PROPSAL

Kelsey Avis

Being a Buddhist

Précis

I have always thought different cultures to be quite interesting because of what they belief in, the way they dress and how different they are to my own culture. So when the Wat Phra Singh            Buddhist temple opened in my home town in 2012 I thought that it would be great way to learn about a different religion that I don’t really understand So I thought that documenting the temple would help me get a better understanding about what they belief in, but I never got the chance to until now.  I will be visiting the temple frequently so that I can document as much as I can in the time that I have. I would like to photograph the monks and their classes, pray sessions and events that the temple holds. I will also be taking portraits of the monks and the people who go to the temple.  When I am photographing the temple I will be the person on the outside looking in so that I will not be bias to what I am photographing.

Context

In my research I have looked at Steve McCurry, a photojournalist who is best known for his photograph of the Afghan girl photographed in 1984. Steve McCurry documents people and different cultures, he mainly focuses on war torn cultures but his photographs are not war based they are based on the people that it have been effected by war.  I find that his photography doesn’t just look like documentary photography but more artistic with the use of bright colours, content and layout these aspects draw you in to the emotions that the subject is feeling. Steve McCurry is a photographer who is an outsider looking in on the people he photographs he is not bias to what he is photographing.

I also looked at Munem wasif who documented his own culture in Bangladesh he photographs people who are suffering or enjoying life he does not discriminate what he is photographing. This is what I hope to do with the Buddhist temple. His photography looks more like documentary photography then Steve McCurry’s does, it’s not artistic or colourful it just shows what’s in the photograph. Were Steve McCurry is an outsider looking in Munem wasif is inside he is part of the culture he is photographing.

I have also looked into anthropology which is the study of people and culture which is what I will be doing while document the temple.

In the engaged observer- documentary photography since the sixties I found an interesting quote the first word I would remove from the folklore of journalism is the word objective.... The journalistic photographer can have no other then a personal approach”  I want this project to be personal; I want to learn more about the Buddhist religion and their culture.

The objection of documenting the Buddhist temple is to learn about another culture, about how a Buddhist monks life is like and why they belief in what Buddhism represents. By documenting the temple and the monks I hope get a better understanding of the religion and hope to meet some interesting people while I am doing it.

During this project I will need some equipment that will help me to document the temple the way I want it to be:

·       Digital SLR (Nikon D3100, Canon EOS 5d mark II)

·       Lenses Nikon/Cannon (canon 50mm f1.8, canon 70-300mm f4-5.6, sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 –Nikon fit )

·       Tripod

·       Polaroid (one600)

·       Out of date Polaroid film

Budget

Expenses	cost	Amount needed
Polaroid film (out of date)	About £20 for 10	30
prints	£20-£40 a print	unknown

Even after looking at what I may need for this project I may need to add to the budget as time goes on, so this is not an exact budget it may change in the future.