Lost In A Fantasy World

I think every aspiring photographer has those experiences where they've messed up taking a special shot, but there are elements of that shot they still really like, and so they don't want to just disregard it.

I kind of felt this way with this photo. I was with a group of photographers at buddhist monastery, and everyone was starting to pack away there equipment, and out of nowhere this one monk came out of the temple and started to perform a ritual outside. I was the only one with my camera ready, and so I quickly snapped away, unconscious of the brightness of the sky behind.

I thought to myself, Wow... I've captured a fantastic moment!

But later, when post-processing the shot I realised it was a horribly over exposed photo. I had that bitter-sweet feeling of wanting to chuck it, but hoping something could still come of it. So I decided to give it a try.

I am quite pleased with the end result. It is a single HDR shot. and it sort of feels like a fantasy world. Almost as if it came straight out of the old fighter games Tekken.

A monk performing his morning ritual prayers