travling photography

Photo � Barbara Colbert - All Rights Reserved Theyyam is also known as the �Dance of Gods�, which is unique to the folk culture of Kerala. The dance is an intriguing ritual integral to the worship of the goddess Kali. Originally reserved for the upper caste temple priests hundreds of years ago, it evolved to become a mass celebration for everyone. The 800-year old celebration has roots in the age-old Dravidian culture of South India, and is a combines dance, drama, music and mime. More than 1200 temples in the Malabar region of Kerala host these religious dances during the first three or four months of each year. The lower parts of the costumes in Theyyam are made of coconut leaves, while the upper part of the body remains bare and painted, although I have also seen some performers wearing two halves of a coconut shell as a bra. Usually, a paste of rice and turmeric is smeared on the upper bodies of the performers.  The Theyyam headdresses, made of bamboo, wood, peacock feathers, leave

Photo � Shiho Fukada - Courtesy Bloomberg Here's another photo essay on the Soma-Nomaoi festival by photojournalist Shiho Fukada as featured by Bloomberg Pursuits. The annual festival involves horse-riding participants don elaborate armor like samurais, who aim to recreate scenes from Japan's Sengoku period (1467�1603) which was marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict. The festival's original purpose was a military exercise designed to sharpen the fighting skills of the samurai. One event in the festival, Shinki Sodatsusen, sees the samurai compete for flags that have been shot into the air. The festival has been designated as an "intangible cultural asset" by the Japanese government. Shiho Fukada is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, cinematographer, and photojournalist based in Boston and Tokyo. She started her career as a news photographer in New York and has a decade of experience shooting and producing stories nationall

Photo �  Richard Atrero de Guzman  (aka Bahag) - All Rights Reserved One of the great summer festivals of Japan�s northeastern Tohoku region, Soma-Nomaoi dates back over a thousand years and is held every year for three days during the month of July. Some 500 armored and helmeted warriors ride on horseback, and  take part in this military recreation. There are primarily two main attractions during the festival: the Koshiki Kacchu Keiba and the Shinki Sodatsusen. The former event involve 12 samurais in their armor who race over a distance of 1,000 meters. The latter event involves several hundred samurais on horses that compete for the 40 shrine flags known as " goshinki " that are shot into the air with fireworks.  Richard Atrero de Guzman (also known as Bahag) was recently at the festival and produced a number of photographs viewable on his Photoshelter website . Bahag (or Bahagski) is a Tokyo based photographer/filmmaker whose photographs have been published in local and i

Photo � Heinz-Peter Bader - Courtesy Daily News I wasn't aware that a World Body Painting Festival even existed, but I should have. It is an annual body painting festival and competition held in P�rtschach, Austria, and attracts artists from 45 nations, and attracts more than 30,000 spectators. The event was held on July1-3, 2016. It's a competition between artists (I suppose they're called 'body painters') who work on models for the festival's three days with a given theme. The categories are brush & sponge, airbrush and special effects for the World Champion Award. I've done some digging, and I chose a couple of galleries that feature the wildest body painting examples; the Daily News has a gorgeous gallery   with large images, while the UK's Daily Mail has a set of equally interesting images here . I viewed many more of these galleries and noticed the number of photographers carrying the quasi-obligatory DSLRs with 70-200 lens were cheek-to-jowl

Photo � Dorie Hagler-All Rights Reserved To continue religious posts which I've added to my blog over the few past weeks, and to provide equal opportunity to the three main world religions, I'd like to feature Dorie Hagler's Semana Santa photo story. I attended a Semana Santa in La Antigua (Guatemala)in 2002, and it was quite an experience. Although small, it featured rituals indigenous to this Central American nation, which included covering streets of La Antigua with natural, aromatic carpets of flowers, pines, clover and fruits, which the residents made and placed in front of their homes.  I recall the tremendous fervor expressed by the Guatemalans who participate in the processions and its preparations, creating an extraordinary outpouring of Christian faith and devotion. I found it quite easy to photograph in Antigua during the Semana Santa, as there are ample accommodations, the routes of the processions are planned in advance and no one minds photographers. The proc

Photo � Remera - All Rights Reserved I haven't posted photographic work documenting Judaism for quite a while, and thought I'd remedy this unintentional lapse by featuring With The Book , a series of photographs made at the Western Wall in Old Jerusalem by Remera (more about him follows). The Western Wall, also referred to as the �Wailing Wall� is the most sacred place for Jews who believe it to be the only surviving structure of Herod's temple. For Muslims, it is known as the Buraq Wall, where the Prophet Muhammed tied Buraq , the winged riding animal which he rode during the Night of Ascension to heaven. The wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries; the earliest source mentioning this specific site as a place of worship is from the 16th century. Rabbinic tradition teaches that the western wall was built upon foundations laid by the biblical King Solomon from the time of the First Temple. The Sages of the Talmud stated that anyone who prayed at t

Available for a limited time! Get an exclusive first run advance copy of H?u �?ng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam H?u �?ng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam US$ 235.00 (This exclusive price is for one advance copy. It's on a first come first served basis. The price includes USPS shipping to an address within the contiguous United States.) . (Image-Wrap hard cover) 170 pages 13 x 11 inches/33 x 28 cms Printed on Proline Pearl Photo Paper (Semi-Gloss/Best Quality 190 gsm) Book weight approx 5.6 lbs/3 kgs A large coffee-table format photo book with over 100 large color photographs and more than 60 pages of text, " H?u �?ng : The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam " explains the ancient Vietnamese syncretic religion of �?o M?u, its rituals, its pantheon of deities, along with a narrative of my own experiences documenting it in Vietnam since late 2014. H?u �?ng is a ritual of �?o M?u, and involves mediums being possessed by deities-spirits. It combines trances, spirit worship, s