The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

ONE DAY IN MY LIFE:

I was up and on the way to Ayutthaya at 4:00am the other morning to meet some photography buddies for a shoot of the ancient Thai capitol.  Ayutthaya is about an 80 minute drive north on the good super highway from my home in the northern suburbs of Bangkok.

We all met up at an old traditional Thai teak house just across from the Ayutthaya Historical Park.  It was still quite dark when we arrived, but the main temple structures were bathed in orange light.

Everyone had a tripod, but me.  I'm pretty good with my hand held trusty Canon 5D Mark II and Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens. What a beautiful sight.

Slowly, slowly . . . . the morning light arrived in blues.

The sun gradually  rose and cast it's light upon the ruins of the ancient city.

Though it was still quite dark, there was so much of interest to see and photograph.

The five of us fanned out in different directions, with our curiosities diverging.

As one of three Buddhists in the group, I went looking for the Buddha images.  This one was magnificent.

Very old Buddha image.  Ayutthaya was a major  city between 1350 and 1765 (when it was sacked by the Burmese).  It is estimated that Ayutthaya was a city of 1,000,000 people by 1700.  These ruins are from the royal Buddhist temple.

We managed to be in pretty much the right place when the "magic light" showed up.

Beautiful morning light to shoot these awesome monuments.

These gigantic chedis may have held Buddha relics or the remains of beloved monks or abbots.

Interestingly, these chedis and Wat structures had not been rebuilt or restored by archaeologists, but have been continuously free-standing since the 14th century in the state you see here.

Although we started off in different directions, we all converged at about the same time at the famous Buddha head engulfed by a tree.  This image is so connected to Thailand that it could easily become the national symbol.  It is one of the most photographed objects in the world, no doubt . . . but that does not lessen the visual and spiritual impact of seeing it in the real.

It was getting lighter and the warm morning sun was beginning to find it's way under the large trees.  I took around twenty shots of the Buddha head at many different f-stops, shutter speeds, and ISO settings trying to find the best solution to capturing the mood of this place.  These two photos stood out from among the many I took.

Not fifty meters from the Buddha head in the tree is this wonderful monument and Buddha image.

The Ayutthaya-period Thais had a distinctive architectural style.

Sacred Lord Buddha.

We all moved on to the incredible main, central structure: Wat Ratcha Burana.

Phra Prang Prathan.

The temple architecture is unique to Ayutthaya.

There are so many chedis in and around Phra Prang Prathan that any window frame you walk by yields a great photo.

This area was the center of a city of one million inhabitants in 1700.

Phra Prang Prathan.

The sides of Phra Prang Prathan chedi are still covered with the original bas relief Buddha panels.

The carvings and other decorative details of Phra Prang Prathan are still in excellent, unrestored shape.

Part of the vast temple and royal grounds of Ayutthaya.

On the climb up of the chedi, there were great views of the temple complex.

Once up the many chedi steps and inside, we all contorted ourselves to capture every small and interesting detail of this ancient structure.  The textures were remarkable. (Here: "BASIL THE CONTORTIONIST")

While in the upper inner chamber of the Phra Prang Prathan chedi we were confronted by a perturbed park ranger who asked us to leave immediately.  It seems the park does not open until 8:00am.  Oops!  NOT!  We walked back out through the old royal buildings that were now streaked in light and shadow.

Timelessness.

Looking back in the Wat compound and reflecting on what a great morning it was.

The ancient ruins of Ayutthaya are not just some destination for tourists, a lost civilization.  They are still revered and pilgrims still come her to worship.  They are a living monument to a living spiritual practice.

A picture post card.

The wear on the ancient Wat walls carry the patina of time.

Here and there traces of ancient inscriptions can be made out, along with shards of Chinese ceramics embedded in the ancient walls.

There is a beautiful monument at each gate, corner, and change of direction along the old walls.  Strong morning light illuminated all the detail.  Nice.

A decorative wall monument, Ayutthaya Historical Park.  We left the Historical Park central area and went in search of the giant reclining Buddha.

The entire area, for many kilometers, is all chedis and old royal Thai structures.

After a while of walking around in a constant state of wonder at these huge and beautiful chedis, I was left in a photographers quandary: what to shoot?  There is too much of interest here . . . and what will I do with 100 photos of chedis, albeit wonderful chedis?

I shot the incredible ensembles and arrangements of chedis . . .

I shot the details of the chedis . . . . .

I tried not to shoot the same chedi too many times . . . . the light was so perfect for this kind of large architectural structure.  Magnificent!

I love this magnificent colossal Thai style.

Magnificent!

More chedis . . .

There are so many royal and Buddhist sites in and around Ayutthaya.  We stopped here to marvel at the three enormous white chedis.

We encountered very few tourists on this Wednesday in mid-June, but the few we did encounter, like this busload of Japanese tourists, were very well behaved and quiet.

Basil and I had fun taking photos of each other in interesting locations.

We left the chedi enclosure and walked to a nearby Wat to see what marvels it held.

The Wat was, of course, filled with marvelous images.  Here a "tree of donation receipts" and an old Buddha with a perectly lit wall.  Yummy!

The effect of the whole wal with the natural window lighting.  (NO, the darkened corners are not an artifact of the lens . . . it looked that way!)

The Wat held a Buddha Colossus . . . but just.  It also held many very old relic Buddha heads from ancient Wats that no longer exist . . . that were incredibly lit by the reflections of the colossal Buddha and a very red carpet (see below).  FANTASTIC!

The giant Buddha image sat upon a magnifiscent base.

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from a red carpet in the sunshine.  Incredible!

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from a red carpet in the sunshine.  Incredible!

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from a red carpet in the sunshine.  Incredible!

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from a red carpet in the sunshine.  Incredible!

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from and open window on one side and a red carpet in the sunshine on the other.  Incredible!

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from and open window on one side and a red carpet in the sunshine on the other.  Incredible!

Ancient Buddha head relic bathed in reflected light from a red carpet in the sunshine.  Buddhist pilgrims to sacred Wats place/stick gold leaf squares on revered Buddha icons as a devotional act, these catch and reflect the light.  Incredible!

Red carpet reflections on a gold leaf'ed Buddha.  fantastic!

Buddha image framed by pink donation strips . . . . beauty.

There was much to see and photograph in Bo Phit Buddha Wat, like these colorful breeze-blown festoonments.

Young novice Buddhist monks and their teacher arrived for meditation and  prayer.

Buddhist monk in meditation.

After meditating, the monks walked around the large Buddha image three times clockwise.

The old teaching monk engaged his young novices in spiritual talk from he Buddhist sutras.

Very few tourists meant a not very well developed tourist industry.  There were very few curious shops, and no touts at all pestering us.  Thank you Thailand.

Strangely, recent construction was rapidly disintegrating in the harsh tropical climate, but only a few yards away were works and constructions from many hundreds of year ago still standing.

We left the amazing Wat and walked back a different path through the chedi complex to my truck.

Basil and I decided to have a competition to see who could take a photograph worthy of a Hallmark Schmaltz Award.  This is my candidate.

We spotted this Buddha in a window frame and knew the view from the other side would be remarkable.

The scenes inside the ancient Thai Royal quarters was astonishing.

Beautiful framing.

We left the main Historical Park and headed out into the town.  Aided by my GPS, we fund the giant reclining Buddha.

I performed a devotional ceremony at the golden Buddha altar.  It was a fantastic day.  The reclining Buddha is one of my favorite Buddha poses.  He is relaxing, at peace.  I went in for a closer look at the yellow draping cloth.

The found the strong light and strong transparent yellow color against the ancient weathered surfaces fascinating.

Amazing textures, patterns, color, and light.

The carved garments of the giant Buddha overlaid with the yellow garments of todays' followers.

Patterns upon textures, upon age itself.

Beautiful abstract images found.

I was reluctant to leave the reclining Buddha, but it was  time for lunch . . . and maybe a massage before moving on to the King's Summer Palace.

We drove into Ayutthaya proper looking for fried chicken . . . and found it, and alot more.

Street food vendor's arraying art.

The Thais hae steadily substituted materialistic consumerism for their Buddhism, and this photo perfectly captures the current state of affairs in Thailand.  Buddhism hangs on in many important ways, but it is in decline.

We managed to endure 90 minutes of head, neck, and leg massage.  We suffer, don't we?

We left our massage lightheaded, as usual, set the GPS for the King's Summer Palace, and hit the road.  We arrived at the Summer Palace at 3:50pm and were greeted by a sign saying "Closed at 16.00" and a guard waving his finger back and forth, "No No."  So we decided to go home.  I set the GPS again to take us home the long way, next to the river.  Along the way we spotted a red colossal monk on the horizon and turned down the small farm road to see if we could fid it.  We passed a forlorn looking Wat with crematorium and pulled in to take a look. 

The Wat had a creepy feeling about it, but some very beautiful Buddha images outside.

We walked around the outside until we found a door next to yet another ancient Buddha.

We went inside and this is what we found:  a great effort had been made to save the collapsed original Wat with elaborate steel girders supporting the original walls.  Around all of this, a new shelter had been erected to keep the old Buddhas out of the weather.  There was a very strange feeling inside, like we shouldn't be in there.

A fine old Buddha.

After first complaining that the light was "bad," we realized there were some fantastically lit old Buddha images after all.  We rushed about taking photos, in a hurry to get out.

Wonderful light indeed!  Unfortunately a cat sauntered up to Basil and bit him on the leg.

Our bright orange shirts were reflecting the "bad" back lighting, so we carefully positioned ourselves to get the best lighting.

We rushed around taking photos when we realized there were red ants falling on us from above.  We left the Wat in a hurry with a feeling that there was "bad gamma" associated with the place . . . and the dogs looked like they would bite.

We drove a few more kilometers on a dirt road and finally found our Mega Monk in a Mega Wat along the Chao Praya River . . . a Mega Wat in the same sense of a Mega Church in the USA: wildly over built, with facilities and parking for thousands of people.  This Wat was a huge investment for someone!

We walked around the Megsa Wat taking only a few photos as the light began to fade into dusk.

I found this lovely Bikku in the pose of receiving understanding from the Buddha Siddhartha.  I walked to the river to see if there would be a sunset to redeem this otherwise disappointing side trip.

I found a pier along the river and was confronted with many barge trains being pulled down the river by there rumbling tugs.

A river barge train in the fading light.

I left the river and went looking for Basil with the idea of just going home . . .when I looked up and thought, "this could be an interesting sunset" . . . .

. . . . it's getting better all the time . . . .

. . . . and an interesting sunset it turned out to be!

A sunset like this, experienced at a Buddhist Wat, is very spiritual.

The sunset kept getting better and better . . . .

. . . . I was stuck in a perpetual OH WOW! moment for the longest time . . . .

We took our last photos and got in the car, sustained by the spirit of that sunset, and drove back into the madhouse Bangkok traffic . . . and home.  It was a wonder-full day.