Photographing the Dalai Lama

[Zoeica]

Had the privilege to photograph His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama earlier this month in NYC. Felt very much like photographing a wedding, there's waiting around, then shoot shoot shoot, then run run run, wait around, shoot shoot shoot.

http://www.zoeicaimages.com/DalaiLama2009/

 

[Jarle Aasland]

Couldn't make the link work.

Jarle

 

[lemalk]

Can't get it to work either. But your wedding portraits are inspirationally great.

 

[Zoeica]

Can't get it to work either. But your wedding portraits are inspirationally great.

Link back up - http://www.zoeicaimages.com/DalaiLama2009/ Tweeked it a bit.

Secret Service did say he knows how to fist bump.

 

[wblanchard]

wow..great images! what did you shoot with? and you didnt tell the secret service you were there to shoot him, did you? lol.

I remember back a few years, he had that american grandmaster ninja from ohio, stephen k hayes, as his private bodyguard. he dont mess around with security. 🙂

 

[Zoeica]

Thanks!

Gear used was:

Nikon D3 with 10.5/2.8, 28-70/2.8,80-200/2.8 and 85/1.4

Leica M8 with 28/2.8, 35/f2,50/f2

 

[Trius]

Wonderful ... thank you very much for posting this.

Peace to all.

 

[jslash6]

cute visor! great shots, I especially liked the shaking hands will smiling at the camera and the close up of the event program. thanks for sharing

 

[maddoc]

Very good shots and interesting series ! Thanks for sharing !!

Cheers,

Gabor

 

[visiondr]

A lovely series with a fine narrative flow and many interesting subjects.
Though, I wonder why you kept so many redundant photos of people standing in line waiting and smiling (some mugging for the camera)? Choose a select few, and move on. I nearly gave up. It was a bit like queuing and waiting in itself.

 

[crumpledhero]

Your Gear.

Your Gear.

Thanks!

Gear used was:

Nikon D3 with 10.5/2.8, 28-70/2.8,80-200/2.8 and 85/1.4

Leica M8 with 28/2.8, 35/f2,50/f2

Do you carry all these when you're shooting and which camera did you use the most when shooting the Dalai Lama?
I love your wedding shots. The color rendition on some of them has a hint of nostalia to it. Which software do you use?

 

[Zoeica]

A lovely series with a fine narrative flow and many interesting subjects.
Though, I wonder why you kept so many redundant photos of people standing in line waiting and smiling (some mugging for the camera)? Choose a select few, and move on. I nearly gave up. It was a bit like queuing and waiting in itself.

Well some were at the event in front, event out back and front of hotel. There was allot of running back and forth.

 

[Zoeica]

Do you carry all these when you're shooting and which camera did you use the most when shooting the Dalai Lama?
I love your wedding shots. The color rendition on some of them has a hint of nostalia to it. Which software do you use?

Most were with the M8 and 35/f2, Nikon D3 and 28-70/2.8

Yes, all that fits in a Crumpler bag.

I use Lightroom with my own presets, non of the DL images were imported into CS, all LR.

 

[Mephiloco]

Did you ask him what doing a commercial with apple has to do with 'freedom' for Tibet ie restoring Tibet to the theocracy of old and torturing those whose don't subscribe to their exact ideals. Not all Tibetans accept the Dalai Llama as both their spiritual and secular leader, those who don't are persecuted by his 'holiness', dispute court orders against the Llama to stop religious persecution.

I think Stalin was a better dictator; at least he established an economy when he reigned.


Edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up politics, but I really dislike the Dalai Llama. The pictures are better than I could have ever taken of him, and not just considering my disdain for him.

Edit #2: 504 What's up.

 

[Zoeica]

Did you ask him what doing a commercial with apple has to do with 'freedom' for Tibet ie restoring Tibet to the theocracy of old and torturing those whose don't subscribe to their exact ideals. Not all Tibetans accept the Dalai Llama as both their spiritual and secular leader, those who don't are persecuted by his 'holiness', dispute court orders against the Llama to stop religious persecution.

I think Stalin was a better dictator; at least he established an economy when he reigned.


Edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up politics, but I really dislike the Dalai Llama. The pictures are better than I could have ever taken of him, and not just considering my disdain for him.

Edit #2: 504 What's up.

Well I don't always like to shoot weddings but as a photographer it's my job. Great, you don't like him, who cares? Why bother bringing that up? I don't like the Saints but I'm not about to blab all over 504 about it 🙂


Only posted the images because this is a RF forum and not CNN or FOX.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up politics, but I really dislike the Dalai Llama. The pictures are better than I could have ever taken of him, and not just considering my disdain for him.

Possibly because you know very little about the subject, and have swallowed Chinese propaganda hook, line and sinker.

Then again, I'm biased in the opposite direction because I've studied the subject for decades, and because I wrote (with Ngakpa Choegyam) an authorized biography, Great Ocean. I have met His Holiness many times. I've also met countless Tibetan refugees. Have you ever met a nun who has been raped with an electric cattle prod? Or a man who bears the scars from when his school playground was machine-gunned from the air by a Chinese fighter plane?

As His Holiness once said, "Our country needed purifying. The Chinese have not been only a bad influence. But no country deserves the suffering Tibet has endured under the Chinese."

Incidentally: Lama, not Llama.

Link to some of my Tibetan shots (badly scanned, from the early days of the site): http://www.rogerandfrances.com/gallery/g tibet 0.html

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[Trius]

Mephlco: There is nothing quite as blinding as anger in the heart.

 

[eliemarga]

Zoeica: I really2 envy you for such opportunity 🙂 I watch you pic as slide show and I kind of tells me a story what's going on

I guess we can cut out all the politics 🙂

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

persevere with the medication!🙂

 

[AgentX]

Link back up - http://www.zoeicaimages.com/DalaiLama2009/ Tweeked it a bit.

Secret Service did say he knows how to fist bump.

That's funny, because the Secret Service doesn't provide his security...

The Department of State does. 😎 (When he's in the States, that is.)

And nice photo-series; just can't see them all due to my infinitely small slice of bandwidth. Waiting patiently.