Tibetan Meditation Cave — Monk Retreat Portrait
152.80 £
A Tibetan Buddhist monk in a rock-cut meditation cave above the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley — butter lamp flames providing the only illumination, his traditional maroon robes and calm expression communicating decades of retreat practice.
Description
Rock-cut meditation caves in the Tibetan plateau have served as retreat locations for Buddhist practitioners for over a thousand years — the remoteness and shelter they provide making them ideal for long meditation retreats of three years, three months, and three days, the traditional Tibetan retreat duration. This portrait was made in a cave system above the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley accessible by a two-day trek from the nearest road, with the monk’s permission and through the facilitation of a Lhasa-based Buddhist studies foundation. The butter lamp flames — the only illumination — provide the characteristic warm point-source light of Tibetan interior photography, creating sharp highlights on the monk’s face and hands while the cave walls recede into darkness. Shot at f/2 on a 50mm prime at ISO 6400, the available lamp light is the sole light source — no flash, no additional illumination.
