Buddhist Child Nun
Burma 2011
A young Buddhist nun turns her beautiful face to the light…a serendipitous shot from an afternoon’s shooting in a Yangon monastery. Don’t stop shooting until you’ve left the premises is my advice.
In Photoshop, I increased contrast and added a layer of cracked texture. Her delicate features reminded me of a doll and so I highlighted her cheek with a smear of blush. Her shorn head with a dark outline of shadow seems as fragile as porcelain. I made sure to lighten the shadows so you could see the shape of her head and her ear. Her pose, looking over her left shoulder, reminds me of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. Next step? Print it large!