Stakna Monastery

[Manfred M]

This is a winter shot of the Stakna Monastery in the former Kingdom of Ladakh, which is in the part of the Himalayas in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indus River is in the foreground.

This area is at altitudes of above 3500m / 11,500ft with extremely low temperatures and windy conditions.

[GBO25]

Quite striking. Travel photography at it's best.

[Tronhard]

Wow, Manfred that awesome! The mesa on which the monastery itself sits is really striking and the river leads the eye beautifully across the landscape to the location.

[Wavelength]

Superb !!!

[madcrow]

Outstanding image Manfred. Landscape photography at its absolute best. Keep them coming.

[Shadowman]

Nice rich colors, nice composition.

[Davejl]

Beautiful image. I love the trees and rest of the natural landscape, and summit building. My only reservation is about the building below/left of the monastery, which to my mind resembles a portakabin. I'd be tempted to "demolish" it with the clonining tool!

[Manfred M]

Beautiful image. I love the trees and rest of the natural landscape, and summit building. My only reservation is about the building below/left of the monastery, which to my mind resembles a portakabin. I'd be tempted to "demolish" it with the clonining tool!

Those small buildings are part of the monastery complex and include chortens, monks quarters, etc. I would look at removing buildings that are not part of the monastery, but not ones that are, which is why I left them in. These external buildings can be seen at any of the monastery complexes that we saw.

[chauncey]

Manfred, you show us places that most of us will never see.
I'm green with envy and thankful.

[Davejl]

I suspected as much. Better leave them standing, I suppose...
(There is a regrettable piece built onto a handsome medieval church in my home town that I'd love to take a sledgehammer to)

[John 2]

Apart from anything else, that's just good composition. Stunning shot Manfred.

[KimC]

Beautiful capture of a very interesting landscape.

[Pixl8tor]

I really like the contrast between the areas in shade and the areas in the sunlight.

[Mike Buckley]

Travel photography at its best.

No doubt about that! This has got to be viewed in the Lytebox to be fully appreciated. Feel sorry for the people viewing it on their cell phone.

[Donald]

As I said elsewhere and has already been said on here, that is the very best in travel photography. You could easily see that as a centre spread in a travel magazine or printed very large in an exhibition.

[leprechaun]

Great shot Manfred, like the serene quietness of the landscape.
Bit of a hop, skip and jump from Ottawa though.
Pat

[Manfred M]

Great shot Manfred, like the serene quietness of the landscape.
Bit of a hop, skip and jump from Ottawa though.
Pat

Thanks.


On the other hand, temperatures of -20C and a wind chill of -30C is something I am used to dealing with, so the other photographers I was with (who were mostly from India) were at a definite disadvantage. On the other hand, altitude sickness symptoms due to the location made shooting a real chore.

[billtils]

Absolutely superb!

[LePetomane]

Manfred, that is very nice.

[NorthernFocus]

You definitely captured the cold and remoteness of the place. Excellent composition with the course of the river leading right to the base of the monastery. Nicely done.