

bravo et amitié

Nicou

mohammad_H (10178) 2012-04-05 1:19

عاشق خانه های قدیمی با ساخت چوبی هستم.مخصوصا این صومعه.زیبا و فوق العاده جلوه می کنند.وضوح و رنگ بسیار مناسب.
موفق باشید
Hello
I love old houses with wooden construction. Especially the monastery. Beautiful and they look fantastic. Very good clarity and color.
Good Luck

everlasting (20074) 2012-04-05 2:17

I was looking forward to your recent thai trip series and here we go:)
As usual a well written note! Well chosen POV and actually the grey sky makes a good backdrop for the gold spires of this monastery. Was it busy with tourists here?

dale54 (17768) 2012-04-05 2:47

angshuman hello,wow what a beautifull building!wonderfull detail and art work,great POV too.super work and take! tfs! dr

ChrisJ (172442) 2012-04-05 3:20

Ciao Angshuman,

I have been to Chiang Mai a few times and quite a few Buddhist temples there but nit sure if I have ever been to this one. Good sharpness & lots of ornate details in the sculpted wood carvings & statues. I like the pastel colours & subtle warm cold color contrast between the blue & gold. Tfs!

Sergiom (117241) 2012-04-05 5:26

Bonjour Angshuman,

J'aime beaucoup les décorations de ce temple. Directement sur le bois on peut y voir le travail très précis des artistes. La contre plongée lui donne une belle ampleur.

Amicalement

Serge

pierrefonds (115677) 2012-04-05 10:56

Hi Angshuman,

The tight frame is putting the wat in evidence. The point of view is allowing me to distinguish the details and colors of the architecture of the Wat Phan Tao. The morning light is enhancing the beauty of the colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

prasun984 (5590) 2012-04-05 13:39

Hi Angshuda,
what an impressive and colorful Monastery!
excellent framed and composed,good sharpness and beautiful colors with nice details.
TFS,

Prasun

danos (110407) 2012-04-05 22:24

Hello Angshu,
nice the closer view of the Wat Phan Tao that reminds some of these that i saw in Laos.I like the excellent details we can see in the scene,the gold decorations on it as the ingormative note about its construction.The clarity of the image as the light and colour management are superb.
I believe that a whole image of the Wat in a WS would made our knowlwdge about it, more effective.

Regard,danos

dip (21408) 2012-04-05 22:43

Hi Angshu,
beautiful and interesting architectural details,
great clarity and sharpness!
greetings,
Dimirtris.

emka (158962) 2012-04-05 23:57

Hi Angshu,

haha, your photo fro the Chiang mai !. I am sure you and your wife admired all the beautiful temples there. The sky is as it was, not always it is blue. beautiful Thai architecture. Maybe I would prefer not to see here the TV antennas, but what can be done.

WArm regards

MAlgo

Graal (103040) 2012-04-06 0:23

Hi Angshuman,
beautiful details of architecture. Good shot and solid presentation. An interesting comment in note.
Have a nice day.
Aleksander

Didi (61591) 2012-04-06 5:48

Salam Angshu
Interesting view on this monastery
You did not show us the rest of the architecture perhaps there is some disturbing elements :)
Best regards

pajaran (117201) 2012-04-06 6:09

Pozdrav.
Vrlo interesantan i dobar tekst sa datim podacima o hramovima ...
Lep pogled na deo hrama sa ukrasima, dobra kompozicija.
Dobra ostrina snimka, kontrast i prikaz lepim bojama.
Imajte mirnu noc, sve najbolje za vikend.
Srecno.
Paja.

Google.

Greetings.
Very interesting and good text with the given data on the temples ...
Nice view of the temple with ornaments, good composition.
Good image sharpness, contrast and display of beautiful colors.
Have a peaceful night, all the best for the weekend.
Good luck.
Paja.

Fis2 (172083) 2012-04-06 9:43

Witaj Angshu!
Wonderful architecture.
Curious fragment.
I like frame and colors.
Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

holmertz (103732) 2012-04-07 10:12

Hello Angshuman,
Maybe the haze wasn't always good for photography (and the smoky air probably not good for the health), but I actually find the grey sky quite attractive. I think the colours of the wat have become milder with the lack of bright sun-light. The building is a remarkable gem of architecture. especially in comparison with the concrete box next to it, which you have included as discreetly as possible.
Kind regards,
Gert

jhm (211738) 2012-04-08 3:47

Hello Angshu,

This is the first time that I hear of this Monastery of a Thousand Kilns.
You shows a very nice part with the towers
Excellent architecture picture.
Sharpness and clarity are perfect.
Excellent composition, nice done, TFS.

Have a nice Easterday,
John.

josepmarin (59385) 2012-04-08 10:49

Namaste, my friend Angshuman,
a splendid composition here.
You offer us the beauty of the wooden architecture of this temple, in an image very sharp, caught by means of a very effective low-angle shot graphically, which emphasizes its shapes on an amazing sky.
The light is sublime, and the colors have a few saturated tones that work very well, and all this adds a high quality to your composition.
A superb work.
Best wishes,
Josep

bukitgolfb301 (54014) 2012-04-08 18:02

Hello my dear Angshuman

A great architecture shot via panfocus!
Alittle distortion makes a good sense.
Very well considered and perfect framework.
Clear and sharp presentation is as usual as you.
Thanks for your sharing with your good work and have a good new start of week,
best regards,

Takero in Tokyo

Waylim (25436) 2012-04-10 13:14

Hi again,

I like this temple, not liek the bigger and more toursity temples that is huge and golden. There is a sense of charming quality and more down to earth and welcoming.

Beautiful details with great wooden texture and rich brown tone.

Way

npecanhuk (79329) 2012-04-12 4:54

Hi Angshuman!
Wonderful temple with magnificent details!
Very beautiful picture with excellent sharpness, exposure, colors, chosen pov, horizontal format, black & white borders and composition!
TFS - congrats,
Cheers,
Neyvan

rabdelnoor (3423) 2012-04-25 20:30

Hi Angshu,
Chiang Mai looks to be a terrific place to visit. A great pic of this temple, with traditional architectonic details. Very nice use of the light and getting an excellent contrast and beautiful colours.
Regards
Ricardo

Photo Information

Copyright: Angshuman Chatterjee (Angshu) (56760)
Genre: Luoghi
Medium: Colore
Date Taken: 2012-03-18
Categories: Architettura
Camera: Canon 400D (Digital Rebel XTi), Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO, RAW, Marumi 72mm PL-CIR
Esposizione: f/6.3, 1/30 secondi
More Photo Info: view
Versione Foto: Versione Originale, Workshop
Diario di viaggio: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai & Bangkok
Date Submitted: 2012-04-04 22:50