Quiet ceremonies in quiet corners of the world are some of our most memorable or moving episodes. Being invited by your couchsurfer host to an Omani wedding or by Chinese villagers to a special ritual to appease the local spirits transforms a great trip into a significant experience. Most recently, we were privileged to be asked to a small local ceremony at a temple near where we were staying in Bali, Indonesia. Just an hour or two, with local villagers, doing something they do about every month. It was lovely, and interesting, and full of colour. These photos are straight, uncropped low-res scans of Fuji Provia taken on my Bessa R rangefinder, a fully manual (focus and exposure) camera with beautiful lenses.

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My Bessa R is the same as this one. It takes 35mm film, and lenses with the old Leica Thread Mount (LTM). It has a battery-powered TTL meter but the shutter operates fully mechanically. Manual focus is by the rangefinder system. The lenses are beautiful and the low-res scans in this post don’t remotely do them justice. I have a 75mm, 50mm and 35mm.