just a photo

[effort]

the source is http://www.vimutti.org.nz/zenphoto/Tudong/IMG_2609.JPG.php and the title of photo is : The place of solitude and the landrover, Waikaia highcountry, 2007.



the photo bring mix of feelings for me.

[tiltbillings]

the photo bring mix of feelings for me.

A number of the photos gave me a mix of feelings. Maybe it was the photographer simply catching the monk in a heroic pose, not the monk himself striking such a pose.

[Moggalana]

What a beautiful landscape!

[Ben]

A lot of NZ is like that - beautiful.
metta

Ben

[tiltbillings]

A lot of NZ is like that - beautiful.
metta

Ben

Strikingly beautiful even with a monk striking heroic poses.

[Kim O'Hara]

A lot of NZ is like that - beautiful.
metta

Ben

Or not like that but still beautiful.
We're saying that and we don't even live there. I'm not even a Kiwi - are you, Ben?
But go and watch Lord of the Rings if you don't believe us.


Kim

[Annapurna]

A lot of NZ is like that - beautiful.
metta

Ben

Strikingly beautiful even with a monk striking heroic poses.

Is it a heroic pose?

[appicchato]

Is it a heroic pose?

Ditto...what's one of them?...

[tiltbillings]

A lot of NZ is like that - beautiful.
metta

Ben

Strikingly beautiful even with a monk striking heroic poses.

Is it a heroic pose?

The one photo posted is not what I am referring to. Click on the link and look at other photos of the two monks in the set and then try to find photos of, say, Ajahn Munindo or the other monks here http://www.ratanagiri.org.uk/index.php? ... &Itemid=67 in such heroic poses. As I said, it just maybe the photographer, who is very good, but then the photog on the Aruna Ratanagiri web-site is also very good.

[Ben]

Hi Kim
No, I'm not a kiwi. My father-in-law moved to NZ for work fifteen years ago so we have been infrequent visitors.
Kind regards

Ben

[Annapurna]

Is it a heroic pose?

The one photo posted is not what I am referring to. Click on the link and look at other photos of the two monks in the set and then try to find photos of, say, Ajahn Munindo or the other monks here http://www.ratanagiri.org.uk/index.php? ... &Itemid=67 in such heroic poses. As I said, it just maybe the photographer, who is very good, but then the photog on the Aruna Ratanagiri web-site is also very good.

Hello, Tilt, yes, I can see why you get that impression "heroic".

I looked at all the photos in the first link, and then compared them to the one you gave.

The difference between the 2 is, from my POV, that the heroic ones are posed, and not candids, while the others are.

In the first images, the monks are standing or sitting still, like statues, before a landscape of 'majestic' beauty.

That gives the images a royal or heroic atmosphere, which lets the monks appear that way as well. It's highly interesting from an artistic point of view!

(If you have an eye for atmosphere, you can always photograph anything in the way you wish, simply through the setting, creating synchronicity between object and surrounding.)

To me, the monks seem simply still and calm, (which is majesty in itself, isn't it?), on one photo a robe is flapping in the wind, but the aquiline profile is adding to a majestic impression.

The candids of the link you gave of course seem less 'heroic', because that is the inevitable effect of candids. The monks are m not posing for the camera, but caught sitting, in attitudes of service, kneeling, bowing, etc.

But I see what you see. It's a good observation.

The landscape is truly wonderful, and the photographer is very good.

Is heroic negative for you?

[tiltbillings]

Is heroic negative for you?

It depends, but in this case, it rubs me the wrong way. It is naught more than my personal impression and certainly would not expect others to share it.

[mikenz66]

Hi Tilt,

Yes, I think the photographer/captioner is a liitle over the top in his enthusiasm.

"Alms Round, Milford Sound" indeed. Comparable to writing "Alms Round, Grand Canyon" on a photo. In either case you'd probably go hungry...



Metta
Mike

[Annapurna]

Hi Tilt,

Yes, I think the photographer/captioner is a liitle over the top in his enthusiasm.

"Alms Round, Milford Sound" indeed. Comparable to writing "Alms Round, Grand Canyon" on a photo. In either case you'd probably go hungry...



Metta
Mike

But how can you know how this alms round is going?

If I remember that correctly, somewhere here in Germany they have to go by car for a while too, to get to a city and then go on alms round.
They would perhaps get out of the car here too, and be photographed in a scenic landscape, and later on candids in a street and restaurant as well, as it was done here.

Perhaps it's a form of respect and veneration, to combine the magnificence of the dhamma with a magnificent nature?


Just my 2 cents.

[mikenz66]

Hi Annabel,

But how can you know how this alms round is going?

Because I've been there a number of times, and it's in the "middle of nowhere". Hardly anyone lives at Milford sound. However, lots of tourists come though on buses each day. It would be more convincing to see him standing at the jetty to see if any of those tourists would put anything in his bowl... Of course, a monk might get arrested for breaking some law on begging or soliciting if he did that...

Anyway, I take the captions as light-hearted fun, not anything to do with reality. Certainly he's a real Ajah-Chah-group monk and he gets lay support up an Vimutti...

Mike

[Annapurna]

There was also tent, or better, a mosquito net as well, in the middle of no where.

Do they live out there?

[BlackBird]

Ajahn must have had quite the stash of good kamma to get a sunny day in Fiordland for the photo op.

[mikenz66]

Ajahn must have had quite the stash of good kamma to get a sunny day in Fiordland for the photo op.

Rainfall is 6.8 metres... But it only rains 182 days per year...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Sound

Mike