Redistribution

Morning Offering

Cambodia, 2007

 The monks walked their route carrying their golden umbrellas and their begging bowls. They’d stop at each house and the occupant would come out with food which was ladled into the monks proffered bowl. It is not mandatory to give food and I suppose some houses were left off the monk’s route because they knew that they would not receive alms.

But most people in Cambodia are religious and consider it an honor to give to the monks. I once asked a young monk if he had ever eaten sticky rice with mango. (I’d tasted it for the first time and it is delicious. I thought maybe he would tell me he had eaten it on a special occasion.) To my surprise, he said, “I eat that every day.”

The people take pride in offering food that they themselves would enjoy…it is more meaningful that way.

I was far from the ‘action’ when I shot this and only had my 28-100mm lens. The others in the group had longer lenses and I wished I did, too. Especially when they began to ‘chimp’ about their shots. (To chimp means to look at your shots and exclaim, “Oh! Oh! Look! ” etc. ) I did get the shot, but the figures of the woman and the monks were not as large as I wanted them to be. When I got home, I ignored this shot, considering it a failure. But recently, I decided to crop it and change the colors to bathe the whole incident in a golden light…an aura of holiness.