Category Archives: Foreign

Photographer’s Choice – May Weller

Three Generations Dressed for Songkran Celebration

May Weller - Celebration at the Temple

May Weller - Celebration at the Temple


May has just returned from a 2 month visit to Thailand, her home country. She visited a temple in Lamphoon Province where this photograph was taken. Each April the Country celebrates “Songkran Festival” in which these women were participating with their very colorful dress, complimented by a great variety of necklaces, scarves and pennants. Part of the celebration involves returning sand to the Temple to replenish that removed during the past year which inevitably adheres to the worshiper’s feet or soles of the shoes with each visit. Elaborately decorated sand mounds are also sculpted by individuals to help repay the debt. These people came from Burma about 100 years ago and are known locally as the “Mung Tribe”. About 50 families live near this Temple, all vegetarians who practice the Five Precepts of Buddha.
Canon EOS Rebel T2i w/EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens
Focal Length – 53mm
Shutter – 1/125 sec
Aperture – f/4.5
ISO – 100

Photographer’s Choice – Gerhard Kalmus

Lush Growth and a Caribbean Sky

Gerhard Kalmus - Tropical Growth in Dominican Republic

Gerhard Kalmus - Tropical Growth in Dominican Republic

Gerhard recently traveled to the Dominican Republic as part of a team from Jefferson United Methodist Church to construct latrines and pour concrete floors in huts in Batey #9, one of the sugar cane centered “towns” populated mostly by Haitians, and one of the poorest areas of the Country. At the end of a week of work, the group was treated to a visit to one of the nearby tropical parks where this photo was made. The scene is well composed with a tree limb serving as a frame to emphasize the hanging vines. One can almost hear the nature sounds in the background.
The photo was taken with an older Nikon ES200 with a pixel rating of only 3.2 megapixels which is certainly sufficient resolution for posting on the web. The ISO was a low 50, the shutter speed 1/150 sec at an aperture of f/5.6