Travel Photography: Deja vu…recreating a Photo at the same location...but 12 years later.
Deja vu…recreating a Photo at the same location…
but 12 years later in Myanmar, the story behind the Photo
I visited Nyaung Shwe also known as Yawnghwe) a town a few kilometers north of Inle Lake in the Shan State of Myanmar for the first time some 12 years ago.
While driving through the town I spotted this amazing Monastery build out of Teakwood during the 19th Century with a Novice Monk standing at the oval shape window.
Oh boy… what a nice image I thought…so I loaded another roll of film in this case Kodachrome Pro 200 ASA and started to shoot. Years have past now and many images have been produced by a variety of Photographers with and without Monks at this Monastery.
I might add that the shot I took 12 years ago was not at all a setup; it just so happens that this Monk was actually standing at the window when I spotted it and this photo was later published many times.
Now 12 years later and during our GD Photo Workshop last October we made a stop at this remarkable Monastery again.
Kodachrome Pro 200 ASA or Digital?
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© Gunther Deichmann - www.deichmann-photo.com
I had actually planned this all along to re create the image I took some 12 years ago, but of course there was very little hope that a Monk was standing again at the window. Well…we arrived and sure enough there was NO Monk standing there.
Kodachrome Pro 200 ASA or Digital?
Copyright all Rights reserved. Mandatory credit with image use:
© Gunther Deichmann - www.deichmann-photo.com
OK I thought, let’s recreate the images and I ask politely one of the Novice Monks to stand in about the same position at the window, then I went outside and took the image.
I normally don’t set shots up, but in this case I found it interesting what I could come up with, shooting digital instead of Kodachrome film from the same location but 12 years later.
An interesting exercise and the Monk I had picked was about the same age from what I remembered years ago.
I let you decide which of the two images featured is Digital or Kodachrome 200 film, I might add that the digital image was shot at the same 200 ISO and no Photoshop or other manipulation has been used.
I only used Aperture 3 with the raw conversion, some straightening, a little cropping (the same in the Kodachrome Image) added a little contrast, minor sharpening and adjusted the color temperature to daylight taken in to consideration the overcast sky.
This amazing teakwood monastery has not changed much at all except for the surrounding areas that have now additional more modern looking buildings, other than that it was pretty much the same.
The monastery is over 150 years old and sits on sturdy stilts, a protection for occasional flooding coming from the Inle Lake.
The temple next to the Monastery
Copyright all Rights reserved. Mandatory credit with image use:
© Gunther Deichmann - www.deichmann-photo.com
Next to the monastery you can find a small but very amazing temple that is absolutely worth a visit, housing hundreds of little Buddha statues and incredible artwork along the walls.
The temple next to the Monastery
Copyright all Rights reserved. Mandatory credit with image use:
© Gunther Deichmann - www.deichmann-photo.com
So, there you have it 12 years later, little has changed and I hope it will stay like this for many more years to come.
GD
