Friday, October 12, 2007

Gladia Budianto: Tibet

Image Copyright © Gladia Budianto-All Rights Reserved

Gladia Budianto lives in Singapore and is a self-described "photo enthusiast" who, inspired by the classic comic book "Tintin in Tibet", followed his dream of visiting Tibet in 2004. On this trip, he captured Tibet's vivid natural landscape and spiritual cultures in panoramic format. He's been using panoramic camera for years and still believes in the quality of films.

His equipment consists of Hasselblad XPAN, a Contax G1 and a Mamiya 7II.

Gladia's "Tibet: A Journey To Share" is in the popular Soundslides format, and is of both color and B&W photographs. I'm not particularly fond of mixing these two types, but many were made on panoramic cameras and are really very well composed and work very well with the subject matter. I would've preferred a larger size to appreciate them better, but that's how it is.

The photographs are of Yarula Pass, Sanye Monastery, Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, etc. The delightful soundtrack is titled "Om Mani Padme Hum" and is by Song Huei Liou and Ya Ging Ging.

In my view, Gladia's is certainly much more that a "photo enthusiast", and his work attests to his professionalism.

ps. For those who don't know: Tintin is a journalist and an adventurer who travels around the world with his canine companion Milou, in The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books drawn and written by the Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé. The series is one of the most popular comic book series in Europe and the world, especially in Belgium, France, and The Netherlands. I grew up with Tintin comic books, so I understand how someone can be inspired by them.

Here's Gladia's Tibet

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