19-JAN-2005
Walk of Joy, near Pak Beng, Laos, 2005
I saw the flowering bushes first, then the trees arching over the road, creating a gate of lush greenery framing the forest beyond. Next came the people, a steady flow of villagers passing below the flowers and into the forest glade beyond. And then this: two young children and a chicken walked past me. The joyful girl had both hands pressed to her shoulders as if she was miming a song. The smaller child held one hand on top of his head as well. At that very moment, a man suddenly appeared in the opening at the end of the road, holding an infant in a sling. I don’t know if these people were related or not – it would be nice if these children were walking towards their own father. It doesn’t really matter, however. In a village this small, everyone knows and cares about each other, related or not. I will always remember this moment in time and light and space before me, and the magical atmosphere of vitality it created. It was a moment filled with love, joy, and above all, life.
Buddhist Nuns at Study, Sagaing, Myanmar, 2005
One of the highlights of our weeklong adventure in Burma was a private visit to this nunnery. These women are cloistered – few ever leave the gates of their compound. They spend their days in learning, meditation, and prayer. I was allowed to photograph their activities at will. In this image, nine nuns gather round their teacher, sharing knowledge, intensely pouring their minds, hearts and souls into religious study. The atmosphere is indeed intense. This is not something done for pleasure. It is the purpose of their life. There can be more than one mood expressed in an image. Not only is the mood here intense, it is also communal. They may be individuals, but individuality is not at issue here. They are a committed community. Their robed bodies, huddled close to the ground and pressed together, form a bond that is anything but casual. They share everything they know and believe with each other.
23-JAN-2005
Colonial Memories, Vientiane, Laos, 2005
Vientiane, capital city of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, still preserves echoes of the French rule in Indochina. This old house was built during the colonial era. The formality and beauty of the gardens contrast to the peeling walls. The dark, saturated colors, and ghostly shadow cast on the wall by the open shutter door imply an atmosphere of decay and neglect. What once was elegant is now forlorn. The gaping black hole in the middle of the image suggests abandonment. Places that are decaying, neglected, forlorn and abandoned create atmospheres that affect both the emotions and the intellect. The French empire here is long gone, but it left a few ghosts in Vientiane.
Threesome, Phonsavan, Laos, 2005
Can a picture as simple as three geese walking through a forest convey a mood that triggers an emotional response? Absolutely. I shot this trio moving through a forest just outside our cabin in one of the most remote sections of Laos. An early morning sun filters through the trees as the geese move toward the light from the shadows. The mood is one of hope and optimism. Even geese enjoy a good day, and from this shot, one gets the feeling they may be headed for one. A glow of light in the distance is usually associated with hope, and when that light spreads its golden threads upon the earth, the mood swings towards optimism. The atmosphere here is idyllic, charming, and serene. All of which establish emotional tone and convey meaning.
Two years after I posted this image, pbase photographer Jeremy made an expressive image of a woman sweeping a road in Burma. (You can see it by clicking on the thumbnail at the bottom. ) He says that it was inspired by this image of three geese walking through a forest. While his image is based on entirely different subject matter, it uses the principles of atmosphere and mood in the same way that my image does. He says he based his caption on my caption as well. In doing so, he demonstrates the validity of mood and atmosphere as expressive principles, and also shows us how to effectively make use of this cyberbook. He does not copy what he sees in it. Rather, he absorbs and remembers the principles it teaches, and puts them to work on his own behalf.
Dawn on the Sexet River, Laos, 2005
Sometimes we can establish mood or create atmosphere in an expressive image by reducing detail and implying meaning. That’s what I’ve done with this image of a Laotian guesthouse on the banks of a very low river, shortly after dawn. A cloud hides the sun, and helps me abstract the scene. I expose for the color in the sky and in the reflection, and let everything else go dark. The shape of the guesthouse is there but very little detail is seen. Presumably the guests are still asleep (except for the lone fellow walking the grounds at the right), and the mood is very quiet and peaceful. There are no ripples on the water, either, only rocks and golden clouds. The atmosphere is calm and silent. The curtain has yet to rise on a glorious day.
Graves, Salavan Province, Laos, 2005
Early morning light. An ancient tree surrounded by old graves in a rural village. The stupas marking the graves are sharp in the foreground, soft in the background. The tree that stands between them is softly focused as well, but is so massive in scale, and complex in form and texture, that it dominates the image. In the ornamental designs of the Buddhist gravestones, the Lotus motif is repeated constantly, another nod to nature, and another link to the flourishing old tree that fills most of the frame. The mood is one of continuity. Generations come and generations go, but the tree seems to link all of them as children of nature. I used a telephoto lens from a distance to create the zones of selective focusing here. The golden light warms the scene, creates a positive atmosphere, establishing death as part of life.
28-JAN-2005
On the Mekong Ferry, Champasak Province, Laos, 2005
Evening light brings out the geometry of the traditional hats worn by Laotian field workers and farmers. These young women were aboard one of the ferry rafts that bridge the Mekong in this area -- known as the 4,000 Islands. I chose to shoot them from a position that abstracts detail and stresses shape and form, creating more of a symbolic image than a descriptive one. As such, this image expresses a mood that can only be described as timeless. These women are maintaining a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. They work the land and they sell its bounty. They stand as still as cultural icons in the warm evening light, wearing hats that not only shelter them from the merciless sun but also symbolize Southeast Asia’s agricultural tradition. They may not know it, but they honor time. For that is what tradition means.
04-FEB-2005
Detail, Temple Entrance, Bagan, Myanmar, 2005
This doorway adorns a thousand year old temple in Bagan, a Burmese city that once ruled a civilization and today is a place of memories and ghosts. The details of this ornate entry symbolized the entire structure to me, with its Indian motifs and patchwork repairs and even the encroaching foliage quite evident. I photographed it at sunset to create a mood of historical grandeur, stressing its color, form, texture, and the sharp relief carved out by the long, deep shadows. Somehow a ruin at sunset acquires an atmosphere of timelessness that it does not have at other times of the day. Yet all historical glories are fleeting. Even the most wealthy and powerful empires eventually crumble and vanish. Bagan is such a place, where mood and history combine to create an emotional experience.
Perseverance, Bagan, Myanmar, 2005
This was one of the last pictures I made in Bagan, and one of my favorites. The effect of sunset and dust makes these cattle almost seem to be walking home through a field of fire, passing a thousand year old temple ruin in the background. The mood and atmosphere created by this image is astonishing. Fiery dust evokes the ultimate in heat and effort, an ordeal that repeats itself every day for centuries. Archaeology and agriculture exist side by side in this ancient city of ruins. Its residents know what it means to go to extremes in their daily lives. Yet somehow, the rural Burmese of Old Bagan persevere. If ever I’ve expressed a mood of perseverance in an image, this is it!
21-JAN-2005
Peace, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2005
Some say that Luang Prabang is the most peaceful city in Asia. I found my own symbol for this peace in the upright hands of two Buddha images stored in a darkened corner of an ancient Luang Prabang temple. Three different factors work in tandem here to bring mood, atmosphere and meaning to this photograph. The contrast in color is astonishing – a blackened upright hand enters the frame from the left and stops just short of a brilliantly colored hand, its gold leaf and red paint eroded but still flamboyantly visible. The abstracting interplay of light and shadow is all embracive, creating a flow of black negative space between the hands that fairly crackles with energy. And finally, that energy is intensified because of a very slight blur due to camera shake. I had to make this image at one quarter of a second, hand held, in a very dark room. The very slight blur makes the hands seem to move almost imperceptibly, but they are moving. All of these factors give this image its sublime mood, which goes on to express a powerful emotional tone: peacefulness