Here's something you don't see every day: a photographer went to the Shaolin Temple, in China's Henan province, and he asked a monk to bless his Hasselblad camera – apparently becoming the first person to make such a request.
While the Shaolin Temple might be most famous (at least, to fans of old-school chop-socky flicks and the Wu-Tang Clan) as the birthplace of Shaolin Kung-Fu, it is a monastery that is home to Chan Buddhism.
It is fairly common for pilgrims and visitors to ask the monks to bless significant items, such as prayer beads or bracelets. But to ask a monk to imbue an old medium format camera with good fortune and protection was apparently a first!
"I blessed a Hasselblad camera at the Shaolin Temple," wrote Pi Zidong, a Beijing car culture photographer, on Chinese social media site Weibo.
"The master said that I was the first person to do this. Now that the camera has been blessed, I wish that all the people I photograph with this camera in the future will be healthy, happy, safe and blessed!"
As you might imagine, the idea of a film camera (which looks to be a Hasselblad 500C) being "enlightened" by the teachings of Buddha generated some well-natured comments from other users.
"Will the light metering be inaccurate in the future?" asked BBBOOSS, while zb2759 pondered, "Should the first photo be taken at night?"
User Mayfly World scored points with the game geek in me when they asked, "Will there be camera effects like in Zero: Crimson Butterfly?" referring to the Fatal Frame series of horror videogames (known as Zero in Asia) where a special film camera can exorcize spirits.
However, the trophy for best comment goes to Camera Obsession (who I must thank for drawing my attention to the post) for writing, "Buddha's light blesses me, I will consciously reduce the shutter speed by 1/3 when taking photos in the future."
Maybe I'll stop by my local Buddhist vihara next time I'm in town and see if they'll bless my camera kit…
You might be interested in the best Hasselblad cameras, including the Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C (the modern version of the 500C that was blessed) and the Hasselblad X2D 100C.
