Photos shot at Ruwanwelisaya in Anuradhapura/ Sigiriya – The Lion Rock in the central Matale District near the town of Dambulla
I’m grateful to have a break, in which I can slow down my steps and pay more attention to the world I’m surrounded by. I’ve been to some ancient countries that I had always wanted to see, and got inspired by the rich cultures and the people just around the corners of some lanes. Visiting Sri Lanka for a friend’s wedding and spending two weeks travelling around the country was an inspiring and memorable experience for me. As you might know, part of Sri Lanka’s main religion is the Buddhism, so you can see thousands of temples out there. What I was interested in, however, was not the temples themselves but the monks. Chasing the monks all the time for photographs made me look like a creepy person and I was sneered at by my friends whom I’d been travelling with.
As a photographer I always try to the capture the best moments and get the different perspectives of things, in other words, just to be myself, and shoot what I want. I always try to understand how the culture influences a person’s life. For example, ladyboys in Thai culture. I know there are some reasons for a boy deciding to be a ladyboy, could be financial or something related to their genes. I don’t think Thai people have that kind of unique genes that other nationalities don’t have. I think it’s just culture permeating people’s minds which affects the decisions they make. Same with the monks in Sri Lanka, if there wasn’t such rich Buddhist culture in the country, would they still want to be a monk? What kind of life would some choose to lead?