Building Another Sand Mandala, Part 1

Last year, I wrote a blog entry about some Buddhist monks who built a sand mandala out in Newmarket, NH.

This year, the same group of monks visited a Shaker village in Canterbury, NH. Following are some images I shot. (More to follow....) I think they're an improvement from last year, which just goes to show that better pictures can sometimes result as you become more and more familiar with your subject matter. (This is the third time I've photographed a mandala being built.) I'd also like to think I learned from last year's mistakes....

The first few pictures are of the room where the mandala was being built. (We first visited at lunch time so that the room would be empty of other tourists.)

Because I found the juxtaposition of Shaker furniture and Tibetan Buddhism so fascinating, I tried to find a single iconic image that would convey that curiosity. Here it is:

Here's the shrine in the room:

Details of the shrine:

Close-ups of some of the sand and tools used:

Here's a monk working with the sand and tools:

These photos should also help explain why story-telling is so important to keep in mind when you're shooting an event or series of photos. Think: "If I gave someone a stack of photos without saying a word, would he/she be able to understand what's going on in the pictures?"

More photos to come: it's 2AM and I desperately need to get some sleep.... so much so that I'll resist making a bad pun about "Mr. Sandman." Until next time....

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