The Orange Robes of Laos in 10 Photos
The Orange Robes of Laos Every morning at dawn, heads shaved and barefooted, the monks and novices pour out of the thirty-some Buddhist Temples to begin their Alms Walk through…
Rickshaw Puller – Calcutta, India
A rickshaw puller rests while his fare tends his shrine in Calcutta, India. The rickshawalas, or rickshaw pullers, are a dying breed in Calcutta and Northeastern India and Bangladesh. Brought…
Reminiscing: Notre Dame Cathedral
Remembering a late summer's eve a few years ago spent making photographs of one of the most beautiful of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Remembering Notre Dame
Remembering Notre Dame Cathedral. The iconic symbol of Paris and our last, best example of Gothic architecture.
On Holy Water – a Photoessay
For the 80% of Indians who are Hindu, the River Ganges is considered sacred, her water holy. In the ancient city of Varanasi, the ghats that form the river's edge teem with pilgrims and devotees who come for a ritual dip in the Ganges in this holiest of cities. The scene is spiritual and, at the same time festive. The streets and ghats are chaotic. The sounds and smells overwhelm the senses. Yet, in spite of the masses of people, there are moments of solitude, aloneness.
“The Observer,” Kumba Mela Festival, India
A man, clutching his chillum, gazes over the throngs of devotees gathered at the world's largest religious festival, Kumba Mela, in Allahabad, India. Millions come during this holiest of Hindu religious festivals to bathe away their sins with a "Holy Dip" in the sacred River Ganges.
Morning Worship Along the Ganges
A Hindu devotee performs his morning rituals on the banks of the Ganges River in the ancient city of Varanasi. This morning liturgy includes the cleansing of the body and mind with holy water from the Mother Ganges while reciting prayers and mantras. Hindus believe that adherence to a series of daily morning and evening rituals will curry them favor in life and will purify them for their quest for communion with God.
Mrs. Johnson and the Praise House
For the better part of the next hour, Mrs. Johnson tells us her story - she recently moved back to St Helena from New Jersey - and the history of this praise house. This area was once a part of the Mary Jenkins Plantation. Thus, we are standing in the Mary Jenkins Community Praise House. Prior to the Civil War, slaves who were living on plantations were often allowed to build small structures for worship known as praise houses. After Emancipation, former slaves who remained in the area would build more substantial praise houses. This one was built in 1900. Mrs. Johnson tells us that the community is dwindling and services are no longer held on a regular basis. But her eyes brighten and a smile crosses her face as she tells us that the services they do have are lively affairs with much hymn singing and praising, and ending with a shout. A shout was a tradition practiced by African slaves where the worshipers move in a circle as they chant, clap their hands, and shuffle and stomp their feet.
Sunday Single – St Vitus Cathedral, Prague
St. Vitus Cathedral, the spiritual symbol of the Czech Republic, dominates the Prague skyline. Though commissioned in 1344 by Charles IV it took almost six centuries to complete, the final…
The Bauls of Bengal.
India never ceases to leave me in wonder. The diversity and devotion and spirituality. Take for example the Baul sect of ascetics that roam the Bengal area of Eastern India…