Kumbha Mela

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, August 8, 2010 | 5 photos

These photos were taken during India's Khumba Mela festival this year. Every 12 years, at Haridwar, on the banks of the Ganges, millions of Hindus gather to celebrate, to bathe, to worship and to be close to gurus and ascetics.

The famous contradictions of India abound; saints alongside charlatans, the cacophany of crowds and oases of calm, ostentatious ascetics and the pious lost in quiet contemplation. Gleeful pilgrims bathe and splash in the lifegiving waters of 'Mother Ganges' while renouncers use fire and ash to contemplate mortality and leaving the material world.

My photographs depict some of the elements and sensations that sweep over any visitor to such an event.

By ensuring that I had enough time to gain a 'feel' for and acceptance in some of the camps, I was able to photograph people whose behaviour was unaffected by my presence or that of my camera. The festival is both an intensely public and a private event for devotees. I sought images of people involved in personal devotions but with a sense of them being part of a greater event.

I see this scholarship as an opportunity to extend my skills, to learn and to experiment in ways in which to capture perspectives and convey ideas and sensations evocatively. I believe that images can be elemental and effective in revealing aspects of the human condition which both connect and divide us. There are some moments and images beyond words. There are others that trigger a deluge of words. Images can be universally appreciated. They transcend languages and can have an immediacy and visceral impact that is profound.

When I travel, I often take people with me. I delight in 'showing' them places and cultures and helping them develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of what they see.

I think photography is a powerful and provocative medium to stimulate, open and enrich both heart and mind.