Buddha under the Stars
It is Memorial Day in America so I have a extra day off for the week-end which is awesome. I have had a great time this week-end so far and I enjoying a peaceful day and remembering the meditation retreat I did a couple weeks ago.
When you go to a silent meditation retreat, it is recommended to not take anything with you… no books, no cell phone, no food, no knitting project… nothing… nothing… nothing… basically nothing that could give you a reason to be distracted from your thoughts. The idea is to focus on the essential things in life: breathing, walking and eating. It is definitely very hard to stay 7 days completely removed from the world and without talking but the positive effects you can feel after are well worth the time. Plus, the food they offer you is so incredibly tasty and healthy that, by itself, it has very positive effect too.
So, yes, I did go away for 7 days and didn’t talk… not even to Alex… but I did take my camera with me (I just can’t go to such a gorgeous place without it). I never took it out during the day… first to not disturb the other people at the retreat and also because I wanted to focus on my practice. The weather was quite bad at the beginning of the week. Then we had a couple of clear nights with nearly full moon and beautiful stars so I was able to take little adventures under the stars toward the end of the week. I went out twice. The photograph below is the first one I took. I had been hiking everyday by this statue of Buddha sitting in the grass on the side of the trail and I just loved the setting. That’s where I decided to compose my first photograph.
Buddha under the Stars, Spirit Rock, Woodacre, Ca
My central subject here was the statue and I wanted a star trail behind it. I also loved the green hill and long grass on it as a background for the buddha so I was hopeful, it would make for a perfect shot… and indeed, I am super happy with it. I exposed the photograph for 30 minutes… and the camera processed it for another 30 minutes so this single shot took a full hour. I love how the buddha is so still and doesn’t move while the grass was so shaken up by the wind. It creates a great blurry effect in the green. Finally, the stars in the sky are gorgeous and I got my star trail. I can’t describe how happy I was when the image appeared on my LCD screen… could not wait to get home to see it on the big screen.