Temples are powerful…!

India is a country with thousands of temples with diversified architecture and cultural background. Indian temples can offer a feast to your camera and a travel photographer can have a lot of good shots. I get fascinated about temples and they are one of my favorite subjects when I travel. I love every bit of the sculptures and the great history behind every temple. Though I had visited most of the temples in India, I am more comfortable with my camera when I visit temples in Tamil Nadu.

For me, temples are more of a subject of photography than a place of worship. Well, what can you shoot when you are in a temple? Most of us obviously shoot the facade and the exterior of a temple. But there is a lot more to look into when you plan to shoot a temple with your camera. Well, a temple elephant, the corridor, the temple pond, children enjoying a dive into the pond, the typical attire and body language of the priests, the candid shots of the devotees and foreign tourists, the pillars and galleries with beautiful sculptures depicting the style and period of the kings and emperors who had built the temple are some of the fascinating scenes. The small vendors and the local transports are also some of the interesting subjects around a temple. The typical lifestyle of the people around the temple is also yet another beautiful subject for your cameras.

I had shot lot of the above subjects during my recent visit to Kancheepuram, known as a ‘temple town’ which is about 60km from Chennai. But I liked the late evening shot of ‘miniature cradles’ tied on a tree inside the temple. The childless couples believe that they will be blessed with children if they give an offering of ‘miniature cradle’. People across the globe have several beliefs about their life and a contemporary photojournalist shooting a temple should also document the popular beliefs of the people.

Get the pleasure of shooting temples and enjoy the unknown perspective of it.

- KL.Raja