Door at Thiksey Gompa, a photo from Jammu and Kashmir, North

Photographer's Note

28 of 36

It's just a picture of a door, but what a door it is!

This splendidly painted door was at Thiksey Gompa, and struck by the beauty of it's decoration, I set about trying to photograph it.
Now, door photography may not strike you as one of the more extreme areas of this wonderful pastime, but I can assure you that getting this shot wasn't easy.
Rubbish, you say, that door isn't going to go anywhere, it's just sitting there, right?
Perhaps, but due to it's position on a balcony, with a flight of stairs rising from the bottom right at ninety degrees to the door, you can't just stand happily in front of it and snap away. So after selecting a step from where I was more or less at eye level with the centre of the door (to avoid that annoying 'leaning back' distortion), I had to balance more or less on one leg, and with one hand on the wall for support, took the shot one-handed. This aroused the interest and amusement of a passing family of Indian tourists, who clearly thought I was insane.

Perhaps it's all a long winded way of making a picture of a door seem interesting, but my point is that sometimes the shots that would appear simple to take aren't always so easily achieved.

Paolo, banukulaksiz, eleparc, vbl, sabyasachi1212, Mikos, sadeik, Preetie ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

Paolo (41258) 2007-04-12 5:45

Hi Ben, good one, with beautiful saturated colours and quite good quality.
good exposure and note.
thanks, ciao

banukulaksiz (157) 2007-04-12 6:13

I really appreciate your efforts to take this photo Ben! This door is worth shooting! Keep sharing :)
best wishes
banu

eleparc (24063) 2007-04-12 6:34

Hi Ben, although I thing you did pretty well withthe compo, i am afraid there is a real problem with the colors... It is all too reddish and burnt! Is it the scan or is the original slide the same? I am sure not!
I loved the place too!

ktanska (45046) 2007-04-12 8:16

Hi Ben,
Interesting note. Considering the place I probably wouldn't have noted the door at all. Very careful framing. The way those paints mix tells about tough use and rough conditions. It's good that detail shot are still submitted here, although they always seem to get less attention.
Kari

vbl (1421) 2007-04-12 9:10

He Ben:
magnífic door, i like very much this vibrant colors.
Really interesting shot, and great note
regards vanessa

stiginthedump (1833) 2007-04-12 9:12

It certainly is a nice door with some great colours and detail. I can't think of anything negative to say so I won't! Did you take some more photos of the building that housed the door? Gonna have to take a trip to India in the near future!

batalay (41261) 2007-04-12 17:00

Hello Ben,

What vibrant colors and definition! With a symmetric subject as the one you've chosen, the best way is to accentuate the symmetry, and the subtle asymmetries will appear as highlights. Well done,

Regards from Virginia, USA

Bulent

keribar (43841) 2007-04-12 23:36

Yeah Ben, what a door !

Could become a wonderful poster or the front page of a magazine with a story related to the region - Well framed and presented.

I wish you a good week-end - Izzet

darrasin (2860) 2007-04-13 2:27

Hello Ben,

I love Velvia and these colors are a perfect example of what this film brings to the table or ... door

The saturated color and intricate details are what make this more than just another door shot. I do wish it were a little sharper but perhaps the original is perfect.

Regards,
Doug

sabyasachi1212 (19779) 2007-04-13 7:31

Hi Ben,
Nicely framed door, the colours are vibrant and makes this all the more pleasing. We photographers are all an insane lot, so let them laugh coz they haven't seen the end result.
Best Wishes
Sabyasachi

mesutilgim (0) 2007-04-13 8:17

Hi Ben,
Wonderfull capture, intensive colors and great compo.
TFS,
MESUT ILGIM

feather (51130) 2007-04-14 13:24

Well framed shot of the door. The colours must have really shouted at you as they are so vibrant. I had a good laugh at the contortions you had to go through to get this; you must have made the family's day.
Kath

partha (14023) 2007-04-15 7:55

Hi Ben ,
The mountain people are full of colour, the door reveals the fact. Nicely spotted.
Partha

BrianGraney (1740) 2007-04-15 8:50

Hi Ben - yes we all suffer for our art!
I can imagine the original slide is superb and the scan has not done it justice, but even so it's evocative and the colours are brilliant. I've have wanted to open the doors and walk in!
Cheers
Brian

Mikos (4326) 2007-04-15 11:00

Hi Ben!

It´s impressive how an ordinary common element, can be seen as an extraordinary one depending on the person, the moment, or the picture. It is a common element, a door, but not a common one. You have centered your attention and point of view, at the most interesting part of it, standing out this way this vivid red, but giving two elements of distraction, to avoid to focus on the red shades.

Very well seen and created Ben!

Thank you so much for your point of view and suggestions about my Majorca picture!

Cheers!

Miguel

sadeik (3282) 2007-04-16 3:23

Can't remember the doors but wish I had taken a photo of these. Seem to remember running very low on film so maybe I only took a few. Certainly a very colourful door with its rich reds and blues. The grain gives it an ancicient feel.

Simon

Burberry1 (6041) 2007-04-16 17:15

Excellent and simply fairy tail DOOR, very pleasant to see.
thanks,
Agnieszka

harras2000 (710) 2007-04-16 17:40

Hello Ben!
A nice and minimalistic picture of this colourfull door a little bit more sharpness on the left side of your picture will be good, but after reading your note it is fully understandable that it wasn't easy to get a sharp picture here. I like the vivid colours of the door.

Daniel

P.S. You wanted to know which scanner I use: Nikon Collscan V (resolution 4000ppi only less than 1/4 of the resolution of the Velvia slide), together with Vuescan scanning software (a very good and cheap scanning software which supports more than 500 scanners, this means you can use it not only with the Nikon scanner, I use it with my Epson fladbed and a friend of mine with his Microtek, when you buy the Pro version of this software for only 79 $ you get the licence for 5 different computers and an unlimited upgrade support), with this sotware you can increase the fuctions of the Coolscan V to allmost the same features like the much more expensive Coolscan 5000.You can also calibrate the Scanner with Vuescan (IT-8 target slides for example available from Wolf Faust www.targets.coloraid.de, for all the Professional slide stuff from Kodak and Fuji) you can't do with the Nikon software. Means that The hardware of the Coolscan V is allmost the same like the more expensive one!!! Obviously the Nikon software restricts the built in functions down.
Still I haven't bought Velvia target slides untill now but the scan results are allready veray good, but I will buy some target slides for my favorite films soon to improve the scan quality more
So with the combination of VueScan the scan results of the Nikon are realy good.

ryno (6869) 2007-04-24 6:36

A simple shot, but well-composed and captured nonetheless. Beautiful sharp colours. (I saw a similar shot in Wanda's gallery - well worth comparing.) Good work!
Cheers,
Ryno

Photo Information

Copyright: Ben WX (ben4321) (9875)
Genre: Lugares
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-10-00
Categories: Arquitectura
Camera: Nikon F6, AF Nikkor 35mm f/2D, Fuji Velvia 100
Versión de la foto: Versión original
Tema(s): World's doors, Your favourites, Knock It!, Doors, Doors [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-04-12 5:31
Favoritos: 3 [Ver]