Photographing the Pagodas of Myanmar Working on New Perspectives

Also see: Our photography tour of Myanmar (September 2014)

When I visited Myanmar last year, one of the many things about the country that fascinated me to no end was the Pagodas spread across the country. There were Pagodas that reached out for the sky in the cities of Yangon and Bago. In Bagan, hundreds of Pagodas were spread as far as the eye can see. In many other places, there were Pagodas old and new, individuals and in clusters, and at various stages of restoration or dilapidation.

One of the many photography-goals that I set before heading to Myanmar was to make unique perspectives of the Pagodas spread across the country. These perspectives were made in the small village of Indein, next to Inle Lake in central Myanmar.

An introduction to the Pagodas of Indein

Indein is a small village located on the banks of vast and beautiful Inle Lake. To one side of Indein are hills covered with dense vegetation. On the other side is the waters of Inle Lake. The village is known for its thick cluster of Pagodas. It’s beautiful to see and lends itself very well to photographs. Not faraway from Indein Pagodas is another smaller cluster of Pagodas, located in the premises of Shwe-Inn-Tain Monastery.

This is a typical perspective of the pagodas of Indein a thick cluster of raising cones, many of them painted in golden yellow.

Here is a selection of what I did to create some unique perspectives.

1. Using a look up perspective

Because the pagodas are constructed densely and very close to each other, I realized that they can be very photogenic in a look up perspective. The pagodas also have a small wheel-like structure in the middle that gets emphasized in a look up perspective and adds a dimension to the otherwise plain conical structures. The golden-yellow paint would work in favour too, glittering and hence gaining emphasis. The bright paint would also mean that the pagodas have an exposure that doesn’t contrast too much from the bright sky. The resulting image of pointing the camera towards the sky is here.

Technical details: Making this image required slightly more effort than merely pointing the camera upwards and pressing the shutter-release button. The pagodas were so densely built that there was no space to stand or lie down among them. This meant a few things to take care of.

I had to place the camera on the ground and shoot using a timer. The timer allowed me a chance to move away from the frame.
Because I was placing the camera on the ground with a timer, if I had used autofocus, there was a chance that camera may end up focusing on the sky and render the pagodas out-of-focus. To prevent this, I pre-focused at about 2 meter distance and then turned off auto-focus. Another way to do this is to use manual-focus and use the distance measure on the lens.
Because the camera was close to the pagodas, and because I wanted it to be sharp from bottom to top, I set a slightly narrow aperture, at f10. Do note I was shooting with a wide angle lens.
Naturally I wanted a good exposure of the pagodas rather then the sky. In normal situations, this would mean locking exposure on a point in the frame. This is again difficult with the camera on the ground. To get around the problem, I first calculated the exposure on the pagodas using the camera’s TTL meter. I changed to Manual mode and set the same exposure, effectively locking the exposure to the pagodas.

The resulting setting was Manual mode, f10, manual focus and timer.

2. Shooting from faraway

The best way to show how large was the cluster of pagodas was perhaps to shoot them from a distance. It would help, if I had had a high vantage point. There wasn’t anything nearby, but a faraway hill, about a kilometer’s walk provided the perfect position. I had some help from prior research in choosing this hilltop. A friend, whom I had approached for pointers on Myanmar, had suggested this hill for great views of the pagoda. So I went, walking in the sun and looking for the perfect perspective (another thing that I always say research before you go). It was well worth the effort, and here is the perspective I found.

3. Abstract Close-Ups

Wandering through the pagoda complex, observing the structure for some time and in the lookout for interesting perspectives, I found a bunch of sharp and slender upper portions of the pagodas to be charming. They not only were colourful (which calls for slight under-exposure), they had a beautiful outline (which could be highlighted by burning the background). I made a series of exposures of the pagoda-tops and enjoyed the exercise. I am still unsure which one I like the most. So I will leave the decision to you. Click on the thumbnails to see larger images.

4. A monk among the pagodas

While the Indein Pagodas were maintained in good condition, the pagodas at the nearby Shwe-Inn-Tain monastery appeared like a relic of the past. The paint and plasters were long gone and the underlying bricks were exposed to the elements. It had a charm of its own, however. In their state of dilapidation, they reminded me the ancient temples of Angor Wat. While they were photogenic enough, I wanted to see if there is something more that can be done with these structures.

This is when a monk from the nearby monastery came to the rescue. He was happy to walk with me and gel with the pagodas, giving life to those ancient structures in the process.