Wong Tai Sin Temple

[plchung]

It's a bit difficult to explain what this temple is. The cult that this temple stands for, is a combination (hybrid) of Taoism (including it's popular religious form), Buddism (from India), and Confucianism (an institutionalised body of knowledge in ancient China with special emphasis on "this-world"). The photos are named after the Chinese calligraphy that appeared in the photo, and I hope my translation is accurate.
#1 The Precious Cave of Purity and Spirit;
#2 The Flowery World is an Emptiness;
#3 Observe Yourself;
#4 The Door of Confucianism.

All thoughts and comments are welcome.

[hellinvader]

that's some cool effect~but den i would prefure have the background shap and double explose the human figures. was it hand held? the background doesn't seem aline to me.
btw~chinese temples r always gd place to photo~i've got some shots of the guan yam temple in Vancouver on the chinese new yr eve.

[hellinvader]

and there's a taiwanese temple 2 blocks away. this temple is not as busy as the other 1, and the pics were shot an hr afta the 1st few @ the other temple.

[Yoyo Szeto]

Hi Alex,
The photos especially the second shot give a strong feeling of confusion. Nice shots.
yoyo

[PlantedTao]

Good photos. I'm not a big fan of long exposures and blur caused by them. The first three are interesting, but have too much movement and blur for my taste (especially for the titles captured).
The last photo is the one I really like. I love the composition (I would maybe crop a little off the top). The girl walking toward the door and then the ghost of a man looking out away from the temple is visually pleasing. The photo does make me think of how we think about past generations and how we do not hold them in the highest regards as in centuries before. The composition fits well with the title. I think you did a wonderful job on this photo.

Cheers

[LauriePriest]

I love these photos, nice work. i like the ghostly effect on some of the work. Im crap at color but i know what i like and i like this alot.
Im all up for long and double exposures , glad to see im not alone.

[plchung]

thanks you guys for your comments. Yeah, temples are very attractive in that it's full of intereaction between human and spirits. I guess hell's photos especially on the Hongkongese temple (the first set) also capture that aspect of the Chinese religious life as well. My way of addressing this issue is through multiple exposures (ps, not film, and handheld - Laurie, u are not alone ah ) - the key idea is to make a contrast between something relatively static (and hence stable and eternal - the titles captured, which represent some idea in Taoism, Buddism and Confucianism) and floating (hence superficial - the human worshipping activities).

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers,

Alex

ps. few words on Wong Tai Sin temple can help understand the cultural background of these photos.
"This Taoist temple is neither new (it was built in 1973) nor well-located (it is in the middle of a public housing estate in New Kowloon) but it is well worth visiting nonetheless. Like most Taoist temples in China, it is an explosion of red, green and blue. Wong Tai Sin himself was a shepherd from Zhejiang province, in China, whom a fairy taught to make a healing potion, and who was subsequently deified. Supposedly, he gives good luck to gamblers, which might explain the temple's popularity in flutter-mad Hong Kong." - from the Economist.com