Photo Friday: Monks + Lanterns

By Alexis

For this Photo Friday post, I’m sharing what I think are the best 3 photos that I shot in the past year of traveling.  Here you’ll find part 3 of 3.

The other day after dinner, David and I were walking home when we wandered by a beautiful Buddhist temple. We had nowhere else to be, so we decided to pop inside and check it out. The inside of the temple was pretty, but outside is what really caught my attention. A group of young monks were busy decorating the temple’s trees with lanterns to celebrate the new year.

The trees were surrounded by a small water feature, which made for some incredible reflections, and the sun was low enough in the sky to make some gorgeous evening light. Luckily, I had my camera with me and I was able to snap some photos. Even though my camera isn’t great with low light shots (dying to upgrade to the new Sony a7ii!), I couldn’t stop taking photos! The scene was gorgeous.

The photo above shows two of the monks holding a ladder while another monk scrambles upward to hang lanterns in the tree branches. It’s one of my favorite shots from that evening. I just love their reflection.

I don’t always like living in Thailand and I’m usually looking forward to our future, but stumbling on scenes like this definitely feels uniquely Thai and is an awesome perk of being here.

And that’s that! My 3 favorite travel photos from 2014! 🙂 Here’s to a new year of travel and photography!

(find part 1 here, part 2 here)

P.S. Check out all the previous Photo Fridays here.