Tag: varanasi

Categories
india inspiration life Photography street photography

Morning Coffee Talk~ 11/365

Good Morning,

When you are like me and you love exploring this planet and learning about its inhabitants, then some places haunt you for years after you visit them. One of these places is Varanasi in India. You probably have heard of Varanasi, its floods of pilgrims, swamis, holy men and women, the river Ganga and its famous healing powers, great promise of immortality for those lucky ones who are cremated and released into its waters, or the miraculous healing to those who bathe in its folds.

I arrived there with an open mind, camera and great eagerness to document what I see. I saw and felt so much more than I could possibly hold on to, but to single out one topic from that journey for the sake of economy, it would be ‘faith’.

If you want to study faith, how people adopt it, how it leads their lives and actions, how it fortifies them against all challenges, then Varanasi is the place.

There is so much more to say about it, but I leave you with these 4 images for now until I dive into that world again.

Categories
india Photography

Love is life~

There are some who devote their whole lives to a self driven quest for the truth. Others live every day devoted to altering that truth for the sake of self gain.

Day 51 of 365~

Image take on my last trip to India

Categories
Photography

A Stark Reminder~ India

_Y9A4131-Edit

There is a place on the bank of the Ganges River in the holy city of Varanasi, where more than 300 bodies get cremated daily and the ashes thrown into the river with the belief that the soul of the dead will be allowed a chance at a new life through reincarnation. Hindus from all over India and Asia carry their dead to award them that honor. I sat for a long time on a boat watching the burnings and the surreal picture they painted while this regal bird circled around the ghat reminding me of the certain mortality of the physical body. It was eerie in a good way, because life begs us to question death and death urges us to value life.

Image taken last April in Varanasi, India

Day 17 of 365

Categories
Photography

Spirited~ India

_Y9A4283-Edit

When you love photography and have the tugging urge to travel the world and see as many humans as you can, you end up staring into so many different faces. Some of these faces are simply unforgettable. This girl had a strength of spirit that radiated out of her as she stood there defiantly and curiously questioning the stranger in her village. She stood her ground and all I could do was smile in awe.

One of so many stories along the way…

Day 16 of 365

Categories
Photography

The Delightful Freedom Gained From a Simple Life~

_Y9A4360-Edit

Over time I have come to believe that the simpler life is a secret key to satisfaction of the right kind. We often feel overwhelmed with our lives, with our possessions and the responsibilities that accumulate as an aftereffect of these possessions and where do we run to? A beach, a forest, a long walk, or a meditation. They say hard work is the best remedy for an idle and restless mind, and maybe something in our design needs us to be busy and rewards us with happiness.

This beautiful girl was walking along the village road with a sack of small rocks on her head that she was taking home for a small building project. I followed her for a while till she caught on and turned around and gave me this dazzling smile followed by shy giggles.  I was in the presence of pure and uncomplicated happiness.

Day 15 of 365

Categories
art india Photography Travel

Nesting time~

Varanasi~ India

It feels like the right time to pick up my blog again after a two months process of preparing a new Home in yet another country. A friend told me “it feels like you are nesting “ and yes it does indeed. Everything in me went internal, long working days to make our new house into a home, meditative early mornings, new thought processes and watching with great interest where my new art process with photography plans to take me. Ecology plays a huge part in one’s growth I am discovering and what a subtle and intense process it can be!

Image take a a few months back on the banks of the Ganges river, when I watched a bird patiently collect hay for a nest she was building. In the background was the burning ghat where daily 300 bodies get cremated marking the end of one life and the start of another in a better place…