Tag: spiritual

The Great Buddha at Ngoc Hoa Monastery.
During a trip to Vietnam last year, my wife and I travelled around the Qui Nhon area and, during one of our excursions, visited Ngoc Hoa Monastery. Among the things that immediately caught my attention was the huge golden Buddha statue standing within this small spiritual centre.
This photograph comes directly from that visit. I wanted to capture the Buddha with my camera because its size made it dominate the surrounding scene. The golden surface also made the statue particularly noticeable, creating a very clear focal point even when viewed from some distance.
When I think about what to see around Qui Nhon, this is one of the visits I remember with particular curiosity. The area is not only about beaches and the sea. There are also religious and cultural places that offer a completely different perspective on the region and on everyday spiritual life in Vietnam.
Ngoc Hoa Monastery is in the Qui Nhon area, in Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam. Visiting a place like this means stepping away for a while from the more urban side of the destination and entering an environment where the religious character of the site becomes immediately apparent.
The Buddha statue was clearly the main subject I wanted to photograph. Its scale naturally draws the eye upwards and gives the image a very precise focal point. I enjoy this kind of photography because the composition does not always need to be complicated. Sometimes the proportions of the subject itself are enough to create the structure of the photograph.
There is also an interesting detail behind Buddhist representations: Buddha statues can look very different depending on the artistic tradition and cultural setting in which they are created. Body position, hand gestures and facial expression can carry symbolic meanings, so even a seemingly simple statue can offer many details to observe.
During the visit I looked at more than just the statue, of course, but it was definitely the element that stayed with me most strongly. Its scale, colour and position within the monastery made it the dominant feature of the whole setting.
That is one of the things I enjoy about travel photography. You do not always have to search for the most famous monument or the most recognisable viewpoint. Sometimes you simply encounter a subject whose proportions, position or relationship with the surrounding space immediately catches your eye.
My camera allowed me to preserve that particular impression. Looking at the image again today brings back the excursion I made with my wife and, above all, the surprise of finding such an imposing statue in a place that was completely new to me.
If you are wondering what to see around Qui Nhon, places like this can add another dimension to a visit. It is not simply about photographing a large Buddha statue, but about experiencing a setting where architecture, spirituality and the surrounding landscape come together.
The golden Buddha remains the strongest visual memory I have of Ngoc Hoa Monastery. This photograph belongs to that journey through Vietnam and, rather than trying to explain the entire place, it allows me to remember one specific moment from our excursion.
As with other travel photographs I have shared, I like this image because there is a real experience behind it. I was there, I saw the statue with my own eyes and I chose to photograph it because something about its presence immediately caught my attention.
This is one of the reasons I continue to keep and publish photographs that might seem simple at first glance. Years later, a single image can bring back not just the subject itself, but an entire journey, a particular day and the feeling of discovering somewhere completely new.

Have you ever come across such an imposing Buddha statue while travelling through Vietnam? Add a comment or go to the bottom of the site to read what other visitors have written.

Photo taken with Canon EOS RP and lens Canon RF 24-50.

Here’s where the statue is located:

According to Buddhism, a Buddha, also known as budda in Italian, is a being who has reached the highest level of enlightenment (bodhi). Buddha is the past participle of the Sanskrit budh, meaning to become aware, to awaken. Buddha therefore means “awakened,” referring to the passage of consciousness from the state of sleep (ὕπνος, hypnos) to the state of full realization.
Continue and learn more at Wikipedia