Silence Inhales the Stair
Bakong waits, rain-washed and luminous, its sandstone tiers blurred by the last threads of mist. A monk appears, stepping from forest shadow into faint dawn. Halfway down, his dog rushes up, weaving joy through the hush. Their brief communion turns the stair into breath. My lens opens to what remains: the resonance left when presence moves on.
old stair drinks the hush
dog’s joy traces saffron shadow
dawn leans into stone
Also in Library
The Stone Is Not the World
A contemplative Angkor essay on how surviving stone has shaped the way Angkor is seen — and why the vanished world of wood, water, labour, smoke, roads, bodies, weather, and devotion must be allowed to return around the temples in What the Stone Hides.
The Consolation of Not Being Separate
There are moments when the world refuses to become personal. The rain falls on the day you needed sun. The illness does not pause because someone is loved. The sea does not soften because a child is afraid. And when the thing prayed against happens anyway, it can feel as if the world has abandoned us. But perhaps what has failed is not the world’s care. Perhaps what has failed is our idea of care.
The Face That Looks Four Ways
The faces of the Bayon have been called Brahma, Lokeshvara, Jayavarman VII, and Vajrasattva. This essay examines the evidence behind each theory and argues that their deepest meaning may lie in a royal-Buddhist synthesis: compassion given the scale of empire.
$895
Bakong Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2018
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print
Edition
Strictly limited to 7 prints + 2 Artist’s Proofs
Edition Number
This listing is for the first numbered print from the Large Collector Edition: 1/7
Medium
Hand-toned black-and-white archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo — a museum-grade fine art paper chosen for its quiet tactility and reverent depth, echoing the spirit of the temples.
Signature & Numbering
Each print is individually signed and numbered by the artist on the border (recto)
Certificate of Authenticity
Accompanies every print
Image Size
28 x 28 inches (71.1 x 71.1 cm)
The moat still murmured with last night’s rain when Bakong’s stone pyramid emerged into morning mist. Trees stood in quiet formation, their leaves damp with remembrance. The air was breathless, waiting.
Then—soft footsteps. A solitary monk stepped onto the path, saffron brushing shadow. His dog appeared at the stair’s base, bounding upward with familiar joy. At that instant, the ancient geometry of the temple seemed to inhale.
From across the moat, I opened the large-format lens. The exposure was long, silent—letting light and reverence gather in equal measure.
In the darkroom, chiaroscuro shaped the form until the stair held presence. Warm gold-toning followed—gently hand-applied to echo the robe, the dawn, the intimacy of this shared return.
Printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, in a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 AP, each hand-toned print is signed on the recto.
Let this image enter your space as a quiet threshold between prayer and companionship.
Click here to walk further into the Artist’s Journal.
Previously titled ‘Monk and Friend, Bakong Temple, Angkor, Cambodia. 2018,’ this photograph has been renamed to better reflect its place in the series and its spiritual tone. The edition, provenance, and authenticity remain unchanged.