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The Apostoles

closing part of a documentary series on a ceremony that takes place at Wat Bang Phra, a temple in Nakhon Chaisi, Thailand. After the main part of the ceremony we were invited inside the temple. We were brought to a big, dimly lit room, filled with people, either accompanying their friends, or waiting their turn to be tattood the traditional way by one of the temple's monks. Some of these monks had been busy for over 24 hours. In the room it was very quiet. The photos I took there in very difficult circumstances - little light, hardly place to stand - reminded me of tableaus I had seen of Jesus and his apostoles.

For those interested, more information can be found at www.bangkok-daytrips.com/tattoo-temple.html

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Fabio Cappai 2 years ago

wowwwwwwwwww !

Hubert Kosmowski 2 years ago

I anna get one for me but i think it's not for everyone ?

KoPi Gosh, I really wouldn't know Hubert. To be honest I think not just everyone can just walk in and get one, but then again I could be wrong. These are tattoos of a religious nature (see the other photos about the trance). I do know that the monks who do the tattoos in the temple around this time work days in a row with hardly any sleep. And hygiene didn't really seem up to Western standards, something you may want to keep in mind. I suggest you take your time; It's perhaps best to go have a look first (it's quite a special day out, believe me), try to inform yourself on the site, and only after this decide if you want to go ahead with it.

Patricia Sweeney 2 years ago

This is really a fantastic shot! I love looking at the faces, what the monk is doing and the detail. I especially love the color.

KoPi Thank you Patricia :-)

KoPi 2 years ago

Thank you for the additional comments and visits. And thanks also to the site for giving this a week (?) on the front page.

Jennifer S. 2 years ago

So interesting...great documentary image.

Ali Shokri 2 years ago

Great works, thanks

sasson haviv 2 years ago

very good image .... wish i was there to see as welll

Papafrezzo 2 years ago

een hele mooie foto, Koen! Inderdaad, een compositie die doet denken aan religieuze taferelen. Groetjes uit Noorwegen.

Mina 2 years ago

useful information and nice photo. thanks.

Patrizia Burra 2 years ago

cool image...congrats!

tailerransom 2 years ago

incredible shot, my friend!

MarduKKK 2 years ago

Great pic

Sameet A. Ahmed 2 years ago

Congrats on the front page KoPi! The photo is well captured.

antekm 3 years ago

cool, I like especially the light

Daniel Griffin 4 years ago

fantastic series, I love this. outstanding.

gerard sexton 4 years ago

in my opinion one of your all time greats a stunning visual feast of yes painterly proportions. great use of light koen a wonderful image.

Koen Pieters yeah, it's okay I guess
;-)

David Rocaberti 4 years ago

I can see some noise on some areas of the image, but technically it's brilliant in some other matters. I love that 'rinascimento painting' powerful light. Leuk foto, Koen

Koen Pieters dank je David. Thanks

Jef Van den Houte 4 years ago

Great street capture

Koen Pieters Dank je Jef

Steve Charles 4 years ago

This is impressive stuff Koen, good to see on here. The light and colours are beautiful. In an ideal world, I guess it would be good if the monk was more central and we could see more of the person at the extreme left, but you've pulled off a fantastic shot in obviously challenging conditions. It's almost like a Caravaggio painting.

Koen Pieters thanks Steve. this is nearly full frame. had a full frame version at 1000 pixes, but as OE requires 950 pixels, I prefered cropping a bit off the rhs rather than resizing it. As it is a total scene with many details, I figured it was better to crop, in order to keep the details as big as possible. So, (yup, there's a point to all of this babbling) can't really recompose it. I checked other shots I have. They're all from the same place. So not really in the middle. I guess because I simply couldn't take that extra step. Probably some people were sitting there and Thai people are very conscious about feet. They are considered the lowest (as in most basic) part of the body, so stepping on someone with your feet could be taken as an insult.

Ursula I Abresch I read somewhere that in some cultures in Asia (can't remember if it was Thai) it is considered very rude to talk to someone while standing with your feet pointed forward, as in pointing them at the person. Do you know if that's true, and is it Thai?

Koen Pieters Not sure what you mean Ursula. Last time I pointed my feet forward while I stood, I fell :-)

Ursula I Abresch Now you're being funny. :) Forget it, it was probably some tall tale again, I'm always falling for stuff like that.

Koen Pieters don't know the exact technicalities Ursula. but here in thailand (I supposed in other buddhist countries as well) it is perceived as very inpolite to point your feet towards others. So when they sit down, they'll not likely sit with their feet before them towards another person (and certainly not towards monks). They'll always sit like in the photo or with their feet behind them. I remember an american director made a film about 2 years ago. The poster featured the main character sitting barefoot on the head of a large buddha statue. eye-catching image, but he had to take it down after people here protested about it. The feet... lowest part... on the head... highest part... big insult.

Ursula I Abresch Thank you, Koen. That's probably what it was. Appreciate the time you took to write all of this :)

Lars Grepstad 4 years ago

Excellent documentary shot! Good colours. The noise you mentioned somewhere under doesn't disturb the total impression.

Koen Pieters Thanks Lars for the feedback

Mal Smart 4 years ago

great image Koen, this has a perfect fly on the wall documentary style. mal

Koen Pieters Thanks Mal. It was so crowded in the room that you can take that fly on the wall thing literally lol

Mal Smart Buzz off then!.....;))))

Codrin Lupei 4 years ago

Brilliant work, Koen! Perfectly captured, like it a lot!
all the best
Codrin

Koen Pieters cheers Codrin :-)

Codrin Lupei A pleasure to see it again, Koen...and it looks perfectly on the cover! Congrats!

flo 4 years ago

a beautiful documentary photograph, every things are in place.. colors are perfects, and we are hanging upon his gesture.. like in your picture.. clever focus too.. superb

Koen Pieters thank you Flo. Think I got a bit lucky with the focus. basically had to use 2.8, which is pretty narrow, because of the dim light. Not sure anymore on who I focused... on the monk's face, or on one of the two guys sitting immediately next to him, or on the back of the man lying down. Might have been the latter. Luckily the monks face just comes into the focus area.

andrea lorenzetti 4 years ago

wonderful!!!

Koen Pieters grazie ! :-)

Edmund Fitzpatrick 4 years ago

Congratulations. A wonderful photograph.

Koen Pieters Thank you Edmund

lucian olteanu 4 years ago

good one!!

Koen Pieters Thanks Lucian

Laurence Garçon 4 years ago

Very good documentary shot...

Koen Pieters Merci Laurence :-)

Carola Lundmark 4 years ago

Great light and the story you tell gives power to the shot. Good captured
Best regards Carola

Koen Pieters Thanks Carola

Tom Hoops 4 years ago

Like the way you have treated the colours and the PP. Looks a bit like a Dave Hill photos.

Tommy Strommen Funny, I said the same thing on another photo in this series

Love this one Koen, everything is just right - the serious mood is very well captured

Koen Pieters yes, the ones Tommy is referring to are probably 'better' examples (allthough one shouldn't really try to compare them to mr. Hill's photos, wasn't trying to copy that style, and frankly, if I was, I did a terrible job lol), but I did do some of the things in PS I did on those photos, be it in a much lesser degree, as I wanted to keep it looking natural above all. Thanks guys :-)

Ursula I Abresch 4 years ago

Wow! Very good to look at.

Koen Pieters thanks Ursula. Very pleased with this one. Had it lingering around a long time on my PC before I started working on it. Glad I finally did :-)

Ursula I Abresch, Codrin Lupei, Robert and 30 more people added this to favorites

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