Scent of Nan Tien Temple

If you live in Australia, especially in Sydney, time to time you hear the expression, 'the -st in the southern hemispherer'. It seems like a silly pride to present, but the fact is the fact. Without too much competition, Ausralia holds many titles of the -st in the southern hemisphere game. The biggest shopping centre, the oldest university and the largest church in the southern hemisphere all locate in Sydney, NSW.

In addition to the list above, I would like to present the another winner in the largest Buddhist template category, Nan Tien Temple (南天寺). About 1.5 hours drive to the south of Sydney, right after you pass Wollongong, clear signs indicates the road to the temple.

It was the first time I visited the temple. The place was impressively spacious and well managed, good enough to have the largest Buddihst temple title.

When I buy incense sticks for home, I often choose the Opium or Buddhist ones, which remind me of those temples I used to visit back in Korea. Nowadays it even reminds me of Thai restaurants and massage places in Newtown, too. Anyway, the temple was full of incense smells which the gentle breeze carries in the air and it was the absolute pleasure to enjoy throughout the visit.

The sky was painted with such a beautiful blue and the red eaves of the building looked like a natural oil painting to me. The tedious nature in the structure of eaves I believe (too much repetition) in the oriental buildings is surely a great subject to photograph, but also a very difficult one for me to capture in the way I like.
The temple was indeed fairly busy with tourists and prayers. I was wondering what all these people are wishing in their minds. Health? Wealth? Success? or just a bit of peace in mind? Whatever it is I also wish them to find their own answers.
By the way, if you visit the place, there is a huge bell you can ring on the top of the hill. If you visit on the weekend, you cannot miss it as it doesn't stop ringing as you can imagine. Funny thing is though, it doesn't sound noisy at all. Truly well made bell I have to say.

The time was heading to late afternoon and the sunshine was nice and warm. I processed this set with various B&W filters, but it ended up with this film toned with colours, which seems to me that the best method to carry the atmosphere I felt at the temple.