Sani Festival Portraits
Portraits of the monks of Bardan Monastery, who perform the festival at Sani.
A Wedding in Zanskar
Weddings are a huge reflection of the culture of Ladakh and Zanskar and are in a state of change like everything else here. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this marriage other than a constantly weeping bride, but what I got was an insight into the culture that I hadn’t known before. It was [...]
A Wedding in Zanskar — Scenes From the Road
I traveled with the groom’s side of the wedding party from Zangla to Shilla to bring the bride to the groom’s family home. Traditionally the groom stays in his village and waits for the bride to be brought to him, so neither the groom or bride was present for this part of the ceremony. The [...]
A Wedding in Zanskar — Arriving at the Bride’s Village
At Shilla all the villagers welcomed the groom’s party with food and chang and there was more music and dancing. The celebrations lasted all night as parties from the two families held a competition of songs and riddles, all part of the ritual. The dusk light was magical and I stayed until there wasn’t enough [...]
A Wedding in Zanskar — The Big Party
The next day the bride’s house filled with people. There was the main party room, a prayer room with about five monks doing a special wedding puja, a room that was taking stock of all the gifts, a busy kitchen, and a kind of den where the young guys started to party after sufficient chang [...]
A Wedding in Zanskar — The Dance Party
When the young guys in the den started dancing to the latest Ladakhi songs (played on every bus so I know them all by now) it felt like a window opened to the culture that I could relate to. I was so happy to see and feel this particular kind of freedom. I hadn’t seen [...]
Tsampa House
Three main crops are grown in Zanskar: barley, wheat and peas. The growing season is very short but there’s usually a surplus. Most harvesting is done by hand and people share the labor, although machines are increasingly used. Flours from each of these are used for all kinds of food. Barley flour, called tsampa, is [...]
Karsha Festival Rehearsal
The day before the festival began I went to check out the rehearsal. The dusk light and vibe were perfect and it felt good to be at Karsha again.
Ama & Aba (and one crazy old monk)
First day in Padum and I walked to a nearby monastery. In the main prayer room I saw these old, wood, tribal-looking masks of mother (ama, above) and father (aba, below) used for the annual festival. Usually ama and aba circulate the crowd “harassing” people for donations and maybe serve chang (an alcoholic drink made [...]
Living, working and moving on
After vowing that I’d never wait tables again, I have to eat my words. For the past week I’ve waited tables at Norlak, the little Tibetan restaurant where I’ve eaten daily since arriving in Leh. I knew that the place was short staffed (their cook left a few weeks ago, tourists have been pouring into [...]
Lamayuru Festival
Lamayuru is one of my favorite places in Ladakh. It’s a beautiful village with an amazing monastery set in a totally surreal mountain landscape. I went to the monastery’s annual festival last weekend. Masked dances (chams) enacting themes from Tibetan mythology are the center stage of these festivals and the house is always packed. (Thankfully, [...]
A Great Little Day!
Today was a great little day for me. I stumbled onto a small festival where I was the only non-Ladakhi and the locals just brought me into the fold. The exact reason for the festival is still unclear to me, but monks and nuns from different monasteries were there to recite some Buddhist texts. The [...]
12th Century Meditation Cave
Over the past few days I’ve traveled by bus to Saspol, a sweet little village about two hours from Leh, to photograph this meditation cave. The mountainside above Saspol is dotted with meditation caves and thankfully they’re off the tourist circuit. The one shown here is the largest and contains 12th century murals on all [...]
Sand Mandala
Today I went to check out the creation of a sand mandala at Thiksey Monastery. When I arrived at 8:30 this morning, about six monks were working on it and the middle part was already done. I stayed with them until 4:30. They fed me and talked with me and I tried not to get [...]
dZi Foundation | Vision Clinic
Another good day. Today I photographed dZi’s vision clinic, which was transported and set up at the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies in Choglamsar in the morning and at Thiksey Monastery in the afternoon. These images are of people reading eye charts at CIB. DZi can make most glasses on the spot for people, including [...]
dZi Foundation | Dental Clinic
For the past few days I’ve photographed a vision and dental clinic for local students organized by the dZi Foundation. DZi partners with Himalayan Dental Relief Project, the Lion’s Club, and the Ladakh Nuns Association to put together this clinic in Ladakh, which is in its 10th year. The dentists, eye specialists, and most volunteers [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 5
The photo above is the gompa’s big prayer wheel. I met the monk at Lamayuru Monastery last year. He spends most of his time in a meditation room (6 years so far) and is the only long-haired and long-bearded monk I’ve seen here. I gave him the pictures I took of him last year, as [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 4
Today I was exhausted but managed to make a couple good pictures of people around the festival in the morning, which are included here. Sometimes it’s hard to keep my stamina going. Maybe it’s the altitude, solitude, lack of protein or caffeine or something else. I don’t know, but some days I just want to [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 3
Today’s festival included a big chanting march around town at midday, but my photographic interests were indoors as usual here. (I like soft, darker light.) The nuns are finally getting used to me and I’ve made friends with two nuns in their late 40s/early 50s. One has a cleft lip, speaks no English, and is [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 2
Tea and lunch for the festival are made on the premises. I spent this morning in the indoor kitchen where the teas (butter and sweet) are made in huge cauldrons and then dispatched out in big kettles to be served to the monks, nuns and attendees. Everyone brings their own cups. The older monks and [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 1
About 1,300 Ladakhi Buddhist monks and nuns have gathered here in Leh at Soma Gompa for a five-day prayer festival called Ladakh Monlam Chemo. The monks sit in the main shrine and the nuns occupy a separate space (which is third-rate in comparison). It runs from 8 – 4 and includes breakfast and lunch. I [...]
Future Buddha
Thiksey Monastery is one of the biggest and wealthiest in Ladakh. It’s of the Gelugpa order (same as the Dalai Lama) and has over 100 monks in residence. This is the three-story, 45 foot Maitreya (Future) Buddha by Ladakhi artist Nawang Tsering. It’s the queen bee of Buddhist sculptures here and probably the most iconic [...]
Stupas at Shey
About 15 km from Leh near Shey Palace there’s a large field with hundreds of stupas in various states of erosion. Stupas are built to offer respect to the Buddha; some house physical relics of the Buddha, mantras on paper or other objects. Apparently the ones at Shey were built by people as a form [...]
Central Institute of Buddhist Studies
In 1959, the year of the Chinese takeover of Tibet, the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (commonly referred to as CIB) was established in Choglamsar, a suburb of Leh. CIB instructs students in Buddhist history and philosophy, traditional Tibetan medicine (Amchi), and the Buddhist arts of sculpture, painting and woodwork. It also acts as a [...]
