One Photographer’s View pg. 3
a series of photographs and comments on them by Gary Richardson
In a Chinese Scholar’s Garden
Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon 2005
The most authentic Confucian scholar’s garden outside China occupies a city block in downtown Portland, Oregon’s Chinatown. It was created by a team of master craftsmen from Suzhou, Portland’s sister city Jiangsu province, famous for its beautiful Ming dynasty gardens.
I spent the better part of a day in 2005 photographing Lan Su, circuiting the walkways, which meander over and around a series of ponds and buildings. At each turn, through every doorway one encounters a perfect;y envisioned, balanced view.
Temple Dragon
Cloisonné sculpture
HoiAn, VietNam, 2002
This ornate, crowded Buddhist altar is fairly typical of those found throughout Vietnam. Fruits, flowers, incense, bells, and candles are offered to various statues representing bodhisattvas, ancestors, ancient kings, and spirits.
On the other side of the wall behind the altar, I was surprised to find the life-sized cloisonné statue of a dragon, my birth sign in the oriental zodiac.
Steampunk Mandala
Composite: Northern Pacific Railway Rotary Steam Snowplow #10, built by Alco-Cooke, 1907.
Statue of Quán Thế Âm, the thousand-armed Bodhisattva of Great Compassion. Lê Dynasty, Vietnam (1750–1850), Guimet Museum, Paris.
Steampunk Mandala