366 Days of 2012, Day 359 - Nativity

There is a story about the pieces in this nativity scene that I'd love to tell but I can't because I just don't know.

I do know that they come from Malawi and were a gift to or from a Jesuit priest which were then given to his niece. Perhaps someone else will find this post and tell the story.

The pieces are dark and beautiful and quite challenging to photograph as a set. I'm not yet happy with this result but at least it's a start to try and capture the spirit of the pieces and the story they tell. Both back light and front light are from tea-lite candles, about eight of them while I used a small LED flashlight to paint in the manger from overhead and to add a little fill light to the faces. The resulting odd combination of colour temperatures looked very awkward so in post I make the image monochrome and tinted back in the base colour as illuminated by the tea-lites only.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 359 - Nativity'. 30s f/11 ISO160 100mm