The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

It was a beautiful Saturday late afternoon in Bangkok when I went to meet my friend at Wat Arun for some photography and then on to my favorite music venue, Saxophone, for some good live music.

Left to right:  my friend and I at Wat Arun.

Wat Arun is a fantastically ornate temple and chedi complex astride the Chao Phraya River.

Wat Arun had been closed for many months, and shrouded in scaffolding for a major restoration.

There are several temple structures, and several chedis crammed into a big square compound.

The Wat Arun chedis are covered with intricate detail.

When I say covered with intricate detail, I mean intricate detail.

A phantasmagoria of Buddhist imagery.

A massive and decorated chedi.

There are a variety of structures at Wat Arun.

There were quite a few tourists, Thai and foreign, at Wat Arun that afternoon.  These steps were very steep and irregular.

I climbed those steps for this view.

Such powerful visions!

A Yak . . . a monster guard.

As the afternoon light faded into evening, Wat Arun became more interesting.

Bronze Buddhas here and there.

Buddha and chedi at Wat Arun.

Another bronze Buddha on the opposite side from the other one.

Buddha in the golden light of the photographer's magic hour.

Buddha and bikkus.

Buddha Gotama and detailed Wat Arun chedi.

The last of the golden light settling on the Wat Arun chedis.

Some of the disassemble scaffolding from the recent renovation were still to be recovered.

Deeper shadows . . . 6:00pm and the word went out to leave Wat Arun because it was closing time.  Oh no!

I hated to leave Wat Arun as the light was getting better by the second!

Wonderful late light . . . but . . .

A beautiful light fell on this encased Buddha shrine.  We said iur good-byes to Wat Arun and headed out onto the small alleys to find the old Portuguese Cathedral . . .

We found the Portuguese Cathedral along a stretch of river bank.

The last light on the old church front.

There could not be a greater contrast between this (recently restored) church interior and the splendor of Wat Arun only a few hundred meters away.

We walked from the church to the river bank, now alight with tour boats and the shopping plaza on the far bank.

Even at this hour, a troika of tug boats were struggling against the current to move a train of four huge rice barges to their upriver destinations.

Looking up the river, we saw the last colorful light of a marvelous Bangkok sunset.

These sunsets are very fleeting this close to the Equator . . . the sun goes down very fast here.

We were so infatuated with the sunset that we hadn't noticed this amazing old, pre-war teak wood house bathed in the orange glow of the dock lighting.

Only the shadow knows . . . a self portrait.

Beautiful traditional detailing . . .

And, yes, the house is lived in . . .

I could not get enough of this old wooden house . . . it was mesmerizing.  We left to take a taxi across Bangkok to the Saxophone Pub.

There was a very good Thai 'salsa band' playing.

The trumpeter was especially good.

Great jazz chops.

The band sung in Spanish.

The bass player kept the band very tightly together.  We really enjoyed ourselves the entire afternoon and evening.

After four wonderful years living and working in Scotland, we have returned home to Thailand.

Back in the Buddhist World . . . and happy about it.

The Wat Poh Reclining Buddha almost completely fills the Wat it occupies.

So powerful in it's grandeur.

The Wat Poh Buddha at rest.

Wat Poh, and its Reclining Buddha image, is my favorite place in Bangkok.  My friend John Stiles and I went there on my second day back in Thailand.

The lower legs were under repair . . . but the feet were exposed.  Amazing.

Wat Pho is a great place to just wander around . . .

There is always something interesting just around the corner at Wat Poh.

The grounds of Wat Poh hold many temple structures.

What to do with too many donated fans?

Buddhas.  Lots of Buddha images at Wat Poh.

A monk ghost in the Buddha Hall.

So many beautiful Buddha images in Wat Poh.

I am always surprised to discover that there will be one Buddha that I relate to more than all the others. This one seemed special to me.

Night fell on Wat Poh . . .

What a fantastic place!

My friend John is always on the lookout for the perfect photo.

A calm and peaceful place on the first night of 'Buddhist Lent.'

Pilgrims walking around the temple, candles lit.

The lights went on the chedis of Wat Poh.

We wandered for hours among the structures of Wat Poh that evening and into the night.

The moods of the spaces changed as it grew darker.

Wat Poh is filled with interesting structures.  I would like to learn the significance and history or each.

You cannot believe our own eyes; the beauty!

Interesting shadows everywhere.

We walked out of Wat Poh and into the dark streets of Old Bangkok.  10:30pm and still 31c.  Fantastic to walk around Bangkok at night. We headed toward the river nearby.

Wat Arun across the Chao Praya River.  The dock at right is for the river 'taxis' - actually river busses. I was going to take one home up the river (one hour) but the service had stopped already.

Wat Arun.

Restaurant cruise boats passed by.

We both knew of a small restaurant along the old piers that line the river.

A very laid back waiter took care of us: beer, then rice and minced pork with chilies.

Don't look too close at the kitchen . . . just enjoy what comes out of it.  We did.

I am always in the histories that are revealed in the old surfaces . . . this old wooden shop house still had vestiges of past generations hung about here and there.

The old and the new.  That Pepsi salesman really gets around!!

We walked out the way we came in . . . through this wooden hall leading us off the dock and into the Bangkok night.

Dark, old space.

The Royal Palace, Wat Phra Kaew, is next to Wat Poh and is always a busy area of Bangkok.  Tourists sped through the night on a wild tuk-tuk ride.

Late night tourists engage in selfie-taking behaviors in front of the palace walls.  John and I did the same!!!

It was a beautiful night to be out walking along the palace walls.

At around 11:00 we started to flag taxis to see if they wre interested in taking us to our different parts of the city . . . several didn't, but eventually we each secured a taxi.

I recently returned home to Thailand for a brief vacation.  While there I stayed in an old hotel with a marvelous stairwell lighting fixture.

The light, color, repeating patterns, and ambiguity of space were astonishing.

I climbed those stairs many times choosing multiple angles and compositions.  Pakkred, Thailand, January 2016. [Fuji X-T1 and 10-24mm f4.0 lens]

We spent the last five day in Bangkok high up in the Grand Centara Hotel . . . thanks Marc for the upgrade!  The view from our 51st floor room was beautiful in the daylight . . .

. . . beautiful in the evening . . .

. . . and beautiful at night.  Good-bye Bangkok, it has been a fantastic 17 years!  I'll be back in Thailand for retirement one day . . . but first . . . a summer vacation in:

The Pacific Northwest, USA

Olympia Washington: My sister-in-law Mary is a great gardener.  She grows everything.  It is always a treat to go from the steaming tropics of Thailand directly to to cool climes of the American Pacific Northwest.

I still had Internet access, so I had fun with my big camera in the Mary's garden.

Very sweet.

We all took several long nature walks along the shores of Puget Sound.  The blackberries were not ripe yet . . .

. . . but the salmon berries looked inviting.

The essence of the Pacific Northwest.

New life everywhere under the forest canopy.

A nice morning to row about on one of the arms of Puget Sound. An old log loading pier still stands.

It Doesn't Get More American Than This: The Monmouth, Oregon 4th of July Parade.The Monmouth, Oregon Parade is open to anybody from the community who wants to 'parade' themselves.

It's a great opportunity to crank up that old tractor you lovingly restored, and drive it down Main Street. I love this little town: I attended two years of univesity here.

An old Mac Truck.  Nice.  Brought back memories of El Paso, Texas at 3:00am in 1958 for me.

As is my personal tradition, I ingest The National Dish on the 4th of July every year.  Yep, it was great.

What would a parade be without a car show?  I met my Hot Rod photo quota for the year.

I LOVE these flames!

I prefer the 4-door fat fender hot rods . . . you can take your friends. 

Silver Creek Falls, Oregon My good friends Jeff & Sharon under Silver Creek Falls.  It was a good day for a trail walk in the foothills of the Oregon Cascades.

Oregon.

Delicate new growth.

More ripe salmon berries.

A beautiful trail through the forest along Silver Creek.

A serene mountain stream.

Upper Silver Creek Falls is somewhat unique because the trail takes you under and behind the falls, making for unusual photo opportunities.

Loud and beautiful.

You can judge the scale in this photo by noticing the size of the hikers on the trail.

A perfect day.

Looking out from behind Upper Silver Creek Falls.

Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaI visited my daughter near Valley Forge.

We all went to the Longwood Botanical Gardens for a morning stroll with my new grandson, Torin.

Scrumptious cacti!

Lovely flowers everywhere.

Touching.

Longwood had formal Italian gardens too.

The tropical greenhouses were interesting.

I remember seeing these same lotus pads in Jogjakarta, Indonesia a few years ago.

I had to laugh when I saw these wax flowers . . . I came half way around the planet to see a flower that was growing in my back yard in Bangkok!

Lovely early summer day in Pennsylvania.

Ocean City, New JerseyA strangly cold summer in Ocean City New Jersey.  We took a walk with our freinds, Bud, Gaile,  in the gathering gloom . . .

Night falling over Ocean City.

Last Light.

New England VillageI won't reveal the exact location of this village in New England, except to say that it was the perfect New England village.  Our good friends from Bangkok, Joe and Nancy, recently retired there.

A dream . . . more like a living calendar!  Just too perfect.

Rural Colonial New England.

Mmmmm.

House Proud New Englanders sure know how to spruce a place up.

Around Nancy's garden.

A friend's home.

More old barns than I had time to photograph . . .

I could have stopped a hundred times . . . but Bud and I had more important things to do . . . .

NASCAR at New Hampshire SpeedwayYep, Bud and I joined 40,000 of our best friend and at the New Hampshire 300.  Bud commented that the people watching here was like looking through a 1920s physiology text book, so varied were the physiognomies of the gathered throng.

We rooted for Juan Pablo Montoya . . . . and I think we were the only ones who were.  We rooted for him when we saw him at the Chinese F1 race in Shanghai years ago too.

It was an unseasonably hot day with the threat of rain that never materialized. It was a good, tight race with surprising results.  Loud and fast . . . just the way I like it.

Loudoun, New Hampshire.  Pre-race ceremonies were colorful, to say the least.

At exactly 9:01 this morning the movers arrived in their little truck.  We're moving to Scotland!

The packers got right to work.  They seemed to know what they were doing . . . imagine doing this every day.

Everything, big and small, was wrapped in paper . . .

. . . and then in bubble-wrap.

Sometimes the wrappage seemed excessive.  I would have thrown these in a box and forgot about them . . .

Lots of keepsakes and mementos of Thailand nicely packed and awaiting their trip to Aberdeen, Scotland.

As the morning wore on, the boxes started to accumulate.

We do have some warm weather clothes to pack from our "winter" vacations out of Bangkok . . . but not too much.

We have had to pare down our home altar.  We are only allowed to export five Buddha images from Thailand.  We have competed all the applications and submitted the paperwork for legal exportation of Buddha items and old Thai artifacts.  All travellers out of Thailand are required to do this.  It is a good thing.  We will have  new home altar in Aberdeen.

This is our shipment ready to go.

And away it goes!

The truck is loaded.

Loading our possessions . . .

. . . see you in six weeks.

Our Transpo/Asian Tigers packing crew.

And off it all goes, June 10, 2013.