Shaoxiang, a photo from Hong Kong, South

Photographer's Note

Shaoxiang means burning incense and is a way of worshiping in chinese culture. I always wondered about the origin of burning incense, did a small research and here is what i found:

"Burning incense is a custom passed down from ancient worshiping rituals. When the ancient Chinese rendered cults to God and ancestors, they usually burned their sacrifices or simply certain plants to make heavy smoke, thinking that they could communicate with spirits through the smoke. Having evolved gradually and been popularized later, such a practice has become a way of showing respect for spirits by burning incense. But the incense of later ages was improved, and some fine incense produced specially for venerating spirits appeared, including some types of incense spread in from India and Iran, etc." (from www.eng.taoism.org.hk)

Tec: no major post processing is done; only resized.

paguru, Kenny10pin, femkevdh, Bojan has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

spence (65) 2004-04-01 6:39

Very effective Kourosh - nicely balanced composition and interesting colours. A good original idea.

gringofil (0) 2004-04-01 8:54

I have tried some shots of incesne myself and I gotta tell you: it does not seem so, but it's a damn tricky subject. I guess with incense the most important thing is to find a good combo and somehow make the smoke work FOR you and not AGAINST you. I like the swirls of smoke here, they work well to establish the general mood for the shot. My only concern is that there is only a part of the shot that is nice and in focus...wish there was just a touch more. Apart from this, well done with a tricky subject.

BTW: what happened to your Nikon D1x combo you were shooting with before? Don't tell me you traded it in for a 300D... :-)

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-04-01 13:12

good note and also the smoke too is very relaxing. Maybe you need a little more for this shot, something near it, a buddha ets.

mtolloczko (201) 2004-04-02 20:58

A well balanced image with a good balance in dof. The whisps of smoke are not too overpowering and coluor is sufficiently subtle for the image to speak in a similar way to your note. Good image.

femkevdh (2633) 2004-04-08 14:32

very nice amcro photo. I especially like the curly smoke on the right. I can almost smell it!

Bojan (1630) 2005-05-04 18:15

Hi kourosh :)
So poetic composition, beautiful detail.