My friend Brian Chamberlain and his then fiance- now wife – Niki needed engagement photos and I was more than happy to shoot them. Of course they had the standard fare to send out to friends and family. Then we have this image for….well for a lack of better words general awesomeness.

~ H

I often get asked why or what drew me into the world of photography. Even after nearly 15 years of shooting, I still truly cannot answer that question. Photography is in many ways like a vortex. It has a pull and pulse of its own and it commands you to join it, to breathe it in, to stay with it just another moment.

My brother is a huge vat of knowledge and every once in a while, he sends me something that stops me mid-work to look. Because he is a huge audiophile, it is usually music based and awesome. But out of the 400 funny cat photos he finds me from Tumblr, he sometimes finds something that I can’t forget.

The image below was shot by photographer Hu Yuanjia , who used a Nikon- YES NIKON RULES and is simply breathtaking. Voted by Reuters as best photos of 2011 , I must share this image and the photographers words follow on how the image was made.

Buddhist Monk Photo by Hu Yuanjia

“I remember clearly that it was about 5 p.m. on November 25. I was just finishing an assignment photographing retired military soldiers bidding farewell to their comrades at the train station. On my way out, I heard someone yelling from a corner and soon after lots of people gathered around. I ran towards the sound and made my way to the front of the crowd, only to find an old man dead on the bench. As I raised my camera, a Buddhist monk walked out of the crowd and went directly towards the dead man. The monk bent down to hold the old man’s hand and started to chant scriptures. I began to take pictures immediately. One minute later, police came over and cordoned off the area. After the monk finished the ceremony, he bowed to the old man and quickly disappeared among the other busy passengers.”