Category Archives: People

Photographer’s Choice – May Weller

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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 – Nancy Shoemaker

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Capturing the Essence

Stephen Shoemaker through Nancy's lens

Stephen Shoemaker through Nancy's lens

What makes this such a compelling image? Is it the composition, following the “Thirds” rule so meticulously? Is it the fact that there’s nothing superfluous, nothing to clutter up the scene and detract from the very definite focal point? The light providing a semi-silhouette and yet with enough clarity to allow the subject to be recognizable? Or maybe it’s the imposing figure standing in front of heavy boulders and the vastness and power of the sea. Or the hat? The shadow? The reflection? Yes, it’s all of this working and coming together to “paint” the painter, to turn the tables on the man usually behind the easel. Here, Nancy is the artist and Stephen the subject.