Reaching for the Clouds, a photo from Madhya Pradesh, Central

Photographer's Note

The Chaturbhuj temple with its wonderful improvised style, and its magnitude, dominates the town area of Orchha. As its name implies, it is dedicated to the "four armed" god Vishnu, and its layout visually reproduces these four arms. Built by Madhukar Shah, the King of Orchha, the temple stands on a huge stone pedestal, about 15 ft high, reached by a large flight of steps leading up to a porch.

This large temple bears close resemblance to a European cathedral. From its arched top to the huge entrances and the large hall, highlights the intuition of a church. The steep flight of steps towards the top of the temple is a fascinating attraction of adventure lovers where one can see the charm of the entire city. The architecture is marvelous. Whosoever designed it, took ideas from several places of worship. The white interior of the monument has cathedral like arches and pillars, the domes are modeled on ancient mosques, the alcoves recall 'mazaars', churches and temples. Madhukar Shah envisaged a secular abode for Raja Rama in this grand temple.

But Chaturbhuj is a desolate structure...it’s massiveness makes everything & everyone around it appear diminutive. The structure, very majestic yet very lonely & serene was I wanted to portray in my picture. After all, Chaturbhuj never ‘lived’ for the purpose it was built. In the Workshop, a picture taken from a similar POV but having a different sky (quite clear sky, the picture was taken around half an hour earlier)... My young daughter preferred the posted version because of the clouds, but I was thinking, maybe the clouds are a bit too white because of the sun just behind the temple? But then she said, the lonely Chaturbhuj in this picture, appears to make friends with the clouds...Kids & their imagination! So I decided to go with her choice.

The Workshop version has a clean blue sky (which I initially thought of posting, the picture being taken half an hour before this one). Which version would you prefer?

isabela_sor, robob, carper, adores, bakes888, feather, Budapestman, testmaniac, siolaw, emjleclercq, riclopes, pierrefonds, jhm, ChrisJ, plimrn, josepmarin, abulafia heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

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isabela_sor (47748) 2008-07-12 5:46 [Comment]

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robob (3648) 2008-07-12 8:21

Hello Angshu,
Personnellement, je préfère la version originale qui, avec les nuages, accentue la dominance de cet édifice,
L’angle de prise de vue est super !
Bien à toi et au plaisir,
Robert

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-07-12 10:30

Ola Angshuman ,
Que belo ponto de visão baixo , o templo parece gigante muito bonitas as suas paredes em tons queimados , o céu ficou magnifico , parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

carper (96) 2008-07-12 10:58

very nice Angshuman,
the pov is orginal with the contrast against those sky, well seen and good photojob here, have a nice weekend.
gr. jaap

elendim (69) 2008-07-12 11:14

Hello Angshuman,
very good job,the sky is perfect!

Best regard,
Elendim!

Scharan (14144) 2008-07-12 11:15

Olá Angshu

Foto muito bonita e composição arrojada.
Interessante arquitetura, muito boa textura e cores. O céu está lindo!
Parabéns pelo trabalho.
GA
Vera

mark_mk (266) 2008-07-12 14:52

Hi Angshu,
a very dramatic image, that`S what I really like. Some might have said the PP is already to much, but I like it! I love the dramatic sky and your low POV gives me an impression of the size of this building, you did a very good job. I see you took it with your Panasonic Lumix, not with the 400D, so I`m impressed the quality is that good. Nice one, thanks for sharing.

Take care
Mark

adores (46979) 2008-07-12 16:50

Hi Angshuman!
They're both ok but I really prefer this one. Seems the towers of the temple are touching the clouds. Very good composition,. I like this pov because it gives a good idea of height.

bakes888 (18499) 2008-07-13 0:59

Hi Angshu. I definitely agree with your daughter, the sky is the clincher. The contrast between the angular architecture and the soft forms of the clouds makes this shot I feel. Nice colour contrasts also. Well captured and thanks for sharing.
Have a good week, Paul.

kiwi_explorer (12209) 2008-07-13 2:50

Hi Angshuman,
Fantastic angle of shot to incorporate that interesting cloud formations. The color contrast between the temple and sky is striking. I like your color treatment on the temple ... it emphasized the ancient look. Well captured and composed. Well done! tfs
Cheers,
Renier

dvlazar (6662) 2008-07-13 5:18

Hi there - a fantastic shot of this architectural magnificence... made all the more interesting with the mottled cloud sky. I like both versions of the sky - thanks for revealing though that its PP!!

DAve

partha (14023) 2008-07-13 6:33

Simple and poetic shot. The sky adds interesting dimension in it.
partha

feather (51130) 2008-07-13 7:59

I agree with your daughter that this one is more appealing because of the clouds. Possibly they are verging on being over-exposed, but not enough to be detrimental. (If this had been RAW you may have recovered quite a bit from the blown highlights). Your low POV works perfectly to emphasise the grandeur of the temple, although from what you say in your note a low POV was probably your only option. You made the choice to use the corner view and that works very well.
Kath

Budapestman (82620) 2008-07-13 8:12

Dear Angshu,
Amazing architectural shot once more with attractive composition. I like the soft lights and the impressive POV, Very well done! Have a nice Sunday
George

testmaniac (13508) 2008-07-13 21:47

Hello Angshu, great architecture photo with perfect composition and POV, but the very difficult light condition makes this photo excellent for HDR PP,but now the light is not so good. Try someday to shot this place again with you new camera.

TFS and best regards,
Phil

aadilj (18102) 2008-07-13 22:34

Th e drama in the sky is so fabulous and brilliantly captured making this more of an action rather than an architecture sho Angshu. Great composition with a lovely perspective

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2008-07-13 22:52

Great composition with the these nice clouds. It's a wonderful shot with a little bit dramatic effect. I really like it.
Best wishes,
Achim

siolaw (38294) 2008-07-13 22:55

Hi Angshu,
Yes, a lonely and looking almost abandoned monument.. the eerie impression is enhanced by the back light, (which is well managed, retaining detail on the facade) and the textured sky...
A good note too!
Greetings
Laurent

emjleclercq (15778) 2008-07-14 0:28

Although interesting, the building looks perhaps a bit dark due to the stains of age on the stone, but the sky is very nice with all these rounded clouds.

All the best,

Emmanuel

riclopes (35577) 2008-07-14 0:29

Olá Angshu, I'm so glad that your daughter convinced you :) I can see the beauty of the blue WS, making it a more serene image and also heavier architecture...But this wonderful sky is much more enjoyable, magical, inspired. So it is, that I'm a bit sorry not to see a bigger portion of it above its 'towers'. Great shot. What a fantastic collection of Orchha you have, my friend.
Have a nice start of week,
ricardo

papagolf21 (152607) 2008-07-14 1:12

Bonjour, mon ami Angshu,
J'ai bien regardé les deux prises de vue. Le ciel pommelé ajoute un effet spectaculaire à l'édifice. La beauté ressort avec magnificence.
Le temps a marqué son empreinte sur ce superbe temple.
Encore un magnifique cadeau !
Amitiés.
Philippe

Graal (103040) 2008-07-14 1:45

Hi Angshuman,
I like this version here. Another interesting temple, fine shot from low POV, good composition and well informations. Good work.
Gr., Aleksander

pierrefonds (114628) 2008-07-14 4:34

Hello Angshuman,

The title goes well with the photo. The point of view is giving an optical illusion of the towers reaching the clouds. The details and colors of the architecture of the temple are precise. Even if it is backlit, you got a good result. I prefer the version with the clouds. Have a nice day.

Pierre

sagar (2410) 2008-07-14 5:05

Hi Angshumanda,
What an incredible shot. I think I would prefer this version more than the WS for the cloud patterns.Great shot.
Regards,
Sagarneel.

crckt (7222) 2008-07-14 18:36

Hi Angshumanda,
This is better than the WS! much better! Amazing clouds. If you had lightened the shadow and darkened the highlights a little, I think it might have looked nice too.
Regards,
Shaeri

ChrisJ (171888) 2008-07-15 3:54

Namaste Angshuman

I like the mottled pattern of the clouds, and superb shadow detail on the fg building. Tfs!

jhm (211736) 2008-07-15 3:56

Hello Angshu,

I agree with your daughter Angshu, she have a very good thought.
I prefer this picture with the white clouds and the tower as splendid contrast.
Very well composition, pleasant for look it. TFS.

Best regards,
John.

somak_g (497) 2008-07-15 9:13

hi angshu,

i like the workshop version - because in this the sky and the temple are vying for attention - but the sky takes away all your attention and the building looks desolate. but in the other version the building looks more majestic.
or maybe what you could have done is darken the sky and brighten the building in this version itself.

regards
somak

Stepan (27210) 2008-07-16 23:09

So Orchha mood...
The big, strong, dark temple is bigger, stronger and darker in that pov ! And it's ok... The deep contrast with the clear and light sky is excellent. Very well seen and done.
Stéphane

jmcl (14535) 2008-07-17 13:21

Hi Angshu,

wow much more contrast than I expected when I opened this .. goes well with the desolation you describe in your note .. surreal light .. the way the sun works in this image is intense. very nice. take care, John

plimrn (21344) 2008-07-22 6:55

Hi Angshu,
Your daughter is right, the more widespread clouds make a more harmonious compo. In fact, the clouds are what attracted me to this photo from the thumbnail. The lighting is still very difficult but you have made the best of the situation.
HLJ, Pat

josepmarin (59385) 2008-07-22 14:51

Hi Angshuman,
The angle and the perspective that you have obtained in this composition are really magnificent, and give a strong graphism to this beautiful architecture that contrasts with a beautiful blue sky and a few wonderful clouds.
I like the luminosity and the tones of the photo.
And I think that I prefer this sky that that of the WS, it has more visual impact.
Nice work, my friend.
Best regards,
Josep

abulafia (4900) 2008-08-04 23:29

What a beautiful temple Angshu!
It looks very impressive, probably extra much so due to the low angle of the picture.
Had a look at your WS, and definitely prefer the one with the clouds.
Harry