Photographing Buddha 1

Buddha Face 1
Originally uploaded by Bill Bevan

The face of Buddha appears at almost every turn in Thailand. Big golden temple Buddhas, giant white-painted reclining and small statue offerings in temples. This bronze-cast Buddha was in the large hill-top pagoda of Wat Tham Khao Noi, near the banks of the Mae Klong near Karanchburi. The number of Buddha faces means that there are lots of opportunities to treat the Buddha as a subject for portraiture, should you be interested.

I like this Buddha portrait because the statue was placed in and to the left of a window which at the time had sunlight coming in from the top right. This means that most of his face is bathed in reflected light while highlighted on his left.

I shot the picture from slightly above his eye line to emphasise his eyes over his chin. By emphasising the epxression of the Buddha looking downwards It also helps to give Buddha a humble, contemplative look befitting to him. I've also taken it slightly off level to give a bit of movement to the portrait.

Next Buddha photo i'll post will be taken from slightly below and I'll show why this can be a Mussolini of a bad decision!