Prayer Flags
Quinghai Province, China 2007
The road rose and curved into the mountains as we left the verdant steppes behind. Prayer flags, colorful against the brilliant sky, fluttered in the cold wind on the mountain top. The flags have prayers and pictures on them and are thought to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. As the wind blows it carries these traits to all mankind. Quinghai Province is culturally Tibetan and we would see these flags flying in the most remote places as well as fluttering from the top of yak-hair tents.
I thought it would be easy to get a good shot of these flags, but other than this one and one with some sheep in the distance, I didn’t do too well. I got up too close. Sometimes we have to get back and get the whole picture. It’s not my style. I took to heart the maxim by Robert Capa:”If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” It’s a good rule, but like all rules it has exceptions. The prayer flags are one of the exceptions.
I ‘treated’ this photo with the oil paint filter in Photoshop CS6. I thought it would give more of a windblown look to the flags. You can’t tell it here, but does add to the fluttering sensation.