There she was, suddenly! An Apsara goddess from Angkor.
Under a messy canopy in the pouring rain stood a woman in traditional Cambodian clothing, fully made up, ready and on her way to a wedding.
I carefully approached the situation while a carriage (tuk tuk) was just bringing a few monks home. I photographed that moment but had no further intention and let it pass.
My ‘model’ in her full Cambodian ‘attire’ was sheltering in the rain.
I carefully asked permission to photograph her but left out the real situation in which she was sheltering under the canopy from the photo.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done that but I wanted to focus on a perfect portrait, without a messy background or foreground. Plus no unnecessary photos, less is more..
With a total of eight clicks with my Nikon and the 105mm f2.5 (The famous Steve McCurry, Afghan girl lens) she was in the picture, I thanked her and walked on in the pouring rain.
With a few small steps to the left and forward I was able to position her just right in relation to the messy background.
She is beautiful, not perfect, in a few photos she has her eyes closed, smiles too much, crooked teeth. But with her traditional hand gesture called ‘Som Pas’ she gives perfect balance and symmetry to this best portrait from a series of eight shots.
My idea to make a ‘last minute’ visit to Angkor Wat in the rain was making this spontaneous portrait enough to be satisfied and to realize again the magic, intuition and the necessary bit of luck in photography