Yantra Tattooing

Friday, October 14, 2011 7:20 PM By Stephen J Christophers

My years of living in Southeast Asia have made me realize, spiritually and traditional Buddhist philosophy form the dominant cultural norm; a keystone, or network of social cohesiveness by which one gravitates towards a collective social value set. Buddhism has its roots in everyday life here, from basic daily living, to business and economics. And, for the most part, religious practice towards Buddhist values help form the general daily aesthetics - the heart-beat of society, that is, the shroud of Asian life, the colourfulness and vibrancy.

It wasn't long until I became acquainted with one such colorful part of the Buddhist tradition, the art of Yantra tattooing: Traditional tattooing is one aspect of Buddhist culture that appeals to me; one beyond the flowers and adornments that swing like pendulums from the rear vision mirrors and handlebar of cars and motorbikes alike. An ancient form of skin-art known simply here as 'Sak Yant' (Sak means, to tap 'tattoo' and yant, derived from the Sanskrit word yantra, means "sacred geometrical design").

The art of tattooing has been around for centuries in Asian Buddhism. The Sak Yant style of tattoo can be dated back to the indigenous Khmer population of the Mekong Delta, and as far back as the Angkorian Khmer -800 to mid-1300s, with roots quite possibly as far back as Pre- or Proto-Khmer.

A few days ago, and with a little apprehension, I bit-the-bullet and arranged a Master to Sak Yant, the Gao Yord Yant or 9 Spires Yant: "The Gao Yord Yant or 9 Spires Yant is a sacred tattoo with magical powers. These powers are believe to protect and bring good luck to the bearer. Sak Yant tattoos are made by Buddhist Monks, Brahman Masters and Ruesi ascetics. A place where Sak Yant is practiced is called a Samnak Sak Yant (if a temple or a very large establishment), or “Dtamnak” (if a smaller establishment with one Master). The Gao Yord Yant is usually tattooed at the top-middle of the back area (However, it might also be placed in other areas of the body). Traditionally done by a Buddhist Master, using the bamboo method: snake venom, herbs and ash. The Gao Yord Yant, "...the 9 Spires Yant is a geometric design and represents the 9 Sacred Peaks of Mt. Meru. It also contains 9 symbolic images of the Lord Buddha, demonstrating just how important the number 9 is in Buddhism. The Buddhas are the 3 ovals, in diminishing sizes, placed one above each other." -- Thai Guide to Thailand. The Gao Yord is best known for possessing magical powers: These powers are said to become stronger, with its power increasing with frequency, between the tattoo Master and receiver of the tattoo under ritual practices - in some cases, the Gao Yord Yant is believed to possess the power to stop projectiles. Giving it a cultist following amongst warriors, soldiers and those who face danger.

It's this aspect of Buddhist culture I find fascinating, and my recent time spent in the countryside that borders the Thailand and Cambodian region has only given me a little more insight into - and, respect of - the complex nature of Sak Yant Tattoo culture. These tattoos are often seen covering both the backs of adults and young teenagers alike and can be as complex as a depiction of the life journey of the Lord Buddha; or, as simple as Ling Lom the, ‘Dancing Monkey’. either way, the depth in history and meaning for me was reason enough for choosing the Gao Yord Yant.

BirthLifeDeath by Yantra Mandala

Bangkok Urban-Gothic

7:20 PM By Stephen J Christophers

I tend to took at it this way: photography is about capturing a moment. I thrive on the idea of spontaneity. Yes, you could drag along a whole production crew with a middle age house wife to manage the sand-pit, and thousands of dollars worth of equipment to compliment people's egos. However, regardless of budget, in some instances it's the emotional context that takes priority.

Two of the most important things to remember when working with people, is that, everyone has their own personality. And as a photographer it's your job to try and capture individually with honesty and truth. Beauty comes in many forms. Gain peoples trust. Do your best by doing nothing in particular. Give your subject the room to personally express themselves in the way that defines them; their individuality. You have to be open, while making provisions for your surroundings and environment. Your job is then only to capturing the moment. I take my job seriously. I'm professional at it. But, really this only means I'm comfortable to let moments present themselves, and thus, strive for the best quality I can, using the tools and conditions available.

In this set I choose to shoot in Black & White as the contrast between model and graffiti work well. This was a natural decision, taken by evaluating the model and surrounding environment. It's not a technical skill, and you can't download an iPhone application to make the critical decision - it's called being a little creative.




Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Work by Ben Hodson



Title: Bangkok Urban-Gothic
Description: Graffiti and Urbex in and around Pattaya-Bangkok
Equipment: Nikon Coolpix L120. Lens is: NIKKOR A 21x Zoom
Model: Tina
Location: Thailand
Concept to Completion: Finished (One Day Shoot)

Bangkok Urban-Gothic

7:20 PM By Stephen J Christophers

I tend to took at it this way: photography is about capturing a moment. I thrive on the idea of spontaneity. Yes, you could drag along a whole production crew with a middle age house wife to manage the sand-pit, and thousands of dollars worth of equipment to compliment people's egos. However, regardless of budget, in some instances it's the emotional context that takes priority.

Two of the most important things to remember when working with people, is that, everyone has their own personality. And as a photographer it's your job to try and capture individually with honesty and truth. Beauty comes in many forms. Gain peoples trust. Do your best by doing nothing in particular. Give your subject the room to personally express themselves in the way that defines them; their individuality. You have to be open, while making provisions for your surroundings and environment. Your job is then only to capturing the moment. I take my job seriously. I'm professional at it. But, really this only means I'm comfortable to let moments present themselves, and thus, strive for the best quality I can, using the tools and conditions available.

In this set I choose to shoot in Black & White as the contrast between model and graffiti work well. This was a natural decision, taken by evaluating the model and surrounding environment. It's not a technical skill, and you can't download an iPhone application to make the critical decision - it's called being a little creative.



Created with flickr slideshow.

Yantra Tattooing

7:20 PM By Stephen J Christophers

My years of living in Southeast Asia have made me realize, spiritually and traditional Buddhist philosophy form the dominant cultural norm; a keystone, or network of social cohesiveness by which one gravitates towards a collective social value set. Buddhism has its roots in everyday life here, from basic daily living, to business and economics. And, for the most part, religious practice towards Buddhist values help form the general daily aesthetics - the heart-beat of society, that is, the shroud of Asian life, the colourfulness and vibrancy.

It wasn't long until I became acquainted with one such colorful part of the Buddhist tradition, the art of Yantra tattooing: Traditional tattooing is one aspect of Buddhist culture that appeals to me; one beyond the flowers and adornments that swing like pendulums from the rear vision mirrors and handlebar of cars and motorbikes alike. An ancient form of skin-art known simply here as 'Sak Yant' (Sak means, to tap 'tattoo' and yant, derived from the Sanskrit word yantra, means "sacred geometrical design").

The art of tattooing has been around for centuries in Asian Buddhism. The Sak Yant style of tattoo can be dated back to the indigenous Khmer population of the Mekong Delta, and as far back as the Angkorian Khmer -800 to mid-1300s, with roots quite possibly as far back as Pre- or Proto-Khmer.

A few days ago, and with a little apprehension, I bit-the-bullet and arranged a Master to Sak Yant, the Gao Yord Yant or 9 Spires Yant: "The Gao Yord Yant or 9 Spires Yant is a sacred tattoo with magical powers. These powers are believe to protect and bring good luck to the bearer. Sak Yant tattoos are made by Buddhist Monks, Brahman Masters and Ruesi ascetics. A place where Sak Yant is practiced is called a Samnak Sak Yant (if a temple or a very large establishment), or “Dtamnak” (if a smaller establishment with one Master). The Gao Yord Yant is usually tattooed at the top-middle of the back area (However, it might also be placed in other areas of the body). Traditionally done by a Buddhist Master, using the bamboo method: snake venom, herbs and ash. The Gao Yord Yant, "...the 9 Spires Yant is a geometric design and represents the 9 Sacred Peaks of Mt. Meru. It also contains 9 symbolic images of the Lord Buddha, demonstrating just how important the number 9 is in Buddhism. The Buddhas are the 3 ovals, in diminishing sizes, placed one above each other." -- Thai Guide to Thailand. The Gao Yord is best known for possessing magical powers: These powers are said to become stronger, with its power increasing with frequency, between the tattoo Master and receiver of the tattoo under ritual practices - in some cases, the Gao Yord Yant is believed to possess the power to stop projectiles. Giving it a cultist following amongst warriors, soldiers and those who face danger.

It's this aspect of Buddhist culture I find fascinating, and my recent time spent in the countryside that borders the Thailand and Cambodian region has only given me a little more insight into - and, respect of - the complex nature of Sak Yant Tattoo culture. These tattoos are often seen covering both the backs of adults and young teenagers alike and can be as complex as a depiction of the life journey of the Lord Buddha; or, as simple as Ling Lom the, ‘Dancing Monkey’. either way, the depth in history and meaning for me was reason enough for choosing the Gao Yord Yant.

BirthLifeDeath by Yantra Mandala

Project: HDR and Tone Mapping

7:19 PM By Stephen J Christophers

Above: Nikon D5100 with 18-55mm lens. This image was created by converting the file into three separate exposure values before exporting to Photomatix HDR software, for exposure fusion and tone mapping. Further processing was done using Photoshop.

I've saved a selection of the best High Dynamic Range (HDR) 'tone mapping' images at my Flickr favorites. They're about the best examples, with respects to processing skill, photographic subject and composition, that I've personally found in the genre. Most of the photographers represented there show a large body of professional work that's worth exploring a little further. To gain more insight into the process of HDR, in general terms. Furthermore, they represent the level at which I'm striving to achieve, with my current work. Although, my camera, a Nikon Coolpix is letting me down, with lesser image clarity, the quality needed to produce the sharpness and resolution most of these guys are working with, in RAW format; like the top of the range Nikon or Canon with professional lenses are able to produce. Nevertheless, it's still possible to create HDR with my current set-up - lets look at my process.

My Tone Mapping Process: My current production method, also-known-as, "Unsharp Masking": using a standard image editing package with .jpeg image format. This is a technique that doesn't require RAW, and one to which I add other filter processes: Hue & Saturation, Threshold, Contrast, Blur and Invert to gain results. These standard filters are found in most free or professional software packages, such as Photoshop or Elements. Personally, constrained to a lower quality .jpeg with my camera, I've nevertheless developed a work-flow process that produces results over 30-50 layers. Including 5-10 layer compressions, over all. This helps to gain a detailed, yet highly-dynamic end result by using the image as a template, to render one layer at a time.

It's a little like chemistry: you've got to believe in the photographs ability to produce results using this method. Key in on image details, and contrasts in colour and light, in the original image. It's also important to take into consideration the image composition in order for the process to show an extraordinary end results. As it takes about 20 layers and three+ layer compressions before you start to see areas of clear definition in tone and contrast forming in specific areas of your image - Unsharp Masking alone is not enough to produce professional results. In the end, using this process depends upon which areas of the original image show the potential for the process to give you the clearest results possible, like details and colour contrasts. So, it's important to be aware of how this might change your original composition depending on how your image takes to the process.

Yes, there's software that produces good quality results, relatively easily. I find that using Photmatix can help, nevertheless the resulting HDR image is usually layered into my project using a layer transparency of 50%, or less. In some of my images I use Photomatix to merge differing exposures values (E/V) and apply Tone Mapping. Although, my manual technique gives your image the edge over most of these processes - or in combination - with respects to each image supporting its own unique personality and subtle differences, while also producing a uniformly inherent quality.



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