An unforgettable photo of passing through the divine light in the temple-A One-shot story

It is a small temple tucked away in a village near the bustling city of Guangzhou, and because of its proximity to an expressway, it is densely populated and surrounded by high buildings. But after all, this is an old building with some history, and the god Beidi enshrined in history is a distant past for modern young people, so it is usually quiet and forgettable.

Every winter and spring sunny morning, according to different seasons, there is always a ray of morning sun as promised, through the surrounding high buildings, the temple’s winding eaves and layers of tower incense, projected into this small temple, as if from the gods, to this slightly lonely small temple to bring a short glow.
On the day I visited, I brought a Leica M digital and went here to shoot. Because incense is always lit in the temple, the smoke after burning, under this brief light, will appear like a wonderful scene like a stage light column, which is technically known as the Tyndall effect which is also known as Jesus light when it occurs in forests or vast fields.

I took a lot of photos inside and outside the temple, and there were some scenes with very good light and shadow, the film effect was beautiful and pleasant, and the advantage of fast review of digital camera was very significant; In addition, I also stuffed a Minolta TC-1 PS camera in my bag, because it is so small that it doesn’t take up much space, Even when evaluating a variety of different destinations and weather conditions, there is always a suitable corner for it, which contains a roll of CN400pro max, this is my first test shot of this film, but according to the dealer, it is actually Kodak 400 Ultra Max rebuilt, which is a film model I am more familiar with, and the color and grain are excellent.

I’ve taken a lot of photos with the digital Leica M, and think of the Minolta TC-1 in my bag, the roll of CN400pro max in it, I have taken a lot of photos along the way with my itinerary, and there is not much left in the 36 photos. Based on the experience of the previous shooting, although the small temple is a little dim, the measured light exposure data is barely enough to shoot at ISO 400, then it can be thrown to the rinse shop as soon as taking few last photos.

I took out the TC-1 and took two shots, basically repeating the scene that Leica M had just shot digitally, and this would to be compared with the Leica M’s shot. As you know, this little temple has been forgotten, so no one, yes, no one, so it’s all beautiful pictures of light and shadow, well, it feels good.

As the sun continued to rise, the beam of light that could be projected in gradually narrowed, and I was about to leave and go back to the parking to drive away, when a lady walked into the small temple and began to inspect the layers of burning incense sticks hanging under the eaves of the temple with a bamboo pole in her hand, to see which ones were about to burn out and needed to be replaced. At this time, seeing that she was about to pass through the dazzling and almost disappearing beam of greeting light from the gods, it was too late to take out the digital M camera from the backpack, I quickly looked at the LCD display number on the TC-1 in my hand was 36, yes I only had very few or even only one chance to shoot this film that was about to pass through the divine light, I leaned on a pillar next to me to get a stable balance, held my breath, waited for the moment when the lady crossed this beam of light, and pressed the shutter, And then I heard the TC-1’s rewind, yes, just one, the last of the 36 films, and this is what you see.

I remember that the shutter speed in the viewfinder showed both 8 and 30, which meant that the shutter speed of this film was somewhere between 1/8s and 1/30s.

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