The Novices of Luang Prebang

[Nick De Marco]

Just finally finished a new gallery, one of my favourites so far, featuring the work, duties and play of the remarkable young monks of Luang Prebang.

http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/novices_of_luang_prebang

It's my Pre-M8 days I am afraid, so many photos are taken with the Canon 5D, but some of my favourites (like the one below) are taken with my M6





Thanks

Nick

 

[shimo-kitasnap]

I was a monk in bangkok for 2 weeks last year. Nice shot! The Wat in Luang Prabang is very beautiful.

I should post some pics.....

 

[Pablito]

Of interest, related story in NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/world/asia/15laos.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

[shimo-kitasnap]

here are a few pics that I took while I was at the monastery in Bangkok.

The first on was taken during early morning meditation 4:30am. The second was right before evening chanting of some of the younger novices who were with us.

 

[shimo-kitasnap]

Both photos were badly exposed, guestimated exposures with an M3 and nokton using fuji superia 100, the first photo i fixed up in ps elements the second I did not fix.

 

[sockeyed]

Thank you for sharing! You have some very nice images in your collection, particularly the more candid ones, like "Legs Crossed".

I was lucky to spend a week in Luang Prabang in November, photographing at the Luang Prabang Children's Cultural Centre. Those images are here on flickr. Like you, I also shot with a Canon 5D.

I agree with you that the morning alms giving, while beautiful, lost some of its elegance through the presence of many in-your-face photographers. We were lucky to be there for the That Louang festival where tourists were much less visible.

Luang Prabang is a gorgeous town. I look forward to returning.

 

[shimo-kitasnap]

I'm trying to post more but for some reason my uploads fail. Interesting article though. It's not like that in Bangkok. I was at Wat Bovornivet in the middle of Khao San road which is a tourist hot spot. I didn't encounter any tourists while on morning alms runs, probably because they were either too stoned or too wasted to notice........Hopefully Luang Prabang won't turn into another Khao San.

 

[Pablito]

Overheard on the streets of Luang Prabang:
"Hey man, I really like it here because, like, the toursits here are WHITE!"
Presumably the fellow had just come from Cambodia, where many of the toursits are Asian....

 

[nixarma]

Too many lovely photographs to mention individually, Nick. Very, very well done. The whole collection is put together nicely and tells a greatly nuanced story. It was a pleasure viewing these.

 

[shimo-kitasnap]

that's funny but sad at the same time.......When I was in Vietnam for 3 months last year as an exchange student and working part time at a telecom company, I ran into mostly Caucasian kids mostly from europe or australia. All they ever did was get drunk and stoned without a care for any of the exotic and interesting things around them. One australian kid I met in a bar who was only 18 and traveling by himself on I guess what they call a "gap year" before entering university said all he wanted to do was teach english and smoke cheap ganja.

Sadly I hate to say this but the young tourists in south east asia these days just want to party and party cheaply.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Of interest, related story in NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/world/asia/15laos.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I spent a week in Luang Prabang in December 2007/January 2008, and was amazed at the number of tourists. More tourists no doubt means more tourist dollars, but the price is too high if the town's wonderful ambiance is lost because of this.

While I was there, I witnessed the early morning alms several times, and I was appalled at the behaviour of most tourists taking photos. I took a some photos the first time, but was embarrassed to be holding a camera. The second time I just put the camera away.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Just finally finished a new gallery, one of my favourites so far, featuring the work, duties and play of the remarkable young monks of Luang Prebang.

http://www.pbase.com/nickdemarco/novices_of_luang_prebang

It's my Pre-M8 days I am afraid, so many photos are taken with the Canon 5D, but some of my favourites (like the one below) are taken with my M6





Thanks

Nick

Wonderful photos! They brought back lots of good memories. Thanks for posting.

 

[Pablito]

that's funny but sad at the same time.......When I was in Vietnam for 3 months last year as an exchange student and working part time at a telecom company, I ran into mostly Caucasian kids mostly from europe or australia. All they ever did was get drunk and stoned without a care for any of the exotic and interesting things around them. One australian kid I met in a bar who was only 18 and traveling by himself on I guess what they call a "gap year" before entering university said all he wanted to do was teach english and smoke cheap ganja.

Sadly I hate to say this but the young tourists in south east asia these days just want to party and party cheaply.

I totally agree, but it's also dangerous to make broad assumptions. There are many young Western kids, in university or just out of university, who volunteer for NGO's and do valuable service or academic work. I have supervised some of these kids; one is going to Cambodia this summer to make a film for an NGO. However, they are in the minority and they are not strictly speaking toursits. They are there to contribute, THEY TOO are upset and appalled by the behaviour of some of their their contemporaries.

 

[Austerby]

Brilliant shots Nick - now I need to go back!

I was in LP a couple of months ago. I did see the hoards at the alms giving but did notice that a) virtually all the alms-givers were Asian tourists for whom the act was of meaning, rather than seeing non-Buddhist westerners role-playing for a touristic tick-mark; and b) the novices and monks I spoke to about it were pleased to receive the gifts.

However, I did find the whole carnival atmosphere appalling, though it is so photogenic...😱
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vidwatts/2418511306/

 

[Nick De Marco]

Thank you for the comments

And some good debate too, and nice photos above.

I agree with many of the comments about tourists there acting like gaupers at a zoo with their cameras. In fact I found it even worse when I went on to visit the hill-tribes in Northern Thailand, where they really were in a kind of tourist zoo - and one as refugees from Myanmar they had little choice but to join.

It is always a dilemma in these situations. You want to photograph the people, but you want to do so in a human, friendly way - not as someone just consuming as they would a postcard. I think the only way around it is to stop, take your time and talk to your subjects if you can. Get to know them. That way the photos can be better, you can feel better about taking them, and hopefully your subjects will feel better, and more respected too. AS I spent hours with the novices, every few minutes another tourist couple would come and snap 1 or 3 photos, say about as many words and move on to the next temple. I didn't feel I had much in common with them at all - although I had enough gear around my neck.

Its another reason why a rangefinder is good too. To take proper photos with a rangefinder (especially if like me you don't usually have more than a 50mm lens and often use a 35) you have to get close and intimate. Long lenses on DSLRs (which I also used on this trip) allow the tourist to have distance and not to interract with the subject.

 

[craygc]

Great shots Nick... my modest contribution