Golden Temple, a photo from Punjab, Nord

Photographer's Note

This is Golden Temple or Hari Mandir Sahib at Amritsar in India. It is the holiest shrine for the people belonging to Sikh religion. Anybody without any descrimination can visit this shrine as long as they do not bring Tobacco, Liquor or any other intoxicant inside the premises. For me it is a place of stupendous beauty and sublime peacefulness.
For more info on Sikh religion. Please visit bbc.co.uk Page

HISTORY
During the leadership of the fifth Guru (Arjan, 1581-1606), foundation for the the Hari Mandir, or Temple of God was laid in 1588. In the 17th and 18th century the temple was destroyed by the invading Moslem armies many times, and each time it was rebuilt. From 1767 onwards, the Sikhs became strong enough militarily to defend it and Hari Mandir was richly ornamented with marble sculptures, golden gilding, and large quantities of precious stones. But than the Sikh empire also fell under the British rule in later half of 19th century and at the time of independence in 1947 Sikhs decided to stay within Hindu majority India.
In 1983 it was invaded by the Indian army in the infamous "Operation Blue Star" to wipe out the Sikh extremists but that is a very long story that I would not like to get into today.

Architecture
The main structure rises from the center of the sacred pool and is approached by a long causeway. The 52-meter, square shaped Golden Temple stands on a square platform, its lower parts made of marble, and its upper portion fully covered with plates of gilded copper. In the interior, on the ground, the Guru Granth Sahib (holy book of the Sikhs) is placed under a jewel-studded canopy. This scripture is a collection of devotional poems, prayers, and hymns composed by the ten Sikh gurus and various Moslem and Hindu saints. On the first floor is a small pavilion called the Shish Mahal (mirror room). It is ornamented with pieces of mirrors inlaid in the ceiling and walls. Above that is a smaller pavilion. Exquisite murals adorn the walls of the pavilions, but the emphasis is on simplicity.

oochappan, weswang, cam, fayeulle, rahul__rahul__, john_c, thebig_d81, t0mmm1, sergecross, capthaddock, ArtLook, jwmunro, JEPC, aznegrao trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

oochappan (4880) 2005-09-04 12:27

A very well composed shot by perspective leading us with the people to the Temple, a bit sharpening was still welcome I suppose to benefit the capture. Excellent reflection Sariu.

[2] [workshop] [compare] +

Drom (1205) 2005-09-04 12:29

Hello Sarju,
Superbe reflextion dans l'eau. Le temple est magnifique, la photo aussi. Cela donne envie d'y aller.
Amitié
Dominique

[2]

cam (9043) 2005-09-04 20:21

Hello Sarju
Nice POV to show this wonderful temple,alongside this body of water.I guess this is the high period for tourists seeing the lines,unless it is the pilgrims,
Charles

ramesh_lalwani (3213) 2005-09-05 3:51

You have nicely captured shining gold and reflection.I agree with oochappan it needs some sharpening.
ramesh

weswang (18247) 2005-09-05 11:04

Hi Sarju, A nice composition. I like the PoV and the reflections of the architecture on teh water. It looks like that it is very popular to visit this place. There are many people line up outside of the palace. Nice color and good contrast.

[2]

fayeulle (27827) 2005-09-05 11:21

Hi Sarju
Nice composition but a little bit tilted, I found it also a little blur and noisy. As the note and subject are brilliant, I have made a WS to correct this. Hope you find it good...
JP

[workshop] [compare]

cessy (13647) 2005-09-06 1:17

very beautiful architecture
excellent angle and composition
Oochapan did a great job to make it more wonderful

john_c (24666) 2005-09-06 17:35

Hi Sarju,
A great, colourful composition with natural flowing lines taken from a superb POV. The reflections are incredible and you have captured the spirit of the place. Henk (oochappan) has also done a good WS. A good capture, Sarju. Well done.
John

thebig_d81 (777) 2005-09-07 9:20

Sarju,
Nicely captured. I hope that is not a sensor mark in the top left hand corner. I do agree with a oochappan, in that some sharpening may be required. A possibly a little tilting wouldn't hurt either. Is that a mass of tourists lining up or the local pilgrims? Great point of view though. Well Done.
Darren

mumek (20226) 2005-09-08 18:07

Good evening Sarju!
Excellent capture of the Golden Temple. Nice light, good architectural details, excellent reflections in the water.The note is very interesting and informative. Thanks for posting
best regards
ziggy

[2]

sergecross (3438) 2005-09-10 23:00

oooh! that's really gold?
Excellent picture. The colors balance is great, i like the point of view and the contrast of this picture, The ilumination is very natural and the reflection on the water looks very nice.
Thanks
sergio

t0mmm1 (5442) 2005-09-12 4:31

Hi Sarju,
great composed shot. The colours are well balanced and the reflection is beautiful.

feather (51130) 2005-09-22 11:54

I love the composition to show the reflection in the little lake. As people have already noted the image has suffered from the scan, but the WSs have made a tremendous difference.
Kath

[2]

capthaddock (28790) 2005-09-29 4:20

Hi Sarju - brilliant composition, you made the best of the gorgeous architecture and the reflection reallyy tops it off well.

[2]

ArtLook (2348) 2005-10-03 16:46

Hi Sarju,

Such a beautiful temple shining gold with its reflections on water. Good composition, but, I think, that the picture needs to be sharpen and to reduce a noise a bit. Anyway.. good shot, bravo!

With BEST Regards,
Arthur

[2]

sergio1 (12152) 2005-10-05 12:11

Hola
Bonita composición el reflejo en el agua que genial. Buen trabajo y gracias por compartirla.
Sergio

[2]

jwmunro (286) 2005-10-08 9:14

Good morning Sarju -

A nice image, I like it but there are a few things holding it back from being outstanding. I love the warm feel to the image but I feel it has a slight red color cast (note the smog in the background), it is a very noisy image (in this case the nosie does not enhance) and some sort of filtering needs to done (CS2 fillter or NeatImage), and maybe a slight adjustment of Free Transform (skew) to strighten the buildings. Don't loose the warm light when making the color cast correction it's what makes this image appealing (to me).

As an after thought I looked at the workshops and one of the WS removed too much of the golden light and IMO went too far while the second WS was much closer to liking.

Still a good image - thanks for sharing

JEPC (1305) 2005-10-10 4:11

The composition and reflections are the strongest points of the shot. I like the contrast of the golden and the blue, too. Congratulation,Sarju!

JEPC

greg64g (11193) 2005-10-14 3:45

Hello Sarju

What a superb picture, i love this temple, and the pov you had choose looks perfect. the reflection is perfect.
Compliment for your porfolio it is fabulous.
see you later
cheers
greg

annagrace (2469) 2005-10-22 17:24

Well, I certainly hope you didn't bring beer and cigarettes into this lovely place, LOL!

Great capture, beautiful colors and a wonderful reflection in the water. TFS!

Alli

PJE (20758) 2005-10-28 22:29

Sarju I work with East Indians and they talk about the beauty of this place. Lots of gold to see in this temple. I love your perspectivre viewpoint too. A gorgous place to be. Cheers Paul
PS I posted my very first pan shot today. Interesting results to see!

aznegrao (10316) 2006-01-30 12:19

Gosto muito da forma como o motivo principal foi locado na foto, criando um efeito bem forte e marcante. Otima qualidade fotografica.
Thanks for sharing.
aznegrao.

jbweasle (9393) 2006-02-03 14:32

Hi Sarju, you have a wonderful light making this golden temple glow brilliantly. Nice angled composition and superb reflection. Just a bit noisy, maybe as a result of the scan.

banyanman (7797) 2006-04-02 10:56

I love the rich gold reflection in the waters that you have captured here, Sarju. I won't comment on the tilt, noise or blur because they have been mentioned many times above - and both the workshops have done a good job of correcting those problems - but whilst I was at the PP I think I would have also cloned that lone bird out of the sky. I find birds often distract the eye and sometimes you are never sure if it is a bird or dirt on the CCD. Cheers . . . David

jaja1970 (1304) 2006-09-02 9:49

Great Place. Well framed.

fkokol (1636) 2007-02-17 7:38

Beautiful composition. Golden colours and reflection are beautiful.

Congratulations,

Figen