These dragon like creatures guarding Buddhist temples in Laos actually represent serpent-gods called Nagas, which have long been associated with wisdom and immortality and appear in various forms at places of worship in Egypt, China, India, South and Central America, and Indochina. They are intended to proclaim ferocity as well, and to stress that point I use the wideangle lens turned vertically to create a three-layer image. The Nagas occupy the foreground layer. My low vantage point causes the points on their heads to carry the eye up to the lavish and ornate golden façade of the temple they protect, which is the middle ground layer. The dark negative space within the façade is the background layer – curving black arches, which echo the thrusts of the horns in the first layer. The eye moves back into the mysterious darkness of that background layer, adding a third measure of expression to the image. Ferocity, Wealth, and Mystery – all organized in space by the use of the 24mm wideangle lens.