Buddha and the Tree of Life
Sometimes when I’m photographing, and I can’t find something that interests me, I just start shooting anything that could possibly represent the country I’m visitng.
I started off with a photo of a tree branch and blue sky that I shot the other weekend when I was visiting my daughter. The colors were great but the tree branch didn’t seem to have enough of a story for me. I decided to add a Buddha. I have plenty of them having gone to Thailand, Cambodia and China. After the Buddha, I added some texture with a shot of rows of painted globes for sale in a market display. I added another statue from a cemetary and some blurred color layers and some tree bark. I had about 12 layers before I was finished.
I like the blue and gold feeling. Those were the colors I started with, but now they are subtle and smeared and I hope more interesting.
Most of these shots are from Thailand and Cambodia. Most were shot in the middle of the day. I tried to make a silk purse from them, but failed. Then I decided to use them not as a stand alone photograph but to become a part of a tapestry.
I could have gotten rid of the black line surrounding the large Buddha, but I left it because it adds an ‘irritation’ whenever I look at it. I don’t know if that is a good thing, but I think advertisers do it on purpose. It makes the viewer wonder why it is there, what is the point of it, what meaning does it have for the photographer. Those are the questions that come to my mind when I look at it. Sorry. I don’t have the answers for you.