It’s been a while since I posted a Monk Shot! so I thought I’d make up for it with two today:

One of the nice things about photographing monks in Chiang Mai is that you can often combine a Monk Shot! with an Ubiquitous Plastic Stool Shot! It seems every wat in town has a plethora of novice monks on hand to accomplish the temple’s daily tasks, which means lots of time for the youngsters to sit around and contemplate life. Or watch television. Which was what this baby monk was actually doing. He was so engrossed in whatever show it was he was viewing that he paid absolutely no attention to the farang taking his photo. The shots I snapped from the front captured his dissatisfaction with the show perfectly, but a frowning baby monk just doesn’t make for a good photo. The Ubiquitous Plastic Stool captured from the back, however, did.

A properly reverent photo of a young monk at Chiang Mai’s Silver Wat, or so you’d assume. But he wasn’t having a little one-on-one time with the Buddha; he was waiting (and watching) his mates finish sweeping the altar area. Two minutes later the scene was a gaggle of young monks laughing and messing with each other. Until an older monk poked his head in the doorway. Then they scattered. Still, a nice photo. And it wasn’t until recently that it dawned on me how seldom you see pews in a Thai wat. The wiharn is usually an open floored hall. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another wat that has this type of seating area.

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