Landscape Photography Blog of Adam Monk

Continuing on from the last post  on the Fisherman of Hoi An… As we continued down the river we started coming to more and more of these huge fishing nets suspended between 4 poles, they were beautiful, more like a work of modern art than a fishing net.  Since they were suspended horizontally across the water it was difficult to see how they were used to catch fish… unless they were flying fish!

Patience is rewarded, and after passing many of these mysterious nets we finally got to see one in action.  The fisherman appears in his canoe, standing up and rowing with a single sculling oar, sometimes with his foot… which is an impressive sight. Read the rest of this entry »

Well so much for regular entries whilst on tour through Vietnam and Cambodia!  There just never seemed to be any time with so much to see and do.  So here I am back in Cambodia again, post tour, researching next years tour… honestly, i’m working!

Hoi An Fisherman

Sunrise on the Hoi An River

One of the Highlights of Vietnam for me was an early morning river trip we took with a local photographer I found whilst wandering the streets of Hoi An in Central Vietnam.  Thai Tuan Kiet was born in Hoi An and runs a photographic gallery on one of the main streets of his own work shot over many years, he unfortunately doesn’t have a website (yet) but his work is beautiful.

First Big fish of the morning

I got talking to him and it turns out he does day tours for Photographers in the countryside around Hoi An and particularly up the river to the fishing villages where no tourists go…  Luckily our tour has a lot of flexibility, and everyone was keen to get up at 4am to grab this opportunity… perhaps not keen, but certainly willing… Lucky for hotel wake up calls!

Back to work

We had a perfect morning for our boat trip, no wind and some beautifully shaped cloud that gave the sky some fantastic personality.  The fisherman were all very friendly and keen to show us their catch for the day so far.

I took the Hasselblad H4D-60 out on the boat and shot all morning with it handheld, its just such a lovely camera to use I was loathe to put it down.  In fact the only time I used the canon 5D for the day was when we visited the fishing village and I needed something a bit more manoeuvrable.

All these images have just had a quick workup in Lightroom on the laptop, so when i get home to a nice big screen I’ll spend some more time and refine them further.

Travelling through Vietnam right now on my Photographic tour of Cambodia and Vietnam.  We left Cambodia a few days ago and I have just a few minutes to put up a couple of images from some of the temples of Angkor.

Ta Prohm, The original Tomb Raider Temple. Angelina was unavailable

We spent 3 days in Siem Reap exploring some of the ancient site of Angkor which is over 400 square km, so we didn’t get to see all of it.

Angkor Wat wall carvings

Some of the temples in the complex are over 1500 years old and the amount and complexity of the carving is outrageous, the Khmer builders  decorated nearly every square cm with intricate bas relief carvings, so while the sheer size is impressive, its the level of detail that really captures my imagination.

Angkor was also a great place to play with the Hasselblad H4D-60, and here I finally put it on a tripod!

Even Monks can be tourists!

More from the Hasselblad H4D-60, this time from Redgate Beach in Margaret River.  On the way down to Walpole a couple of weeks ago (see previous blog entry) we spent a couple of days camping on the Blackwood River (see next Blog entry) just south of Margaret River, and afterwards a night in town.

Redgate Beach Reflections

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It took many years, but I have now gone completely digital, I bit the bullet (made my deal with the Devil) and bought a Hasselblad H4D-60…  H for Hasselblad, 4 because its the 4th generation and D because its digital… 60 because its 60 Megapixels!  Expensive?… Well lets just say that the wooden leg took a bit of getting used to and I’m sure that I don’t need both kidneys!  Is it worth it?  That will be revealed in the coming months, but so far… Yes.

Karri Trees in the rain on the H4D-60

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Smiling Monk in Punakha

Photographic tour dates

The dates are set for the Bhutan Photographic tour for this year.  The tour has changed somewhat from last year and is now a full 15 days in Bhutan with a maximum group size of 10 people, so it will sell really fast.  The tour commences 12th October and runs until 26th of October 2013,  for complete information and the itinerary of this photo tour to Bhutan go to the Bhutan Photographic tour page.

To enquire or to book please call me on (+61 8) 9336 6102 or  email am@adammonk.com

Monks in Thimpu

Concert for the Kimberley with 20,000 people!

John Butler showing 20,000 people how its done

The message for little Colin Barnett was pretty clear on Sunday when approximately 20,000 people turned up for the Wilderness Society’s Concert for the Kimberley.  But was he listening?  Does he ever listen?  Do any politicians ever listen? Read the rest of this entry »

At Risk… James Price Point is just the beginning

This Sunday afternoon in Fremantle is the Wilderness Society Concert for the Kimberley, specifically, James Price Point which is the current hot spot.  The day starts at 1.30pm with a March through Fremantle down to the Esplanade Park for the concert itself, where we will have John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins and Dr Bob Brown will be speaking.  The best bit is that its all for free but of course donations are welcome and its for a fantastic cause.  Bring your dancing shoes and put your hands up for the Kimberley!

Trongsa Dzong

Since there are so many Monks in Bhutan I can hardly only put up one image, so here are a few more.  Mostly photographed in the Dzongs and temples of  Punakha, Trongsa, Thimpu and Bumthang.

Contrasting colours

Path to Enlightenment

It seems the Monks are used to being photographed, I guess they are an easy target, but if you are on the path to enlightenment being magnanimous with a group of photographers is just one small test along the way.  Either way they were all very friendly and obliging, or perhaps gracious is a better description.

Dont forget to click on the images to see the bigger (and better) version.  All three of these images were shot on the Canon 5D Mk II   with a Canon 24-105mm f4L

On the way to the Temp

Bhutan Photographic Tour 2013.

The  dates for the Bhutan photo tour for 2013 are up!  I have redone the whole tour for 2013 and reduced the number of participants to a maximum of 10 people to ensure plenty of personal contact time.  You can read about the new Bhutan photo tour for October 2013 on this page

Serenity

Over 10% of the population of Bhutan are Buddhist Monks, so when you are there you tend to see a lot of them about.  The Dzongs, which are old feudal fortress temples dotted all across Bhutan,  are now used as centres for Government offices and are also house the Monk bodies of Bhutan, quite aptly symbolising the close relationship of the counties government and its religion.  In fact Bhutan is one of the only countries that has its religion (being Buddhism) written into its constitution.

Buddhism in Bhutan

The Buddhism of  the majority of the population Bhutan is what they call middle path Buddhism, that is they won’t kill animals, but they occasionally will eat meat if one of their livestock dies from an accident or old age.  As a tourist in Bhutan you are usually served meat or fish with most meals, as the Bhutanese assume most Westerners want to eat meat, but the great irony of this is that all the meat for tourist consumption is imported from India!

This image shot in Thimpu Dzong, with the permission of the subject, with a Canon 5D Mk II and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L lens

In the fields of Punakha

Bhutan is a country of super friendly people, I’ve said this before but it really is such a noticeable difference to other places I’ve been that it bears repeating.  Not that the people of other cultures are unfriendly (at least not all of them) it just seems in Bhutan people have an innate openness to strangers that for someone from a western country like me it can appear quite startling.

It seems that as a result of this I have many many images of people.  I am somewhat used to (and not surprised by) people refusing my request to take their picture, usually with lots of gestures to the camera and nodding on my part, followed by a solemn shake of the head on theirs.  I find this perfectly understandable, it must be weird having a total stranger come up and want to take your photo.  That almost never happened in Bhutan.  Instead I experienced happy acquiescence and in many cases with kids, insistence that I take their photo.

Vegetable Gardens of Punakha

These two images are of a lovely old lady who had been tending a large

With the days produce

vegetable patch out in the countryside in the region of Punakha.  I took a couple of covert shots with the 400mm lens as she walked up the path towards me, but those shots lack connection as sneaky shots often do.  As we came up to each other on the narrow track I stepped aside for her and with my 3 words of Bhutanese and much gesturing I asked her if I could take her photo.  She simply smiled and nodded.

Shot on a Canon 5D Mk II with a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L Lens

Angkor Thom

I have a few places left on the photographic tour to Vietnam and Cambodia I am leading later this year, departing Perth 27th April 2013 and arriving back in Perth 11th May 2013.  This tour will be a combination of fantastic photo opportunities, cultural experiences and culinary delights combined with lots of free time to explore these locations in your own time and to download images, To read more about this photographic tour (with the full itinerary) click HERE>

Photographic tour to Vietnam and Cambodia Information Session

I am having an information session on this Photographic tour to Vietnam and Cambodia on Thursday 24th January in Leederville (morning and/or afternoon sessions).  If you would like to register for this info session please call Maxiema  on (08) 9382 5049 or  email maxiema@traveltree.com.au

Photo Tour of Bhutan 2013 dates released

We have also finalised the itinerary for the Bhutan Photography tour for 2013.  This photo tour will be a full 15 days in Bhutan from October 12-26 2013 with a completely re-designed itinerary specifically to enhance the photographic and cultural experience, you can read about the full Bhutan photographic tour for 2013 here, or you can call me for more information on (+618) 9336 6102, or email me at am@adammonk.com

The time has come for me to sell my Linhof Technorama 617s III panoramic camera.  I have often compared it to a piece of agricultural machinery, mostly because of the over-engineered way its built, but it is a an agricultural machine that does its job extremely well.  The Linhof Technorama 617s III really is built like a tank and designed to perform in all conditions.  It has no batteries, full manual wind on, mechanical shutters and manual focus.  It shoots 4 exposures on a roll of 120 film (or 8 on a roll of 220), thats 4 exposures of 6cm wide by 17cm long, thats 11 times the area of a 35mm negative, imagine the potential of that!   Read more about Large Format Cameras.

My Linhof Technorama 617s III and lenses. 90mm attached, 72mm in front, 180mm at rear

Linhof Technorama 617s III

The Linhof Technorama 617s III is the benchmark of all panoramic cameras, it’s the one all others are compared to, usually something like… “This camera is nearly as good as the Linhof Technorama 617s III”.  Well this camera isn’t nearly as good, its every bit as good, its the real thing.  For more information about it you can download the Linhof Technorama 617s III pdf from HERE>

So why sell it?  because I’m moving onto a Hasselblad  medium format digital, more on this later. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year,  I’m back at work and it all begins anew.  At the end of my photographic tour to the Bungle Bungles in 2011 we took the group on a cruise on Lake Argyle.  It was a perfectly still afternoon without a breath of wind, a perfect day for cruising on a beautiful lake with the Carr Boyd ranges for a backdrop.

Islands hanging in space

Still waters of Lake Argyle

At one point somewhere near he middle of Lake Argyle, just as the setting sun was making the Kimberley Sandstone come alive and the reflections were rippling on the water, this image presented itself.  It seems to me that the water continued on and on up into the sky with no horizon visible, while the islands in the distance seemed to just hang in space.

The image only remained for a few seconds, and the Linhof Technorama is not the easiest camera to hand hold… and keeping the horizon straight with the 72mm Schneider Kreuznach lens was a challenge (35mm equivalent of about 17mm), but i think its worked and so did the AIPP as they gave me a silver award for it in last years APPAs.

For all the latest Photographic Tours and Photographic workshops with Adam Monk click HERE>

Happy new Year for 2013, make it safe and prosperous, that is certainly my intention.  The Gallery will be closed for another couple of days to give us a short holiday after a big year in 2012.  We will be opening for business again at 10am Friday January 4 2013.  Thanks to all our Clients and Friends for their support throughout 2012, and we look forward to seeing you again in 2013.

Let the Dance begin

During many of the festivals in Bhutan (a country with lots of festivals), they act out their traditional stories in dance.  Most of the stories are quite incomprehensible to the uninitiated without a guide explaining them, but they are fantastic to watch and exciting to be a part of the enthusiastic crowd as the dancers whirl around the coutyard with their costumes flaring out in bright vibrant colours and patterns. Read the rest of this entry »

Dried red chillies for sale

The Bhutanese love to eat chilli, they eat it with almost every meal, but like a vegetable (actually a fruit) rather than a seasoning, the chilli  is the main part of the dish.  So they need a lot of chillies, and almost every small farm holding throughout rural Bhutan has at least one small field of chillies, some have very big fields of Chillies, and every market will have a large selection from green to red, and from fresh to dried. Read the rest of this entry »

A young Buddhist Monk in Vietnam

The Vietnam and Cambodia Photographic tour that I am leading is approaching fast, we depart Perth 27th April 2013 and arrive back in Perth 11th May 2013.  This tour is a great combination of fantastic photo opportunities, cultural experiences and culinary delights combined with lots of free time to explore these locations in your own time and to download images, To read more about this photographic tour click HERE>

Information Sessions

I am having an information night on this Tour at 10.00am and again at 6.30pm, on Tuesday Dec 18th in Leederville.  If you would like to register for one of these sessions please call Maxiema  on (08) 9382 5049 or you can email maxiema@traveltree.com.au

Halong Bay at sunset

Are you getting my best side?

Bhutan is a great country to be an animal, stray animals are cared for and fed by just about everybody and i have never seen so many happy well fed stray dogs.  The bhutanese almost never or rarely eat meat, usually only when an animal dies by accident or old age, and i’m pretty sure they never eat cat!

The face of contentment

Rice field landscape

I thought it was time to put up some shots from my recent photographic tour to Bhutan that were not portraits, so here we go…  Bhutan is situated at the Southern base of the Himalaya range, squashed between India, Tibet and Nepal, so as you would expect most of the country is mountainous. Read the rest of this entry »

Bhutan carpenter

These are random shots from a roadside stop on the way to Trongsa Dzong in central Bhutan.  this fellow and the rest of his team were in the process of putting up a viewing platform shelter on the opposite side of the valley from the Dzong (temple fortress).  And like almost all officially placed lookout platforms, it was in the wrong place!  It was situated directly opposite the Dzong and the view was very uninspired, the workers themselves were much more interesting, this fellow in particular.  He has such a lovely open face, and the light was just right.  I got some more interesting pictures of the Dzong later.

Trongsa Province, Central Bhutan.  Shot with a Canon 5D Mk II, 24-105mm f4L lens.

The Portrait

If the Wrinkles on a persons face are the roadmap of their life, then this Bhutanese fellow has had a very full life indeed.  Bhutan is a country of people for me primarily. The countryside is spectacular, the nature is wild and the architecture beautiful, but the faces of the people were what i kept seeing and photographing first.  The people have such beautifully open and diverse faces, so i took lots and lots of portraits, some sneaky ones, like this one, but most with the consent (and a conversation, with lots of hand waving and laughing) with the person involved.

A road map to life

This image shows an old Man watching a festival in a small Monastery of back country Bumthang, a province of Central Bhutan.  Maybe for the next Photographic Tour of Bhutan I will concentrate more on landscape?

Prayer Flags and no Depth of Field

Im back from my first photographic tour of Bhutan.  What an amazing country full of lovely people and spectacular scenery, Bhutan really is a photographers paradise.  The problem is, I took 5000 photographs, well, thats not actually the problem, the problem is choosing which image to put up first!  So i’ve begun pretty randomly with the first images that caught my eye when i was editing in Lightroom this morning. Read the rest of this entry »

Click to download the pdf flyer

Exciting news!  I have just finalised the details for an amazing Photographic tour of Vietnam and Cambodia for 2013.  Their will be a whole page going up about this with loads more details (very soon), but i wanted to get this up straight away.  The tour is 15 days/14 nights and leaves Perth 27th April 2013, includes just about everything and costs just $3950 (twin share) per person. You can read more about this photographic tour here>

Information Night

We are having an information night this Thursday evening 23rd August in Leederville.  I know its short notice, but if you would like to come along Give Maxiema a call on (08)9382 5049 or you can email maxiema@traveltree.com.au  Even if you cant come to the info night but you would like to know more Maxiema will be happy to send you some information.

Sorry folks, I’ve been off the air for ages, i’ve been doing a major renovation on my house and it seems I’ve barely had time to check my emails let alone make blog entries!  I could do a series of posts on why you should never renovate your house, but that would be a little off topic, lets just say it was a huge learning experience.  The biggest thing I learnt was never to do it again.  I hope somebody will remind me of that next time i decide to renovate…

Back on topic… The Photographic tour of Bhutan for 2012 has sold out.

Photographic Tour of Bhutan 2013

The good news is if you really wanted to go to Bhutan but couldn’t make it, or just missed out due to this years tour filling up, I will be running this tour again in 2013 October 12 to 26th October, You can read the full Bhutan photo tour Itinerary and information right here.  If you would like some more information, or simply to book for my Bhutan photography tour call me on (+61 8) 9336 6102 or you can email me at am@adammonk.com or you can keep an eye on this site, since now i’m not a full time builder, i will be posting more.  In fact, i am about to put up a whole new home page for the workshops and tours that will make finding the latest information really easy, you can find that page here>

There will be lots of new exciting tours added shortly, the next one will be for a photographic tour of  Vietnam and Cambodia, also in 2013, for 15 days leaving 27th April.

Photographic Tour

The Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park is one of the The Kimberley’s most spectacular places. Another world of ancient beehive shaped domes, gorges, towering chasms and hidden creeks, it truly is world heritage place that you should not miss, and once you have been you will want to go back (as i do…).

Twilight view of the Bungles from the Picaninny Creek Lookout

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This is the image i referred to a few posts back of Spillway Creek of Lake Argyle in flood, there is a handy photographer in the foreground to give perspective to the image, and here is another image i posted a while back from the same area.

Photographer dwarfed by the huge standing waves of Spillway Creek

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Only 4 places remain for this years tour

The photographic tour of Bhutan departing Perth 24th of October this year has almost sold out already.  We only have a total of 20 places, and 16 of those are already booked and paid for.  We are going to have another information night on Tuesday March 27th at the same place in Leederville to fill those final places, so if you were thinking about going on this tour give Maxiema a call on (08)9382 5049 or email maxiema@traveltree.com.au to book your place on the information night.  Its a free evening where you get to see some great photography and hear some very interesting stuff about Bhutan, all over a glass of wine.  Very civilised.

Champagne Springs at Dusk, El Questro Station in the East Kimberley Region

I have always looked at the sign pointing to the trail to Champagne Springs at El Questro Station, in the East Kimberley region, thought about it… But never walked it. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Happiness Index in action

Don’t forget, the information night for this years Photographic Tour of Bhutan is on this Thursday evening (23rd February 2012) in Leederville.  We still have a few spaces available, so if you would like to come please give Maxiema a call on (08)9382 5049 or you can email maxiema@traveltree.com.au Read the rest of this entry »

The Kingdom of Bhutan

Bhutan Photography Tour 2013

After a hugely successful Photographic tour to Bhutan in 2012 I am doing it all again in 2013.  The Bhutan 2013 photo tour has been refined and finessed from what I learned in Bhutan 2012, we are staying in Bhutan for a full 15 days (skipping the two nights in Bangkok on the way back) to allow us to slow down and take more time in each location and I have reduced the numbers on the tour to a maximum of 10 people.  The tour is unashamedly photographic in nature and  now begins and ends in Bangkok to allow for those who are coming from different countries or states, and for those who wish to continue onto another destination after the conclusion of the tour.  For all the information on the current  photographic tour of Bhutan  including a full itinerary, simply click on this link.

Bhutan Photographic Tour 2012

I will be escorting a 2 week photographic tour of Bhutan later this year.  This will be a fantastic opportunity to see this amazing country at the best time of year with an experienced local guide to show us the sights you would never find by yourself.  And of course i will be along to ensure everyone gets the best shots of this fabulous mysterious country, a place where they dont judge wealth with GDP (gross domestic product), but with a NHI… a National Happiness Index!

The national happiness index

The tour will be 13 nights/14 days departing Perth 24th October 2012 (with 1 night in Bangkok on the way over and 2 on the way back),   included are all your  transport, accommodation, all meals in Bhutan, guides and of course expert photographic tuition from me.  I reckon for 2 weeks of once in a lifetime experiences thats a bargain.

We will be having an information evening Thursday 23rd February over in Leederville, where we will explain the whole itinerary and how its all going to play out, along with a couple of slide shows (short ones…).  If this sounds like something for you and you would like to come to the information night, give me a call on (+61 8) 9336 6102 or you can email am@adammonk.com

To give you a bit of a taste of what to expect here are a few images from George Booth, who organises the whole tour and his friend Ullrich Kunzmann (in fact all these images are from these 2 fellows), neither of whom are professional photographers. Don’t forget to click on the images to get a bigger view.

Bhutanese dancer at one of the many festivals

Behind the scenes at the festival

Scenic prayer flags, typical sites of the countryside

A Friendly local

Another friendly local

Im definitely showing signs of improvement, with 2 posts in two weeks!  This is another shot from my latest trip to the Kimberley last year.  I haven’t been into Geikie Gorge for quite a few years, as its near Fitzroy Crossing just off the main road and if i’m going that way the Gibb River Rd is my preference.

Geikie Gorge Twilight reflections

Camping around Fitzroy Crossing is a bit scarce, unless you want to stay in a camp ground in the town, which i don’t, as it’s not really my favourite town… though in saying that, it does appear to have improved in the last 10 years, which was the last time i stopped there. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s half way through January and i still have my gallery Christmas opening hours up as my last blog post… so much for new years resolutions!  Oh well, i can only move on from here and hope i can do better.  With that in mind i have this great image from Ivanhoe Crossing just out of Kununurra, in the East Kimberley Region, that i took back in July of last year.

Road Closed...!

The water is still raging after the huge wet season, and as you can see, the road is still closed…  I just love the irony of this actually being a road.  I think its something only someone who has been to the North of Australia would fully appreciate.  I’ve driven my car across this crossing before (not this trip!) and i have fished for Barramundi out in the middle of it (unsuccessfully unfortunately), but i don’t think i’d be wading out there now. Read the rest of this entry »

Monk Art Photography Gallery will be closed over the Christmas & New Year period until January 10th (2012), when Normal trading hours will resume.  All of us here at Monk Art Photography wish you a Merry Christmas, and a safe and prosperous New Year for 2012.  We look forward to seeing you soon.

Illegal activity at JPP ©Nigel Gaunt 2011

Amazing News for all Western Australians (except Colin) and in fact all in the world who care about James Price Point and the future of the KImberley Region.  The State Governments recent underhanded stance of threatening compulsory acquisition unless the Traditional owners of JPP handed over their land for industrial rape and pillage has been declared illegal by the Australian High Court.  Its back to square one for Woodside and their pocket politicians.

This is a major Victory against the might and political power of corporations and their ability to simply buy what they want regardless of any environmental, cultural and moral rights, and it brings to light in very plain terms the sheer incompetence of the current WA state Government. Read the rest of this entry »