When I was asked to compile a list my ten favourite photographs in the Heritage Key Flickr Pool, I thought to myself "Easy! This will be a doddle!" Wow.. How wrong I was. There are some truly amazing, stunning, incredible images in the Flickr pool which you should definately have a look through - I'm likely to run out of adjectives in this blogpost!
Stitching together photographs to create a panorama is a powerful effect which can give an image a strong aesthetic appeal. Landscapes are in particular a good subject for a panoramic photograph, and this image by Felix Oking of Borobudur is an excellent example of the effect.
Borobudur, Indonesia is a huge Mahayan Buddhist temple complex, decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues across six square platforms, topped by three circular platforms and constructed over an estimated 75 year period. Architecturally speaking, that's a biggie! Felix Oking's photograph is taken amongst the stupas overlooking the mountain on this ancient site, which for many centuries remained a deserted relic.
Borobudur is a Mahayan Buddhist temple complex located near the modern city of Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The huge monument, a popular place of pilgrimage for Buddhists, comprises six square platforms, topped by three circular platforms, decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. It is estimated to have been erected over a 75-year period, ending somewhere around 800 AD during the time of the Sailendra Dynasty of Java, under the leader Samaratungga. Its architect, Gundaharma, is a largely mythical character, thus his efficacy remains uncertain. The monument remained a popular place of worship for the island's Buddhist population - even under Hindu rule. Yet a number of volcanic eruptions around 1000 AD, and the shifting of power to East Java, meant Borobudur's prominence waned. And many historians believe the island's change of religion to Islam around the fifteenth century meant that the site became derelict.
