The weather was not real good – I woke in the morning to grey skies and rain, and I was feeling disillusioned about the day as I headed out to Arishiyama, east of Kyoto, and my first temple stop.  But they say:  “every cloud has a silver lining” and this was never truer that day.  Not only was I rewarded with some spectacular clouds and misty backgrounds, plus dark, shiny, wet temple roofs, but of course in the rain everyone carries an UMBRELLA, and the colour of the trees was nicely juxtaposed with the colourful brollies swirling underneath.

I had to buy a cheap brollie myself, which was a rather boring, transparent plastic thing.  However, after walking around under the trees for an hour or so I realised it had become decorated with fallen multi-coloured maple leaves, and it was amazingly popular with the Japanese!  Everybody wanted to stop, chat and have their photo taken with me (or with my brollie at least)!  I become an instant hit with girls from the ages of 18 to 80.  I have learned the secret of attracting Japanese women!  Hahahah.

Check out the full range of the day’s colour by CLICKING HERE

Tenryuji Temple, Arishiyama.

Bamboo groves, Arishiyama.

Colour everywhere: natural and made-made.

The famous Togetsukyo Bridge at Arishiyama. A great background and the image is made more interesting with the parade of colourful umbrellas.

This is my umbrella - it became quite a hit!

Eikando Temple roof detail.

Eikando Temple.

]]> http://rodandrewartha.com.au/2011/12/photography-talent/feed/ 0 http://rodandrewartha.com.au/2011/11/269/ http://rodandrewartha.com.au/2011/11/269/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:43:29 +0000 Rod http://rodandrewartha.com.au/?p=269

A short post from Narita, Japan. I wandered down to the temple here early this morning, to try capturing the colours of autumn. It’s that time of year here, when trees all over Japan are bursting with colour for a month or so before hankering down for winter. The temple grounds in Narita are especially nice.  I happened on a particularly nice scene of the morning sun streaming through the trees into one of the ponds.  These are full of giant carp that get fat on bread, thrown to them regularly by temple visitors.

A couple of other images are shown here, including one abstract taken from the pure reflections of the trees in the water.  Would look nice on the wall, I think.  CLICK HERE if you would like to see more Japanese autumn colours.

I have seen the devastation first-hand; it is not overstated.  You can see some of the images I have shot in the last two weeks below.

Last night I received an email from Magnus Olovson, the GM of the Heritage Suites Hotel in Siem Reap.  This is where I stayed for a few nights during the photography course.  Magnus is a good bloke.  He is seeking donations to assist those Cambodians in most immediate need; those that the Government and NGO’s still have not reached and helped.  Many people have lost everything.  Three Siem Reap hotels: Heritage Suites Hotel, Hotel de la Paix and Golden Banana Hotel are working together through a local NGO, Green Gecko Project, renowned for its experience in relief operations.

The aim is to fund 10 tons of rice and assist families who have absolutely no access to food or water. The hotels and Green Gecko are targeting  70-100 families in one of the most inaccessible areas this Thursday, 20th October, where there will be a direct handout of rice and water.  Magnus and colleagues from his hotel will be there.

Today I donated money to buy half a tonne of rice.  Unlike in Australia, the poorest people in Cambodia cannot rely on Government assistance, welfare, etc.  These people truly are in need of financial help from people like you and me who can afford it.

So I ask you to please consider helping.  If you have been to Cambodia you will know what it would mean to them.  If you aspire to go there one day, please donate and then resolve to go there and meet these beautiful, gentle people.  Cambodia was never on my radar until Gunther Deichmann’s photography workshops;  now I envisage returning regularly.

Here are the links.  You can either donate via Green Gecko or email Magnus directly for a credit-card authority form.  I did the latter as I know Magnus is purchasing rice and water tomorrow, but obviously Green Gecko will be busy for weeks to come and would welcome donations anytime.

Green Gecko

Email Magnus Olovson, GM Heritage Suites Hotel

Please give it some thought.  Many thanks.

Battambang sits on a fairly large river and is known for it’s old French colonial architecture. Around every corner are lovely old windows, doorways and rustic colours.

Just outside Battambang is the the bamboo train, or “Norry”. There’s a single track for small “trains” that comprise of just two axles, a detachable bamboo platform and a motor. When two opposing trains meet, the more lightly-loaded one is disassembled and removed from the railway: motor off, bamboo platform off, axles off. The train with right-of-way proceeds and the second train is then reassembled. There is talk every year that the Norry train is to be shut down “next year” but it hasn’t happened yet.

Battambang is also known for its large number of monks. Early each day dozens of monks go out on alms collections, making great photo opportunities – except during our visit! Turned out a festival was happening and the people were bringing food to the monks instead for a couple of days. A bit of a Pchum Ben thing? Never found out but anyway, no monks doing the walkabout. Monk pictures had to be done in the Wats themselves….

Towards the end 0f our Battambang time we did a visit to Phnom Sampeau, a limestone hill outside the city which has the notorious Killing Caves. This is one of the places where the Khmer Rouge bludgeoned people to death before throwing their bodies down through an overhead skylight. Inside the main cave there is now a lovely reclining golden Buddha and a tomb memorial containing skulls of victims. Amazing shafts of sunlight were penetrating the cave during our visit, making for some great images. As the sun set there were further terrific images to be had from the top of the hill of the Cambodian countryside. All in all, Battambang is a “return-to” place.

On the road to Battambang

Battambang river, buildings and bridge guard

Blessings and offerings

Colourful

Typical Battambang architecture

Bamboo railway

The view from Phnom Sampeau

Killing Cave, Phnom Sampeau

Sunset at Angkor Wat

Sunset at Angkor Wat

Sunrise the next morning

Inside Angkor Wat

Then to Phnom Kulen on day 2: a very religious place for Cambodians. The waterfall is especially important, the water being condsidered holy and the upper section of the falls attracts regular bathers.  Well, except at the moment due the amount of water flowing – it would be dangerous to bathe anywhere in the river right now.  Picked up some special red bananas on the road to Phnom Kulen – they are especially sweet.

The holy waterfall at Phnom Kulen

The delicious red bananas on the road to Phnom Kulen

Venturing further afield on Phnom Kulen, we continued in 4 wheel drives to the extremely remote Sras Damrei. Several hours of very rough road followed by a 1 km walk through the jungle and we arrived at massive stone carvings of an elephant, frogs and lions. Very rarely visted. Strict adherence to the paths is important also due to landmines in the area.

The elephant and lion of Sras Damrei

Day 3 saw us at Kampong Pluk. I visited this “floating village” last year when there was no water at all – you could walk across the main street between houses. This year: totally different. The Tonle Sap lake is a massive size now and Kompong Pluk is totally flooded. Boat to the village and transferred onto the small wooden canoes for a trip around the flooded forest. Once again, the ladies of the village, young and old, were our canoe captains.

Siem Reap - the Venice of the East?

Aptly named hotel where I am staying. The roof top pool is not really necessary...

A walk around first thing this morning led me to a lovely Wat across the river and I had a chat with a couple of young monks. Both spoke excellent English and I had to laugh when one asked me: “Do you have Facebook?” Sure enough, they are both on it – no wonder Zuckerberg numbers half the world’s population on his books when he’s got monks in Cambodia signed up!

"Do You Have Facebook?"

Had a spot of brekkie by the river – literally – it was practically washing up to my feet. The ladies in the markets are still doing a busy trade. There are even a few enterprising people selling lifejackets in the streets!

River View Cafe - yes, a view that cannot be built out.

"Fit your lifejacket - it's under your seat."

Old Market

Noticeably, there is a total lack of government/military support in dealing with this flood. In Australia there would have been large-scale sandbagging of the river banks days ago. Not so here – the people are just left to deal with the consequences. Disappointing but probably not unexpected here.

The lovely staff of the City River Hotel

All in all, it’s great to be back in Siem Reap and some lovely pictures to be captured, amongst the hardship.

I wandered down to Wat Ounalom and sure enough it was packed.  People were lining up to alternatively offer rice and money, hoping that these offerings will reach the souls of their ancestors.  Inside one hall there was an intriguing “rice/money mountain”, growing ever bigger as people contributed to it.  Prayers were chanted as they mixed the paper money in with the rice.  Huge quantities of food were being amassed – easily enough for 100?s of people.  Some of the monks told me they share it out to the poor people and also do a run to the nearby prison to feed inmates.

All in all, a very interesting insight to the spirituality of the Cambodians.  And the highlight was when one monk invited me to sit and share a meal with him and some other travellers from China.  The Cambodians consider this a very fraternal time and welcome visitors to share in the day.

Now to figure out if it all is happening again tomorrow!

Some pictures below and CLICK HERE to see the full set.

Some shots below. CLICK HERE to see all the fun!