Everyone goes to Borobudur—the largest ancient Buddhist shrine in the world—and to the hotels & shops immediately around it.  But within a couple kilometers of the shrine, if you head in the right directions, you’ll soon get into Javanese village settings almost untouched by outsiders. 

Stay tuned!  You could be photographing these same scenes when you sign up for a soon-to-be-announced workshop to be held next year.  We won't only be visiting Borobudur shrine; we will also focus on the Javanese villagers in her rice farming vicinity.

Soon after you shoot the sun rising from behind Mount Merapi volcano & lighting up the plain where Borobudur sits centerpiece, you can cycle along village paths where children play in front of Javanese joglo-style (Pizza Hut-roofed) village houses while the sun's rays beam down through palm fronds. 

Soon you see a small stock of simple pottery in front of a village house.  A young mother sits behind a crude pottery wheel making oil lamps that her fellow villagers will buy.

If you desire, she’ll let you try your hand at the pottery wheel.  

Here my wife has a go at it, finally deciding to buy a Javanese pottery lamp rather than fire hers.

From there you cycle on past Javanese women & men farmers harvesting rice in the shadow of Borobudur—hot work even at this early hour. 

The morning sun already makes elderly farmers suffer in her bright heat.

And—almost as if just choreographed to delight your heart & camera—you see duck herders “shepherding” their charges out to rice paddies.  There the ducks will spend the long hot day in a symbiotic relationship with local farmers—filling their stomachs with insects that—if left alone—would harm the farmer’s crops.

One of my favorite mental images of 17 years on-the-ground living in Java is seeing these duck herders leading their processions out every morning & returning home just before sunset—their ducks in double-file, casting long shadows down the village tracks.

Want to photo these kinds of scenes yourself? Check out our Sept. 14-25 Java-Bali Photo Tour & be sure to sign-up for the extension tour to Jogja, Central Java.  

See more at  www.thedigitaltrekker.com/2013/01/east-java-bali-photo-tour/