One red shoe, a photo from Jammu and Kashmir, North

Photographer's Note

One little novice in the Thiksey monastery seems to have been in such a hurry to have his photo taken that he lost his right shoe, or didn't have time to put it on. Well, worldly belongings hardly matter much anyway to a monk.
This picture from Ladakh, eastern Kashmir, was taken in 1985 with a Canon F-1 and is scanned from a Kodachrome slide.

saxo042, Polarisdg, didemay, mcmtanyel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

saxo042 (38078) 2008-06-17 0:41

Hej Gert,
Fine treatment of the light that is coming in from the side. Maybe he was deciding to take off one shoe... Whatever, a fine portrait anyway.
Hälsningar
Gunnar

Polarisdg (459) 2008-06-17 1:25

Hi Gert,

Nice shot of this child!!! And I like his shoe....
The child comes down well of the barckground.

David

BennyV (34748) 2008-06-17 5:40

Hej Gert,

Your oldies still catch my attention. Here the one shoe does the trick...but which one: the one in the picture or the one that has gone missing?

Benny

didemay (2945) 2008-06-23 1:13

Hello Gert,
beautiful light. little details meaning a lot, makes a very well captured frame.

Miha2ou7 (5162) 2008-06-24 0:44

Hey Gert,

Love your old scanned pictures, they`re great and offer something that digital technique just cant - a special kind of ambient.
This one is no different, a wonderful motive, colors and that oldie feeling. Great job.

Best regards,

niphredil76 (850) 2008-07-02 7:48

Salve Gert,
there's no point at all: digital cameras cannot compete with my beloved dia (also if I use Velvia).
Here the softness of the light, the great sfumato of the colors talk about one way of life better than words!
TFS
Laura

figenya (2852) 2009-12-22 3:15

Hi Gert,

This shot deserves more points, I am sure...

Missing one red shoe is the main sentence of all the misses in his life. Precious shot, I loved it. I really would like to be lost in your archieve:)

warm regards

figen

Waylim (25436) 2010-03-24 14:48

Hi Gert,
What can I say about this image. It reminded me of the Movie "The Little Bhudha" Great scan quality, the noise of film image adds to the nostalgic quality.

I'm touch by the solemn mood, a bit sad, abit sweet. Innocence ended too soon in many young lives in the area. You ever wonder where the people in you photo are doing now. He must be about 30 years old now a nice little family a son at this age already. This one goes to my Fav.
Way

kato (11630) 2012-02-21 12:19

Hello Gert,

This is a pure/fresh photograph, so it's interesting and impressive to see a little monk standing in front of monastery. It is impressive that little monk has put on the clothes of the priest who did the red color, too. And, he looks as a pure and innocent child from the expression of a face. Well composed and rich color tones.

Kind regards,
mikio

cristina1 (1165) 2015-05-19 4:08

Hi this photo is really beautiful. This little monk is very expressive. I went to Ladak year and visited Tikshey monastery. I was really impressed and enchanted by the spirituality of this people.
Bye bye
Cristina

mcmtanyel (68533) 2019-02-10 19:52

Hello Gert,
What a cute little monk, posing so seriously for you. He must be middle-aged by now.
Regards,
MT

jmdias (115186) 2019-04-07 9:02

gert

excellent portrait, the boy is natural, well presented and the lines in vertical around helped to frame the boy. the red shoe is really a curious point.

take care

jorge

Silvio1953 (221627) 2021-05-05 22:28

Ciao Gert, great portrait of lovely young monk, intense expression, curious to see that he has only one red shoe on his feet, excellent sharpness, beautiful details, splendid light and magnificent colors, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

kasianowak (17676) 2022-01-04 8:48

Hi Gert
You sent me a link to this image years ago and, having just come across it again, I noticed that I didn't comment. Maybe I had run out of green smileys? ;-)
This is a portrait of such a different culture to ours. When in Bhutan, I often felt cold just by looking at people wearing gho sometimes in cold weather. Here, I shudder seeing this novice monk's bare foot resting on what must have been a really cold floor.
It also makes me wonder what the reason was for your subject having just one welly. At least the kid playing football in my image from Bhutan was holding the other boot in his hand. Maybe this monk has to share a pair with another one?
Anyway, great portrait, with the subject nicely standing out of the slightly out of focus background.
One of your "odies' but, somehow, I have a feeling that if you visited this monastery now you would find that not much has changed.
Best wishes
Kasia