Angkor Wat Photos And The Terror Of Pol Pot's Torturous Time
Monk, tortured by the Khmer Rouge, at the Bayon, Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Meeting a Buddhist monk while on a photography adventure to the Bayon, a part of the famous Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia, was an incredible experience, given the torture inflicted on him, as a child, by his Khmer Rouge oppressors.
The physical scare remained, as did the monk’s memory of the torture inflicted upon him. Nonetheless, he took the time to quietly and patiently explain to me how his Buddhist beliefs have helped him come to terms with the actions of his Khmer Rouge tormentors.
Apparently the monk was from a town around one hours drive from Angkor Wat, yet this was the first opportunity he’d had to visit the site.
I asked the monk how he’d gotten the pockmark on his face. He answered with two words, Pol Pot. After further questions the monk revealed that a member of the Khmer Rouge had pushed a lit cigarette into his face when he was a young boy.
Even The Downtrodden Have The Power To Forgive
Cambodia is a beautiful country with a long history and a rich and deeply evolved culture. Yet, despite the compassion underpinned by Cambodia’s dominant Buddhist philosophy, under the reign of Pol Pot the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge have left deep and dark scares that will take generations for everyday Cambodias to reconcile.
My own travels around Cambodia where a mixture of bliss and frustration. I met and photographed wonderful people, and the glory of the past is there for all to see when visiting Angkor Wat.
Conversely, my visits to the Tuoi Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penn and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, also known as The Killing Fields, to be deeply troubling experiences.
What’s more the sheer corruption that’s plain to see in today’s Cambodia can only hold the country back from any meaningful, broad based economic revival and, with it, the creation of a happier and more prosperous life for the people of Cambodia.
Having the opportunity to meet and photograph the monk at Angkor Wat’s Bayon was one of numerous meetings with local Khmer people that I remember most from my travels to Cambodia. It is through those short, but intense dialogues that I’m given hope for the good people of this long depressed country.
The Power Of The Gaze In A Portrait Photo
Even after all these years I remember very clearly being drawn to the monk’s eyes. His gaze was compelling and seemed to reveal an intensity bordering upon anger.
I’m very interested in the notion of duality, which is present in the power and intensity of the monks gaze and the perception of serenity and compassion normally associated with Buddhism.
This apparent contradiction is, to my mind, the most important aspect that defines the success of this picture.
How I Photographed The Monk At The Bayon
The original image of the monk at the Bayon was made on color negative film and scanned, prior to conversation into a black-and-white image in Photoshop.
This is not an environmental portrait. Without the title of this post and the caption, placed directly underneath the image, it would be impossible to tell where the photo was made.
I deliberately created a very shallow Depth Of Field, achieved by photographing at a relatively close camera-to-subject distance with my lens wide open to an aperture of f/4. In doing so I’ve been able to create visual separation between the monk and the out-of-focus surroundings.
The use of the medium format Hasselblad 150 mm lens (roughly equivalent to a 100 mm lens on a full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera), serves to further isolate the monk from his surroundings.
In summary, three factors have produced the shallow depth of field and, as a consequence, further emphasized the intensity of the monk’s gaze. Those factors are as follows:
Relatively close camera-to-subject distance
Shallow depth of field
Using a telephoto (portrait) lens
What’s more I feel the camera’s square format provides an idea canvas onto which the line around the subject’s body and head are drawn.
As you can see, this image is all about tension. Notice how the relatively tight framing further enhances the visual tension within the image by helping to draw attention to the intensity of the monk’s gaze.
It’s true that there’s quite a few decisions that have gone into the creation of this picture. Most of them were made while composing the image in my camera’s viewfinder.
However, despite the number of decisions that are often made in camera, it’s fare to say that most are made quickly and in a relatively intuitive manner. And that’s a stage of competence you arrive at after taking lots of photos, and making the effort to deconstruct them as a way of working out what mistakes you’ve made and, importantly, what it is you’ve done well.
Over time the acknowledgement of what you do well will resonate with you and become a natural part of the way you make photos into the future.
Studying the images of great photographers is another way to understand how to make great photos. Overtime you’ll be able to incorporate their practices into your own image making and, as a result, create better photos, more often.
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Angkor Wat Photos: Incorporating People Into Architectural Photos
The Bayon is one of the more popular structures within Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complex. I photographed the structure quite extensively and, as well as making the photo of the monk we see at the top of this post, I made photos of other local Khmer people and some architectural studies of the complex.
I think this particular photo is interesting in that it’s an architectural study of one side of the Bayon that features a novice monk in the near foreground.
The fact there’s a human figure, situated within this larger architectural scene, provides a sense of scale to the Bayon, an incredible structure built around CE 1200.
Needless to say the other advantage of including the novice monk in the composition is the visual lift the color of his robes provides to what was actually a fairly drably lit scene.
I plan to re-scan and reprocess the images in this post as part of a larger portfolio of images I’II assemble on this beautiful country. I also hope to return to Cambodia for another extended photography adventure.
Angkor Wat, Then And Now
During my three day visit to Angkor Wat I only remember seeing another three western tourists as I made my way around the complex.
Experts were still clearing landmines in the area and I needed an armed guard to take me to Banteay Srei, one of the temple sites on the edge of the massive Angkor Wat complex.
Things have changed so much since then, with Angkor Wat now well and truly on the South East Asia tourist trail. Nonetheless, this massive temple complex holds so many great opportunities for the enthusiastic photographer.
I’m very much looking forward to my next visit to Angkor Wat. While Angkor Wat itself can be busy throughout the entire day, sunrise can be a great time to avoid the crowds at some of the less frequented sites like the Bayon and Banteay Srei.
