Painting by camera

It is not uncommon in photography to create your own frame. Here are two examples.

The first is a statue of a Buddhist figure set back in a niche at Angkor Wat. The top half was almost invisible in the dark but I have used the magic of Lightroom to solve that problem. The stone surround and the top of a fence formed a natural frame when I looked through the viewfinder.

This is the old ‘through the window’ trick. A little Lightroom trickery was used here too. I exposed for the distant steps and used software to lift the deep shadows and enhance the natural frame. The dynamic range of a modern sensor is remarkable.

I’m back at work for a while and my evenings are spent reading an 800 page biography of Van Gogh. Until anon.

Bakheng sunrise

A 5am start for Bakheng to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. A reasonable reward.

A beautiful morning. Sadly the temples are hugely overcrowded even with a dramatic drop in Chinese visitors because of the coronavirus. It was like conveyor belt tourism. Move. Stop. Here is where you take the picture. You have 20 seconds. Next. I gave up and left. Another reason why I loathe group tours. Bakheng isn’t (yet) commercialised and was very quiet. Except for us.

This is me flouncing out of Angkor Wat.

Allez France?

This youngster lives on the banks of the Mekong River. He ducked in and out a few times whilst I tried to photograph him. His French shirt was probably a celebration of the rugby the night before.

Scrum half maybe? Or aspiring prop?