belief – Son of the Morning Light

Special Feature — THE FORGOTTEN TEMPLE: Dakkinagiriya & the Other Kaludiya Pokuna

March 27, 2023March 26, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

A thousand-year-old ‘mountain monastery’, lost in the Kaludiya Pokuna Forest, east of Dambulla; forgotten by the tour guides, and seemingly by time itself. For the visitor seeking something literally off the beaten track, the Dakkinagiri Viharaya is an intriguing but serene detour away from the well-trodden sites of Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle.”

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/img_2819.jpg — The stupa of the 9th century Dakkinagiri Viharaya, with Erawalgala behind it.

Continue reading →

Holy Smoke

December 30, 2022December 30, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/img_0051.jpg — A Wolfendhal Street shopkeeper lights a bowl of incense; a daily ritual at the opening of business. The smoke will then be carried through the premises, with the dual purpose of showing devotion to the local deities and driving out out any pests (natural or supernatural) that might have sneaked in during the night. Hulftsdorp, Colombo. October 2022.

^{• 35mm • f/2.8 • 1/1600 • ISO100 • R6, with RF35/1.8 courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

Continue reading →

Someone’s at the Door #2

December 29, 2022December 28, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/4m8a8232b-1.jpg — The Aluth Maligawa Entrance, Temple of the Tooth, Kandy. Sri Lanka, October 2018. Shermaine Willis and Anuradha Perera, for Ashraff Associates and The Radh, Kandy.

^{• 24mm • f/8 • 1/2000 • ISO800 • 5DMkIV & EF24-105/4L •}

Almost Christmas

December 23, 2022December 23, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/4m8a8838.jpg — A teenage choir awaits their cue to take part in a Christmas carol service at the Anglican Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour. Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. December 2018.

^{• 24mm • f/4 • 1/1000 • ISO400 • 5DMkIV & EF24-105/4L •}

Gods and Other Things

December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/img_9811b.jpg — In a small shrine on the edge of the jungle below Ritigala, the Hindu god, Ganesh, shared space with something I couldn’t identify. But the crude outline, in white paint on a dark stone, showed it had a skull for a head, sharp teeth, long hair, and claws. This was in January 2016, on the first of a number of visits I made to Ritigala, during which I wrote two articles for Explore Sri Lanka. I took a lot of photos here (and missed a crucial one), but I never submitted this picture, and I doubt the magazine would have published it. Standing above the northern plains, Ritigala, and its jungle, has its own unique climate; with its two-thousand five-hundred-year-old ruins, it certainly has its own atmosphere.

^{• 18mm • f/3.5 • 1/30 • ISO100 • 600D & EF-S18-200/3.5-5.6 •}

Coke of the Masses

November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/img_0334.jpg — Colpetty Junction, Colombo. October 2022.

^{• 24mm • f/2.8 • 1/125 • ISO12800 •}

Hewisi Pooja, Temple of the Tooth, Kandy #4

September 23, 2022September 23, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/3h3a9638e2.jpg — A thammettama drummer plays during a musical ceremony on the lower floor of the temple’s main shrine. The twin thammettama are traditional Sri Lankan drums, played with curved sticks called kadippuwa, in Sinhalese. Hewisi is a form of religious music once reserved for use by Kandyan royal decree. Today, hewisi is still used almost exclusively in Buddhist ceremonies, and is seen as an offering in itself. Shot on assignment for The New York Times in December 2018.

^{• 105mm • f/4 • 1/30 • ISO1000 •}

Christ Church, Mutwal

September 21, 2022September 21, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/1u9a3976.jpg — Consecrated in 1854, the Gal Palliya (‘stone church’ in Sinhalese, for its distinctive dark granite) was the Anglican Church’s first cathedral in Ceylon, and was the seat of the Bishop of Colombo for 116 years until, in 1970, that seat moved to the newly built Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour, in Cinnamon Gardens. The grounds of Christ Church, now slowly being squeezed by the ever-widening Aluthmawatha that divides it from the Colombo Port, once held the first humble classrooms of what would become St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia. Shot in April 2021.

^{• 16mm • f/8 • 1/160 • ISO100 • 5DMkIV & EF 16-35/2.8L courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Hulftsdorp Architecture

September 8, 2022September 8, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/img_9109.jpg — Old and new, functional and fantastic; all crammed together on Messenger Street. Colombo, September 2020.

^{• 15mm • f/5.6 • 1/4000 • ISO400 • M6MkII & EF-M 15-45mm/3.5-6.3 courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Pleas to the Uncaring

May 23, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/img_6647.jpg — Prayer flags flutter below the bo tree (Ficus religiosa) of the 18th century Padeniya Buddhist temple. Sri Lanka, May 2022.

^{• 18mm • f/3.5 • 1/640 • ISO100 •}