Monkey Shrine

Eight frames of 35mm color negative from a Balinese sea temple — dance, cliffs, gates, and the resident monkey.

Bali, Bali, Indonesia / 35mm color negative (stock unidentified) / Monkey Shrine — Bali collection, 35mm film archive

The roll opens after dark, mid-performance. A masked figure in white and gold smears across the frame while a ring of bare-shouldered dancers in black-and-white checked cloth holds the circle behind it, the last red of sunset still burning at the top of the sky. The next frame turns around to face the audience — a grandstand of spectators dissolving into streaks of blue and white, the color negative recording the shake of the moment more faithfully than the faces.

Daylight steadies things, though not immediately. A split stone gate rises in twin silhouettes against a sea gone silver, flanked by checkered umbrellas, a figure in white passing between the halves — still soft, still moving. Then the sun takes over: blown out behind a tangle of flowering trees, flaring past the stepped shoulder of a shrine that stands black against the glare, a paved walk and the flat shine of the ocean far below.

The cliff finally comes into focus and it is worth the wait — a sheer limestone wall stitched with green, surf unraveling white over the rocks at its foot, the water a deep uncomplicated blue. The shrine's namesake appears late and unbothered, a lone macaque perched on a weathered wall between whitewashed buildings, working on something held in both hands. The last frame leans on a stone balustrade over the haze, bougainvillea overhead and a NO DRONE sign standing guard — the one airborne visitor this temple won't accommodate.

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Related

Bali / Night Photography / Stairs / Nature / Temples & Shrines / Animals

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  • Bali Street Shots - Roadside Bali on 35mm color negative — signage, stray light, vine-wrapped trees, and a motorbike hauling a cloud of beach balls.
  • Bali Street Shots Two - Street frames from Bali that drift from beach daylight into blurred roads and fluorescent night.
  • Balinese Dance Night Photos - A long-exposure roll of Balinese dance at night, where costume and lamplight dissolve into color.
  • Boat Ride - One roll afloat off Bali — anchored masts, grey horizons, teak decks, and an island seen through mist.
  • Gate - Six frames at a carved split gateway in Bali, where the doorway frames nothing but haze, ocean, and whoever steps into it.
  • Bali Loosie - Stray color-negative frames from Bali, drifting from roadside silhouettes to garden bins, chewed leaves, and a rope swing in the trees.
  • Bali Street - Sidewalk passes and upward glances in Bali, shot close and on the move on 35mm color negative.

Images

A motion-blurred masked dancer in white and gold performs at night before rows of seated dancers wearing black-and-white checked cloth.
Dusk performance, mid-motion. The mask blurs to a ghost while the chorus in checked cloth holds its shape.
A large crowd of spectators seated in open-air stands, rendered almost entirely as motion blur.
The audience as weather — hundreds of faces streaked into one restless surface of blue and white.
A split stone temple gate in silhouette against a pale sea, with black-and-white checkered umbrellas on either side and a blurred figure in white between the halves.
The gate opens onto nothing but silver — two dark towers, two checkered umbrellas, and one figure passing through.
Sunlight flares through backlit trees and flowering branches, with a dark stone form at the right edge.
The sun burns straight through the canopy, turning leaves to lace and stone to shadow.
A tiered stone shrine in dark silhouette at right, overlooking a hazy silver sea and a paved walkway below.
The shrine keeps its back to the camera and its face to the sea, black steps against a sheet of hammered silver.
A sheer limestone cliff covered in patches of green vegetation drops into deep blue ocean, with white surf breaking over rocks at its base.
The island ends all at once — white stone, green stubborn growth, and the sea working the rocks below.
A macaque monkey sits on a weathered stone wall between whitewashed buildings, holding something to its mouth with both hands.
The resident collects his toll. Whatever he's holding, it likely belonged to someone else first.
A carved stone balustrade overlooks a hazy sea, with flowering branches overhead and a white NO DRONE sign at right.
Bougainvillea, balustrade, and the ocean gone to haze — with one firmly modern commandment posted at the edge.