Divince province or coincidence?

I had an experience this weekend I wanted to share with everyone. I traveled two hours to a Buudist Temple to do a shoot. I arrived around 6 and asked one of the gardeners who I would need to talk with to be allowed to shoot after dark? This place had amazing statues that I wanted to shoot with the Milky Way arching above them. The woman told me I would need to talk to the resident monk who was the care taker. But unfortunately he was not available at that time. So she told me to wait 5 mins and she would be back. So 5 mins later she comes back and tells me its ok for me to be there after dark. And, if I wanted to the monk would be there at sunset for me to talk to him. So I waited around till sunset and he approached me and asked if I was the one who wanted to shoot there after dark. I said I was and he asked me if my pictures were for profit or personal reasons?

I told him they were for me personally. I then told him that I wouldn't be there shooting that night as the valley where this temple sits was socked in with smoke from a nearby forest fire. I would come back before October to do it. He then me that I should go ahead and try that night none the less. The truth is I wanted to badly because the temple was two hrs from my home and I don't get down that way often. I said ok I'll think about it. He then blessed me in Tibetan smiled and walked away.

30 minutes later a fierce wind blew in from the south and blew out a perfectly clear portion of the sky where the milky way would soon be visible. To say the least I was dumbfounded. Call it divine province or just coincidence. I'm not sure which. But, I was able to go home with the shots I had dreamt of since the first time I stepped foot on the temple grounds.

Below or two of the epic shots I went home with.

a reply to: w810i

Those pictures are stunning. Maybe a little more than coincidence.

a reply to: w810i

Wow. Amazing pictures, especially the 2nd is poster material!
Beautiful!

Wow. Which temple is this?

a reply to: w810i

a reply to: w810i

PROSAIC EXPLAINATION :

1 - the temple commonly experiences an evening breeze [ teh monk woyld be aware of this ]

2 - the resident monk is a ametur meteorologist

3 - the resident monk checked the weather forecast before talking to you

i am amazed at how quickly people sometimes jump to paranormal conclusions - with no regard for basic logic

now my opinions [ given above ] are just logical guesses as to what could have caused your clea skies

and without further information - i have no way of knowing the validity of any of them

but dammit - you were there - and could have done some basic research - but didnt

got to wonder why ?

a reply to: w810i

oh and on a different onote :

kudos for some stunning photographs

a reply to: ignorant_ape

What basic research should I have done? You're getting a little too serious about it. At the end of the day I don't really care what the reason was for the sudden clearing. It was a unique story that took place that I shared with everyone. The title was more tongue in cheek then anything. I care about the shots I was able to get. Thank you for the compliments.

WOW just beautiful!!!

There is no such thing as coincidence.

originally posted by: w810i
...The truth is I wanted to badly because the temple was two hrs from my home and I don't get down that way often...
...But, I was able to go home with the shots I had dreamt of since the first time I stepped foot on the temple grounds...

This is why the sky cleared for you

a reply to: justbe

Thank you!

a reply to: w810i

you drove 2 hours to do an astro-photography session - and you cannot work out what you should have checked in advance ????

utterly priceless

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Actually I drove down there to just do a shoot. I knew from the time I left that the chances for doing astrophotography were slim at best if that given the nearby wild fire not too mention I didn't know if they would even allow anyone on the temple grounds after dark to being with. So being allowed to do it and the clouds blowing out were just a bonus.

a reply to: w810i

Would you mind if I used those for background art/wallpaper on a couple of devices? I'll credit you of course and it would be strictly for my personal use.

a reply to: ParadigmMind

Sure