P#24: A Lighthearted Photograph of Seven Little Monk Boys

A Day With the Little Monk Boys

Scott Stulberg: This is a photograph of seven monk boys with parasols. I was using a lens I bought specifically for the trip. It cost me $2000. It was a 14mm 2.8 aperture super wide angle lens made by Canon. I just absolutely love wide angle. One of my favorite parts of photography is shooting wide angle.

I had a 16-35mm lens with me. This lens was only two millimeters wider, but the difference between 14 and 16 is huge and if I tried to do this same scene on my back with the monks hanging over shooting my 16mm, I would have cut off much more of the monks than I got here.

The reason this shot works is because I got so many of them in the shot and because I had a 14mm lens. The monk on the top is cut off right at his neck. I wish I had gotten a little more of him in, but if I had shot a 16mm, I would have cut maybe all of them at their necklines.

Having the right gear is really critical, plus I was thinking differently. I was thinking, "How can I get these guys?" I was shooting them on the temples all day and we were doing all kinds of cool shots.

I had their eyes closed, I got more of the sky in, I got the temples in the background but when we were leaving and got to the ground I said, "Let me try something different." It just came to me. (click the image for a larger version)

I did a similar image that I showed in my stock photography podcast where I got the tribes in Africa. I got down on my back and had all of them leaning over me. They weren't holding anything but I had them all smiling kind of like these guys. That shot came from this one right here. Somewhere different around the world, people showing their culture, and getting them all leaning over and looking at me.

This photograph of the monk boys is one that makes me think about how much I love photography. I will always be brought back to this moment every time I see this shot. I know exactly where I was, what I was thinking, how I was feeling. I was with two of my best friends and I did this shot. My friends like it so much they borrowed my lens, got down on their backs, and were mad because they didn't get the same shot that I did.

It was one of those perfect photography moments.

In Conclusion

Perfect photography moments are often inspired. It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right muse whispering in your ear. According to Scott, there were other photographers with him the day this shot was taken, but none got such an amazing photograph of these seven little monk boys.