Waiting for dinner in my shrine, a photo from Bagmati, Central

Photographer's Note

Maybe it would be more appropriate to post something evocative of Spring or Easter, but I have nothing of such in this computer where I am now and as the will to work is nil, I feel like posting something. If you are in a 'Spring mood', I invite you to take a look at this theme.

I guess that saddhus are a magnet to anyone who visits any major Hindu site. It's not unusual they ask for money for posing or even offer themselves to pose in return for a coin or two. Some of them have a quickly changing humour, I guess that their use of the ganja, an habit that is related to the cult of Shiva in a way that I can't remember now, has something to do with it. I was surprised to find that some of them have servants taking care of them, apparently it's a kind of tribute to the gods serving a saddhu. Here you see a live representation of Shiva in "his" shrine enjoying the sun while he waits for his dinner that is being prepared by his personal servant.

WS's: another portrait of the same saddhu with a funeral on the background (#1) and a view of that funeral (#2). The scene depicted on this other WS that I posted some weeks ago happened a few minutes before this shot.

The following lines are copied from my previous post of the place:

Pashupatinath or simply Pashupati is one of the names (avatar?) of the Hindu god Shiva, the Lord and Caretaker of All Living Beings, and another name for the place is 'Temple of the Living Beings'.

Pashupatinath is the holiest Hindu place of Nepal and as such it attracts thousands of pilgrims from all the country and all the Indian subcontinent. It is located in the outskirts of Kathmandu, close to the airport and also of the city centre. It is often referred as a kind of miniature Varanasi / Benares (the holiest Hindu city located in India) and it is one of the preferred places for Hindu cremations in Nepal. The river that flows through it, the Bagmati is also a sacred and being a tributary of the Ganges, the ashes of the deaths thrown into it end up in the holiest of the rivers for the Hindus.

It's believed that the presence of temples in the area is quite old, maybe older than 600 or even 400 AC, although the first written references date from the 13th century. It was subject to various reconstructions and most of what is seen now dates from the 16th century. The existence of various imitations in places in Nepal and India, some dating from the 15th century, shows the popularity of it (even in Varanasi there is one).

Location (latitude, longitude): 27.7101,85.34881

I wish you have a merry Easter.

saylan-cb, trekks, dareco, feather, Floydian, cfreire, COSTANTINO, lucasgalodoido, shevchenko, Didi, paura, Docarmo, danos, ElAprendiz, xuaxo, jmdias, sarahnatalie, AiresSantos, Bruno40, riclopes has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

saylan-cb (12738) 2008-03-20 5:36

Hi Jose
Very nice image!I like this photo...
Excellent work.

trekks (14348) 2008-03-20 5:41

hi Jose

Nicely captured scene in bright light and showing a religious belief in this part of world. Good shot.

TFS, bill

gracious (20025) 2008-03-20 5:49

Hello Jose,
Very impressive image of the Sadu!
good pov with perfect exposure and focus in the shot
many thanks for the informative notes that comes with the image!
TFS
Tony

aadilj (18102) 2008-03-20 5:58

Superb composition and lovely play of colours and textures. I like the way you have captured this scene. Intense and wonderful. Wonder why I havent seen your work before

dareco (17136) 2008-03-20 6:18

And a happy easter to you as well. A very interesting note and picture. Nice colors and I like the lighting very much. TFS

feather (51130) 2008-03-20 6:51

You must have paid him well as he is happy for now to pose and smile for your camera. It's a very interesting scene; new to me while he sits on his "throne" being waited on. There is a very strong diagonal from the sadhu down to his servant which makes for easy viewing. Your trawl through your archives unearthed a gem. Well done
Kath

Floydian (30970) 2008-03-20 8:27

Jose,
Light is very good, just as the warm colour balance, nothing to pick on that. And beacause it's film i don't want to speak to much about the sharpening, it could however a bit better. The thing i like most is the smile he is presenting towards you, essentiel for interaction with the subject. The stone in front worries me more, the man on the floor is been cut-off by it which i find not exceptable, moving just a bit to the right would lead to a much better result.
Considering it's a 1994 image i don't want to be to harsh on you, i know how difficult these images are to make in just a split second...
Regards, Henk

UnTrained (0) 2008-03-20 8:54

Ol� Jos�,
oh you lazy Easter posting avoider�
Forgiven with that good scan and astonishing scene. Good light and textures and the holy man sitting in his shrine, I avoid to say it is funny, that won't be fair, but it is completely strange for me. But this could be in a lot of other things from him to me the same.
And this colourful spot in the wall has somehow something very attracting.
Merry Easter to you and yours too. Lieben Gruss, Ulf

[2] +

vincz (19113) 2008-03-20 9:09

Ah ces fameux saddhus j'aimea chaquefois les retrouver a travers les photos de tous ceux qui passent par la bas. Ta compsotion vertical est tres bien reussie avec celui la qui a l'air si heureux,

cfreire (11741) 2008-03-20 11:08

Oi, Jos�
Muito interessante esta tomada sobre estes diferentes aspectos culturais de outros povos. Realmente, uma situa玢o totalmente distinta e engra鏰da, tamb閙. Cores e contrastes muito bonitos, com 髏imo jogo de luz. Feliz P醩coa. Um abra鏾, Consuelo

[2]

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2008-03-20 12:16

Ol� Jos�,
hil醨ia a cara do sujeito sentado na janela, s鉶 cenas como essa que gosto de ver nesses pa韘es, uma cultura completamente diferente da nossa. Belo trabalho.
Parab閚s e Abra鏾!

[2]

shevchenko (20560) 2008-03-20 21:45

Hi Jose,
Interesting composition to show the cultural of the Indian ethnic, good shoot to a prayer face to the old wall, thanks for sharing WS photo too.
Ally

TopGeo (38220) 2008-03-21 1:09

Hi Jose! From the all you work I liked a lot of elements! I do not enter in details he is many! Wishes and merry Easter! From GR
Georgios

mikolaj_kawa (0) 2008-03-21 2:47

Ola Jose! Very interesting POV, interesting scene. Wonderful place, good information. Very good capture. Very nice ad funny effect. Well done!

COSTANTINO (117940) 2008-03-21 5:12

hI jose,
You did it again...Nice photo from you
best photographer with fantasy and dynamism,
excellent approach to this view..
Bravo
Costantino

Didi (61591) 2008-03-21 12:25

Bonsoir Jos�
Une sc鑞e de la vie quotidienne inexistante en Europe.
J'appr閏ie cette composition originale aux belles couleurs.
Ce pays me fascine.
Joyeuses P鈗ues.

jackart (6702) 2008-03-21 13:21

Hello Jose!

Great shot from a strange and fascinating country. I very like this excellent framing

PS
I wish You a merry Easter too!

Best Regards
Jacek

paura (25802) 2008-03-21 16:24

J.Pires,
Est� muito interessante, n鉶 apenas pelas formas e cores, mas tamb閙 pela cena urbana. Muito boa realmente. O cheirinho de comida deve ter te dado fome.

Abra鏾

Paulo

[2]

Docarmo (9767) 2008-03-21 18:42

Ol� Jos�,
Uma cena inusitada para mim, interessante conhecer costumes e cren鏰s de outros povos.
O trabalho de scanning � extraordin醨io, excelente qualidade!
O homem sorridente tem uns ares de humor vol醫il mesmo, principalmente ap髎 ler sua nota, esta impress鉶 aumenta.
Obrigada por partilhar e desejo tamb閙 uma Feliz P醩coa para voc� e sua fam韑ia.
MCV

danos (110407) 2008-03-22 6:15

Ola Jose,
nice the pose of your colourful 'model' that sitting on his seat.The perspective is good one as his servant preparing the dinner.I like the colours and the light if we consider the oldness of the shot.Informative your note too.

Have a nice Easter,Danos

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-03-22 7:17

Oi amigo ,
Esta tua foto est� c髆ica com o sujeito na janela de pedra a rir , a composi玢o ficou muito interessante devido 醩 cores da roupa dele sobressa韗em na foto,parab閚s!!!

Um abra鏾 Gon鏰lo

ElAprendiz (30) 2008-03-22 9:00

Hola Jose

Me he quedado observando esta foto con detenimiento y no deja de causarme gracia, por sobre todo en la actitud del protagonista ubicado en la parte superior, con una expresi髇 de amabilidad.

El POV esta bien equilibrado en la composici髇, y los tonos juegan un papel muy importante. Buen trabajo, amigo.

John

xuaxo (6854) 2008-03-22 10:34

Ol� Jos�,
Muito bem. E bem ilustrativo da nota.
S� � pena essa pedra ao canto em baixo.
Um abra鏾,
F

jmdias (116663) 2008-03-22 17:47

jos�

� uma cena estranha para um ocidental, o sujeito enfiado num nicho como uma divindade viva enquanto o outro prepara a comida. O pov da foto � perfeito para mostrar a cena toda. A luz � muito boa tamb閙

abra鏾s
feliz p醩coa

jorge

sarahnatalie (697) 2008-03-22 18:24

Lovely image- could be a little sharper of course but for a scan it's excellent.I like the nice bright orange of the man's clothes as well as the overall subject matter which is very interesting. Nice post as usual!
Sarah

toto (0) 2008-03-23 2:19

Bonjour,
belle photo de ces gens qui font leurs occupations habituelle.
Belle prise avec ces jolies couleurs et cette suite de renvoie d' images toutes plus belles les unes que les autres.
Cette suite de photos fait un v閞itable reportage que j' ai appr閏i� regarder.

Amiti閟 Thomas
Je reviens

AiresSantos (56155) 2008-03-23 12:10

Ola Jose
Uma excelente captura com detalhes muito interessantes. Estas cenas variam de pais para pais e com as culturas.
Cores e contraste muito bons
Um abra鏾 Amigo

Morac (27725) 2008-03-23 14:31

Hello Jose

Nicely captured scene in bright light and showing a religious belief in this part of world.
Interesting composition to show the cultural of the Indian ethnic.

Thank you for all these bonds and all these explanations

Regards
Marc

Bruno40 (6662) 2008-03-24 7:01

Hi Jose,
Quite funny photo, not perfect but the timming is the most important thing here.
the note is excellent.
Happy Easter to you too!
Jorge

mikeo (12129) 2008-04-06 2:13

Hello Jose,

What an exotic shot. Its really funny and well shown situation.
Colours typical for that part of the world looks really great and make good atmosphere.

Like always very good note!
Greetings,
Mikeo

NMaverick (0) 2008-04-21 21:47

Hi Jose, good capture and a nice snapshot! I don't like the harsh shadows but I guess the time was limited and you could not frame it well. Very detailed note.
TFS
Nick

riclopes (35577) 2008-12-02 1:25

Boa P醩coa para ti tamb閙 :))))
Ol� Jos�, n鉶 foi nada f醕il encontrar uma do Nepal sem a minha cr韙ica. O que eu queria mesmo era dar um salto aos himalaias mas n鉶 foi poss韛el. Por isso, al閙 das papagolfadas ao domingo, 'exijo' tamb閙 mais umas scanagens dos himalaias ;-)
Esta por sinal at� est� muito boa e ambos os WS s鉶 boas imagens complementares da vida desta gente em volta dos locais sagrados. O que esta tem de melhor para al閙 do belo enquadramento do sadu l� em cima, � a excelente diagonal com o tipo c� em baixo. At� as sombras no canto e a meio do lado esquerdo ficaram bem para embelezar e gosto tamb閙 dos pormenores arquitect髇icos no topo. O Nepal � ex髏ico e atraente - quero mais.
Um abra鏾,
ricardo