how to make a golden temple

Within a month I have photographed the process of how a custom-made Hermes bag is made and a south indian temple.... fascinating to be behind the scenes.

The Hermes bag was for the Australian Financial Review magazine and the temple is for a photo book on Sripuram, the golden temple in Tamil Nadu, South India inaugurated by Sakthi Amma last August.

Here is a lotus petal being made (the main tier of the temple is covered by a row of lotus petals this size).

These are images of the copper work (traditionally a temple was made of stone, and covered in copper before being covered in gold or silver... now the stone has been replaced by a concrete structure and the copper is done in the same manner as it has been for generations.)

The copper workers come from the same village in Tamil Nadu and the tradition has been passed from generation to generation.




The tap.tap.tap.tap.tap. of the hammers against the copper were both rhythmic and softly deafening to my little ears...



I felt like I had travelled back a few centuries with these copper workers, except for a few electrical tools, the whole copper casing of the temple is created by the hands of these men...(along with some divine intervention).




Polishing the copper.