P#9: The Stunning Beauty Of A Bangkok Temple

Light and Depth

Brenda Tharp: This next one is a temple in Bangkok. I went to Bangkok and spent four days before flying over to Bhutan.

I visited a lot of the Wats there, the temples. I ate great Thai food and just explored the city.

When I'm traveling, I'm trying to create depth in my pictures.

One of the ways you can create depth is to have a near and far relationship of things, which is what I have in this case.

One of the ways I created depth here was to use the architecture as a frame. I'm walking through this arch and this is the view to the ordination hall that I have through this arch.

What fascinated me was the fact that the arch itself is lined with tiny colored mirrors and colored pieces of glass. All of those things reflect the light.

The archway itself was so decorated that it was really wonderful to be able to catch the light off that as well. It frames my building in the background and it gives a feeling of depth and a feeling of walking through this archway.

Instead of it just being a solid black frame, I get the added bonus of having the detail of the arch itself show, because of all the reflective glass and mirrors used in the building of the arch.

Audri Lanford: I was trying to figure out what those were! That's really fascinating.

Brenda Tharp: Some of the Bangkok temples I visited have decorations that are made up of thousands of tiny mirrors and pieces of glass and metal. The overall effect when you stand back is what I would call "gilded."

When you get close and you realize how many pieces are stuck onto this wall that make up that design, it is just astounding! It really is. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

To conclude

Framing a shot is a great way to add depth to your photos. Framing a shot with unique and decorative architecture is even better. Brenda's photo of the Bangkok Temple is a prime example of how well this technique actually works.