We arrived an hour before sunset to shoot The Bayon Temple.

Late afternoon at the Bayon Temple - seeking the faces of Buddha

Late afternoon at the Bayon Temple – seeking the many faces of Buddha

As we approached, all Jeff and I saw were Buddha faces on all the towers – not exactly exciting for two landscape photographers who were experiencing a serious case of “BF,” Buddha fatigue. We tried to see the beauty of the temple… but the Buddha busts got in the way.

Thank goodness we had Alessandro (see post) with us who quietly pointed out that the essence of this temple was the Buddha busts and to capture the spirit of the temple, we should look to isolate multiples of these figures through the light and shadows created by the setting sun.

Skeptical, we followed his lead. (How many faces do you count in each photo?)

NIKON D800E, f4, 1/125”, ISO 200, 70mm, AUTO1

Buddha squinting in the sunlight

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Contrasting Buddha faces

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Golden light on the faces

The late afternoon light creates a unique perspective of the buddha.  Did we capture the essence of the temple?

And finally, simplifying the same theme , we shot a sunset on the bridge leading from the temple.

Silhouette against the sunset

Silhouette against the sunset

Once again, it’s all about the light.