Purt the great of Angkor

One of our two monk friends and models, Purt, was an inspiring, intelligent man with a great smile and quick wit. He learned English from working as a seller of all things to tourists at Angkor as a child. He was therefore also very street smart and cheeky, not letting on he knew English until he had sized me and my guide Nathan Horton up for a while. We drove around the massive city of Angkor in a tuk-tuk and I dearly wish someone had a snapshot of me, Nathan and two monks sitting in a tuk-tuk.

Purt was a great model, and I captured him from many angles. This is captured in natural light at sunset on top of a temple:

cambodia-purt-profile

I find that the sky itself can work great when you are looking for a clean background. Simply lower the camera and use the sky as your backdrop. In this image it also lends Purt a majestic sculptured look and the soft sunset light filtered through thin clouds is the perfect illuminator. It is a very posed image but I like both candid and posed portraits. Both styles can work. I have subtly added a little contrast to this, enhanced structure and edges and created the desaturated muddy look but the image was quite satisfying already as captured so it needed little work.

Purt of Angkor. I shall end an undeveloped snapshot of mine, Purt as I remember him, always smiling and joking in between takes:

cambodia-purt-grin copy

Flemming

 

PS. I am surely spelling his name “wrong” as in there really is no translation from the khmer language to English so it is basically spell it however you like!

7 Comments on “Purt the great of Angkor”

  1. Hey Flembo. Thanks for Nathan Hortons details. I have been in contact with him and currently arranging dates and details to meet with him next year for a trip through Laos and Cambodia so thankyou again. Cheers Adrian

    1. Hi Adrian, that sounds great, I am positive you will come away with some great images and experiences on a trip with Nathan. My Cambodia gallery should be up in a few weeks, will give you an idea of what we did.

  2. Great to see your connections across language and cultural "barriers" – who actually said they were barriers anyway. I'm looking forward to your Cambodia gallery.

    1. Yep, no barriers, I agree, language and cultural differences are one of life's and travels great pleasures and learning inspirations. It's one of the things I miss most about Europe and Copenhagen, the big melting pot of languages and cultures.

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