Four Monks, by Shirren Lim
I took this photo while at the Trongsa Festival in Bhutan back in 2012. I wanted to capture some of the audiences’ expression as they watched the festival. I waited until these four monks showed up in one of the top windows and started taking a few shots of them framed by the beautiful old window.
Award Winner: Photo of the Day | November 15
Award Score: 72 (Value 13, Clarity 13.5, Composition 18.5, Style 13.5, Skill 13.5)
Photo of the Day Award Category: Documentary Photography
Photograph Location: Bhutan
Photographer: Shirren Lim (Jakarta, Indonesia) Registered
Born in Penang Island, Malaysia, in 1970, Shirren would find herself moving cities over the course of her life. She is now based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Shirren took up photography in 2009, as she thought it would be an interesting habit, later she discovered it as her true passion. Shirren loves portraitures best. To her, the expressions people wear are so beautiful, so telling, so uncovered in their sincerity. With her photo-taking, she tries and does justice to capture humanity in its many forms. Shirren’s work has been described as intense and earthy with her simple composition cutting to the heart of the subject matter. As a child, she had flipped through many of her father’s National Geographic magazines, but it was Steve McCurry’s 1984 “Afghan Girl” that she recall two decades later. That is what she wants to do with her life. She believes, someday, she can able to capture that one moment that could change the world. Her work has appeared in several web and printed magazines.
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shirrenlim/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShirrenLim
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Shirren Lim is my favorite photographer. Her sensitivity and eye for ‘Catching the moment’ is unique. Therefore all her photos are remarkable and showing the stories behind. The one above reminds me the same photographic experience I had in a wooden monastery by Inle Lake in Myanmar. I am really touched by the emotions shown in this photo seen on the novice monks faces. It is a mixture of young energy and boredom of the situation of being isolated from the world.