Adam Monk Photo Tours

This is an image I shot last year while on my Photography tour of Bhutan, I’ve been meaning to put it up for ages as I rather like it.  Really, the light makes the shot, though I guess that’s a common thing with photography.

For this image it had been raining and windy on and off all day, and this was a small break in the weather.  The clouds were moving rather fast, so the sunbeams were shifting and changing all over the place.  I took about 10 exposures on the Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 50mm lens (about the equivalent to a 32mm in full frame 35mm speak), but I liked this one the best, with the sunbeams illuminating the green field in front of the house, a little on the hill behind it and the forest on the hillside opposite.

Halls Head Beach in Mandurah with the Hasselblad H4D-60 medium format Digital camera.  Sometimes size does matter!  I took this a while ago at a beach I have been going to for many many years, this was the first time I had ever taken a camera down there… Sometimes its difficult to see what’s right in front of you…

When I take a tour group to one of these stunning cultural festivals in Bhutan I try to remain as unobtrusive as possible, bearing in mind that this is their festival, and I am a guest.  I tend to stand quietly in one place for quite some time, on the corner of a building or off to the side of some steps, watching and when the opportunity presents making an image, like this one.

Dancers having a Tea Break at the Prakar Lhakhang Tshechu in Chumey

Not Getting in the Way

The Bhutanese are lovely friendly people and a regular occurrence when they see me standing at the back is to invite me forward (to stand in front of them) so I can see better… Now I am 180cm tall and most Bhutanese are somewhat smaller than that, so if I stand in front of them they won’t be able to see a thing.  Naturally I decline, but often that simple interaction is enough to start a conversation where I often discover that the person I am talking to studied in Australia (Engineering, science or similar), or has a brother, or sister, or Son or Grand Daughter studying there.

Image shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 and the 100mm f2.2 lens… without getting in the way or being a nuisance.

For the locals in the Chumey valley of Central Bhutan the dancing of the Prakar Lhakhang Tshechu (religious festival in the Chumey Valley) has special significance and meaning.  The figures both celebrate their rich cultural and religious heritage and they believe simply witnessing the dances will absolve and release them from many sins committed the previous year.

Watching the Demons Dance

Buddhism in Bhutan

Bhutan is a Buddhist country, but as Buddhism travelled across Asia, transported by the travelling Gurus, it changed and evolved absorbing and adopting many of the animist beliefs of the locals.  This you can clearly see in the Buddhist festivals of Bhutan with their many stories and legends of spirits and demons of the land that have become an integral part of local Bhutanese Buddhism, nothing illustrates this better than the Demon Dance on the final day of the Tshechu.

Image shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 and the 100mm f2.2 lens on my last Photo Tour to Bhutan

In less than 10 days I will be back in Bhutan for the Spring festivals perhaps watching a few more demons being vanquished, this time in Punakha Dzong for the Punakha Dromchen.  You can read about it right here>>

The Demon of Chumey Valley

This is the final dance of the Prakar Lhakhang Tshechu in Chumey Valley,  where the whirling demons are chased back through the door to the sound of chaotic drumming and stamping.  Quite a lot of Ara has been consumed at the is point by all the performers, so it really is a mad frenzy, amazing to watch.

Image shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 and the 100mm f2.2 lens

More images from the Kingdom of Bhutan, This time of the Black Hat Dancers of the  Prakar Lhakhang Tshechu (religious festival) in the Chumey Valley in Bumthang, which is in Central Bhutan.

This was during the Black Hat Dance, or Zhana Cham which celebrates the assassination of a Tibetan King in 842AD by a black robed Monk as well as symbolising the subduing of the demons of the Earth by Buddhist Yogis.

The sound of the hand drums the dancers carry symbolises Buddhism itself which has no visible form.  This is one of the most sacred dances at the Tshechu and simply witnessing the dance is said to wash away sins.

The Dance is certainly breathtaking to watch with beautiful costumes and the dancers performing spectacular spins and leaps that become more daring as the day progresses and more Ara is consumed (Local rice liquor) by the dancers.  Incidentally, almost all the dancers at these Tshechus are local Monks.

All these images were shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 and the Hasselblad 100mm f2.2 lens.  Don’t forget to click on the images to get a bigger view.

Photo tour of Bhutan 2014.

Well Bhutan continues to be a popular destination, my photo tour of Bhutan for March 2014 has completely booked out.  I have already started working on the itinerary for the 2015 photo tour of Bhutan, and I will have the dates up shortly for that, so if you missed out this time there will always be the next tour.

Just to whet your appetite a little, this is an image of the Bhutanese landscape on the way out to the Tango Monastery, just a short drive out of Thimpu.  This image was shot early in the day on my last photography tour of Bhutan last October with the Hasselblad H4D-60 and the Hasselblad 100mm f2.2 lens (and a tripod).

A pair of Buddhist Monks enjoying the sunlight, shot from the balcony overlooking the courtyard of Punakha Dzong in Bhutan.  I think the shadows make the shot.

Shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 and Hasselblad 100mm f2.2 lens on my recent Photo Tour to Bhutan.  Don’t forget to click the image to get a bigger version.

Thimpu is the capital of Bhutan, though to call it a city is stretch.  Up to a few years ago Thimpu was just a small town in the Thimpu valley, now it is the biggest “city” in Bhutan and the capital with a population of just over 80,000 people.  To me it’s still a beautiful relaxed town where the locals are always ready with a smile and directions for a lost traveller, or even a lost photography tour group.

Despite its title as Capital City, Thimpu still has no traffic lights, and when the city council tried to instal some there was such a local outcry they were removed again shortly afterwards.

This trip to Bhutan we were blessed with some beautiful skies and some magic sunsets.  This is the Thimpu valley at twilight with the Thimpu Dzong on the right hand side behind the rice fields.  Below is the same location shortly afterwards with the lights of the Dzong lit up.

Both Images were shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 camera and the Hasselblad 50mm f3.5 or the 100mm f2.2.

I have just returned from my latest Bhutan Photo tour where I spent 15 days photographing, teaching and learning.  The great thing about running photography tours is that I learn as much from the participants as they learn from me, not just about photography, but about people skills, diplomacy, about myself and how I react to certain situations.  It really is an illuminating experience that I hope makes each tour better and better.

Ideal Light for Landscapes

Bhutan is always a magical place and this year was not disappointing, the weather last year was all blue skies and sunshine, which is very nice, but this year turned on some magic moody skies and some great overcast days with some lovely soft light for more landscapes, and photographing Bhutan’s wild rivers like the images to the left and below.

The rivers in Bhutan all run straight out of the mountains, usually from snow melt, so they are all rapids and waterfalls, blue and very cold!  The coloured Prayer Flags add a lovely cultural dimension and really place the image firmly in the Buddhist Himalayas.  The Bhutanese, who are almost exclusively Buddhist (Buddhism is part of their constitution) place the prayer flags in many natural beauty spots, particularly high passes and across river valleys.

They are really a great form of labour saving device,  the prayers are written on the flags, which are made in such a way that they unravel in the wind, releasing the prayers as they disintegrate.

I took the Hasselblad H4D-60 along on this latest photo tour (as I did for my tour of Vietnam and Cambodia earlier this year), its not really an ideal travel camera, being rather heavy…  But its such a pleasure to use, and the images are so sharp and clear that I cant say I regretted it for a minute… Except when I had to carry it up the mountain!

Images shot on the Hasselblad H4D-60 and Hasselblad 50mm f3.5 lens.

Bhutan Photo tour for 2014

Next years Bhutan photo tour leaves in march for the spring festivals in Punakha Dzong, wild flowers and battle re-enactments, it will be awesome!