As I mentioned in my last week's blog posting, I have just recently returned to my home base in Thailand from a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of the Angkor Archaeological Park. The most famous temple in the area is of course Angkor Wat, but one of my personal favorites is the Bayon, the main temple of the ancient city of Angkor Tom. I have visited the Bayon quite a few times over the years, but since I am usually conducting a photo tour for other photographers (or playing location scout for a visiting pro), my personal collection of images is still evolving.

The Bayon was constructed in the late 12th century under the rule of the King Jayavarman VII. Unlike most of the Angkor temples which were originally built as Hindu temples, Bayon was built as a Budhist temple so it has a unique look and feel compared to other temples in the area. The most striking feature of the temple are the large stone faces on the many towers of the temple, which are often compared to the large faces on the Easter Islands.

Photographically the temple and the stone faces are kind of a challenge because the surrounding tall jungle trees block the early light of the sunrise and the late light of sunset. Nevertheless I am determined to come up with a good collection of images over time and on my next trip will try to spend several days on my own shooting only the faces of the Bayon.

The images included here were recorded just shortly after sunrise. The camera used was a Nikon D300 with a 17-55mm f/2.8 DX Nikkor lens. Processing in Lightroom was very basic with small adjustment made to Clarity, Vibrance, Sharpness, and some Fill Light in one or two images.