P#9: A Candid Moment With a Young Bhutan Monk

Let The Light Shine

The picture of the young monk was a very special moment for me. There was a monastery in Bhutan that the students were studying in. All the young monks had taken a break and gone outside of the classroom.

I asked our guide if it was okay for me to go in and see what the classroom was like. Much to my surprise, the classroom was just what you see here -- an empty room with wooden floorboards and painted walls.

There were these two windows that let light just pour in across the floor and the walls. I thought, "This would be perfect if only there were some monks that were actually studying in here." An empty space just didn't do it.

I went outside and I asked the guide if we could contact the teacher and when break was over, would we be allowed in to photograph. A few of the monks agreed to just come in early, which was better. Rather than having 50 students, we only had about four or six.

The monks sat down and opened up their little parcels. It was all their Sanskrit mantras. They are learning to recite all of these.

This little boy was very young. Someone said he was six years old. He was such a good student. He sat down, opened up his packet, and he started reciting.

I just loved the moment when he was sitting there and the way the light poured in from the window. It's a small picture here, but larger you can actually see the Sanskrit writing. It was a really terrific moment to capture!

Audri Lanford: The light is really spectacular.

Brenda Tharp: That's really what started it.

Going back to the Podcast question about light. The light is what really got me excited, but I knew that I needed something else in the room. An empty room with light just wasn't all that magical.

I knew what I wanted but I also didn't really want to set it up. Once the boys came in, sat down, and started studying, we just all went to work on our individual monk, taking our pictures. They were candid in that sense, because we weren't trying to put them in any particular spot in the room. It was really neat.

In summary

The combination of the perfect subject and the perfect light can make for an awe-inspiring photo. Brenda's candid moment with this young Bhutan monk is a wonderful example of this fact.