Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
This morning I finally walked down to this famous monastery in Kiev called the Kiev-Pechersk Larva. It's really huge with all sorts of cathedrals built from the 12th century on to the 18th century. And I made a little puppy friend who didn't want to eat my almonds but was very interested in looking good for the camera. The coolest part of the complex were the "pechersks" or caves which have mummified (and ornately cloaked) monks in them. It was really surreal because I have no idea who these people are, yet all the other tourists/pilgrims would cross themselves in front of each glass coffin (about 50 in all) and then kiss it. They kiss everything and cross themselves a lot more than Catholics. And there's a whole lot more gold everywhere and brightly colored iconography. It all seems very cultish and I love it. While all the others lit a prayer candle and carried this inside the caves with them I decided I didn't want to light a candle since I don't pray and instead I whipped out my little handy flashlight which I'm not sure they appreciated.
posted by duckie at 3:18 PM
1 Comments:
I just hate the flash so I never use it and this requires me to stay still in low light conditions. There are a few tricks I've learned. One is to hold both elbows against your chest to stabilize - that I learned in photo class in high school. The other trick I've learned from experience and that's just to hold the shutter down and concentrate on that. releasing it is what usually causes the shake.
i have no idea what you're talking about with the artifical lighting and moroccans and i do hope boris explains.
Post a Comment
<< Home