"One Last Temple"
In two days I had already seen more temples that I needed to see. It was a little rushed my last day in Mandalay and my list of things to see as I headed to the airport didn’t include yet another temple. It was just easier to relent and go in and not explain to my driver I had seen enough already. "This is the biggest and best temple in all the region" he said as I quickly jumped out of his car.
Inside the temple, OK maybe he was right, this place was pretty cool. The gilded Buddha was clearly the attraction as people scurried to find kneeling space in the limited area surrounding the central chamber. It was more local than tourist here and an urgency was in the crowd as if a ceremony was about to begin. As I wandered the adjoining hallways and connecting rooms I found a spot where the golden ceiling and the warm morning light came spilling in through an open archway. Here is where I found myself unexpectedly this morning. Anticipating what this beautiful scene could be.
The definition of anticipation is the act of looking forward. There is a lots of anticipation in photography. Looking ahead to what will happen when all the elements line up. Light, composition, subject and timing all coming beautifully together just as the shutter fires. Certainly there is tons of photography that lacks this. The haphazard picture. The quick snap shot. For a picture to be good it has to have a level of anticipation to take it from a simple snap shot too much more. I had the components I needed this morning for a good picture I just need to look forward to what was missing or what I still needed to complete the frame.
In this case I wanted to play off the shadows that were a result of the light from the archway and the reflection of the golden ceiling above. It took some time for the crowds to thin and just the right person to stride through the muted golden tones on the tile floor in the foreground. Of course just as that happened I ran out of film, somehow I never seem to anticipate when I’m on my last frame, but after a short reset I was ready to begin again.
Anticipation is the process. One of the lovely dynamics that lives inside good photography. Looking forward to what could be. What is going to happen in a scene and the steps you take to be ready for the moment the shuttle clicks is the anticipation I love about the process.
