A Look from the Past, a photo from Ayutthaya, Central

Photographer's Note

Ayutthaya - Wat Mahathat - The Head of an Ancient Buddha Image

Ayutthaya had been the Thai capital for 417 years until it was sacked by the Burmese in 1767. It's situated 75 kilometers north of Bangkok and boasts numerous magnificent ruins.

Wat Mahathat was built during the 1370s. It was repaired and restored several times until the Burmese destruction in 1767. It has been a ruin ever since. A dismembered head from one of its Buddha statues was found encased in the roots of a tree and has become the most photographed image in Ayutthaya. This was one of the largest and most important of the city's many temples.

hamster, feather, yesyuvraj, mr_steve ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

cobraphil8 (84) 2005-06-16 10:55

Superb, this head in the wood... excellent !

lermission (304) 2005-06-16 11:49

Hello Olga,

Amazing picture. It's very impressive.
But I'm not quite sure that the barrier on the left is necessary ?
Regards,
Pierre

kevinos (7517) 2005-06-16 12:00

The problem with this subject, like so many others, is that everyone has photographed it so often before. It becomes a bit of a cliché on every tourist postcard. Recently the Fine Arts Department wanted to remove it to a museum but the locals resisted because of its interest to photographers. The challenge with these subjects is how to make a picture in a new, interesting way. I left this one well alone, not knowing how to make it different from all the postcards. Yours is a nice shot, but there just too many shots by now. Regards Kevin

[2]

Ina (2687) 2005-06-16 12:32

Fantastic look of this face in the roots of the tree... Colors are very fine but I wish that the fence wasn't there... Anyway TFS...Ina...

gaudi-spirit (187) 2005-06-16 12:44

Wow very impressive... Nice shot olga and thanks for your note.

hamster (104) 2005-06-17 5:38

Nice. Unfortunately, I haven't time to visit Ayutthaya during my stay in Thailand :( Maybe next time?

feather (51130) 2005-06-17 17:35

Hi Olga
An interesting photo and a very unusual artifact.
We haven't all been to Thailand so thank you for showing us this. I have done a workshop to take out the fence that is worrying some people. Hope you find it useful
Kath

[workshop] [compare]

Malach (0) 2008-02-27 6:11

i like that