Buddha Park

Why a Wonder: The park, not a temple, contains more than 200 unique Hindu and Buddhist statues. Each statue of Buddha depicts a pose that illustrates a different aspect of Buddha's life. The Hindu statues show several of Hindu animal and human gods and goddesses. Strolling through the grounds is a unique photographic experience for all – and a calming meditative process for many.

Where: About 15 miles south of Vientiane, Laos.

When: April to June if you like lush, green gardens. September to November is you like a touch of snow on the statues.

Photography: The main idea – and challenge – at Buddha Park is to “cut the clutter,” that is, isolate the closely-positioned statues from each other. Move from side to side and back and forth, and zoom in and out to accomplish this goal. While composing, keep an eye on the background and foreground to make sure distracting elements are not interfering with the main subject or subjects.

Another challenge is that you’ll most likely be photographing a statue or statues against a bright sky, which could result in your subject or subjects looking dark. You can lighten shadows in Photoshop and Lightroom, but on site you also may want to try HDR (high dynamic range) photography to capture all the details in a scene.

If you are interested in the importance of “gesture” – the position of a subject’s hands, arms, facial expression and so on – you will find many examples in this beautiful park. Apply what you see and learn here to your photographs of people.

Two lenses will help you tell the story of your experience, like the Canon 15-35mm and 24-105mm.

As always, don’t forget to take fun shots of your family and friends.

Learn more: You can find more information about planning a trip to the Buddha Park here.

© Rick Sammon

This post sponsored by Breakthrough Photography Filters.