—Categories: photos

Prayer Flags from Bhutan

I saw this thick assembly of prayer flags at a small temple in rural Bhutan. My first instinct was to walk into them and photograph them with the camera facing up.

Prayer flags in Bhutan

I used my phone camera to make this image. Sometimes when you know what you are shooting and the subjects are not complex, it doesn’t matter what equipment you have. Nonetheless, I do not subscribe to the generally outspoken idea that your equipment doesn’t matter at all in making good images. Good equipment that can handle challenging conditions can be crucial to bring a photographer’s idea into life.

—Categories: bhutan, photos

A stupa and prayer flags in rural Bhutan.

A chorten or stupa and prayer flags in the middle of a field in Punakha district, rural Bhutan.

You will find vertical prayer flags fluttering in every house and every free space in Bhutan. They are meant to spread the holy mantras in the air. Chortens, also found frequently, are either memorials for the dead or meant to ward off evil. These structures are ubiquitous in Bhutan and are an essential part of the country’s rural and urban landscape.

A chorten or stupa in Bhutan