This month Lowepro challenged their Storytellers with the mission
to share photographs made in “Low Light”. They were not disappointed
with the beautiful images created by some of their favorite photographers.

Each month, the team at Lowepro challenge their Storytellers to a mission, assigning a word or phrase and asking that we show them our visual interpretations.  Because the Storytellers are spread all across the globe, each with their own personal style, it is always exciting to see how everyone translates this prompt into pictures.  This month we were tasked to share photographs made in “Low Light”.  Following is my submission for this month’s Storyteller Mission.

The Buddhist nuns of Ani Tsankhung in Lhasa, Tibet gather in the scripture hall for morning prayers.  Located in the bustling back alleys of Lhasa’s Barkhor neighbourhood, Ani Tsankhung — Ani meaning nun and tsankhung meaning a place for spiritual retreat — is an intimate hermitage that has occupied these sacred grounds since the 15th century.  The monastery is home to around one hundred nuns who subsist on alms (money or food given as a charitable act) and revenue from selling small handicrafts they make on the premises.  I made this photograph with my Nikon D810 and the ultra wide-angle 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. The light was extremely low, and the nuns were rocking back and forth ever so slightly.  Since I did not have a tripod with me, I set the camera to shutter priority at 1/40 sec — which I felt comfortable hand-holding and believed would freeze the subtle movement of the women — and quietly moved around the cramped hall, documenting the divine scene as it transpired that early September morning.

Click here to see all the Lowepro Storytellers’ low light submissions.  And click here to browse more of Scott’s reportage from Tibet.

SCOTT A WOODWARD_DSC5076 (Ani Tsankhung Monastery)