Pic(k) of the week 50: TEMPLES OF ANGKOR - PREAH KHAN
A few weeks ago, I blogged about my visit to Angkor Wat in Pic(k) of the week 48; likely the best known place in Cambodia. What a lot of people don't know, is that Angkor Wat is just a fraction of the Angkor site which covers about 400 square kilometers.
From the 9th till the 15th century, Angkor, Khmer for Capital city, flourished as a megacity. Until the industrial revolution, it was the worlds largest city with a population of more than 1 million people at its peak in the 12th century. It took researchers till 2007, by using aerial and satellite images, to conclude that Angkor was such a megacity, consisting more than 1000 different temples. What is left of the old Angkor city today, is anything from a piece of rubble in the jungle to entire temples like Angkor Wat and many others.
One of the harder ones to shoot is also one of my favorite temples in Angkor; Preah Khan, seen in the image below, is a large temple built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII to honor his father. The two large statues on the West entrance standing amongst the lush green, are especially photogenic. Beside some clearing of the jungle, the temple is largely left unrestored after it was discovered in the beginning of the 20th century adding to the general atmosphere and mystique.
Image details:
Image details:
- Fujifilm X-T3 with the XF16-55 f2.8 lens
- 1/250s, f8.0, ISO 4000, 27mm
- RAW development in Lightroom CC Classic
- Nik ColorEfex Pro by DxO for optimal contrast
Unless you are Cambodian, you must have an access pass, often also referred to as an "Angkor pass", to enter the site. As of NOV 2018, it costs 37,-USD for a single day and 62,-USD for a three day pass. More info can be found here.
With 2 million people visiting the Angkor temples annually, it can get very busy, especially during the high season. Avoiding the crowds is therefore essential if wants to do some decent photography.
I personally used the services of Photo Cambodia, let by Dutch Photographer Eric De Vries. We did spend 4 days with Eric photographing remote villages outside Siem Reap and the Angkor temples; I can definitively recommend Eric's services, even if you can only hire him for a single day!
Today, Angkor doesn't really exists anymore as a city where people live; when visiting the Angkor temples, people stay in Siem Reap, which is just a short tuk tuk ride away.
As documenting some of the temples of Angkor, was one of the main objectives of my latest photo-adventure to Cambodia, I've made a short slide slow presentation, called "Temples of Angkor". A small resolution can be found below, but please make sure to watch it in HD for the best viewing experience at the following link here.
I personally used the services of Photo Cambodia, let by Dutch Photographer Eric De Vries. We did spend 4 days with Eric photographing remote villages outside Siem Reap and the Angkor temples; I can definitively recommend Eric's services, even if you can only hire him for a single day!
Today, Angkor doesn't really exists anymore as a city where people live; when visiting the Angkor temples, people stay in Siem Reap, which is just a short tuk tuk ride away.
As documenting some of the temples of Angkor, was one of the main objectives of my latest photo-adventure to Cambodia, I've made a short slide slow presentation, called "Temples of Angkor". A small resolution can be found below, but please make sure to watch it in HD for the best viewing experience at the following link here.
A gallery of all the "Temples of Angkor" images can be found here.
Remember: "We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us" - Winston Churchill.
BJORN
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