“YAY!”

 

This is one more portrait of jazz trumpeter Erik Truffaz.

I was trying to catch the music in the image or at least to give a feeling of it.

In the past I attempted to do several pictures of my friend while he was palying the trumpet and I always found it quite difficult.

Mostly because he is always in motion with so many expressions following the music therefore it becomes a kind of challenge to get a nice composition with not too much of blur.

Those kind of pictures are done in the same conditions as sport photography and it requires many right elements to contribute to a good result.

I am still not satisfied of what I have done so far.

 

This picture is an opportunity to thank the new members of my photography page on FaceBook.

I know that most of you came because of my Benaras-Varanasi pictures and Erik’s last album is about the Eternal city.

“BENARES” is an amazing Indo-Western fusion of modern jazz with Indian classic performed by Indrani & Apurba Mukherjee, Malcom Braff and Erik Truffaz.

“Yay!” is the title of a track from this album.

This is a link to a video (which is not mine) where you can have a feeling about it.

 

Heaven is White

 

This is another portrait of Christophe with the famous jazz trumpeter Erik Truffaz in the background.

My friend Erik invited Christophe with whom he often performed to sing “L’un dans l’autre” on his album “Arkhangelsk”.

The link of the video with English subtitles shows the recording of this beautiful and touching song.

Le paradis est blanc (Heaven is white) is a metaphor that we can listen among those words of poetry.

 

 

Voici un autre portrait de Christophe au côté du célèbre trompettiste de jazz Erik Truffaz.

Mon ami Erik a invité Christophe avec lequel il s’est souvent produit à chanter  “L’un dans l’autre” sur son album “Arkhangelsk”.

Le lien de la video montre l’enregistrement de cette chanson émouvante.

Le paradis est blanc (Heaven is white) est une métaphore que l’on peut entendre parmi ces mots de poésie.

The Real Magicians

 

 

“We are the real magicians
For in actual fact nothing exists.
Pleasure and pain are created by attraction and aversion,
Grasping attractions magically creates things,
And if we analyze this thoroughly,
We can’t be certain that even we exist”.
(from My Crazy Tale, An Autobiographical Poem by H.H. the XIIth Gyalwang Drukpa)

Those Tibetan Buddhist monks were coming back from a ceremony that they had to perform in the hills.
I took this picture as they were entering the courtyard of Hemis Gompa, a monastery located in the Ladakh region of the Western Himalayas, at an altitude of 12,000 feet making it one of the highest settlements of the world.

Living Purely

 

“Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. 
Do your work with mastery. 
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine”.
(The Buddha – Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

This young man is a Tibetan Buddhist monk, we met in Hemis Gompa, a monastery located in the Ladakh region of the Western Himalayas, at an altitude of 12,000 feet making it one of the highest settlements of the world.
He was kind enough to spend an afternoon with me in the monastic complex and to open a few rooms where I could see amazing statues among other marvels.
We managed to talk, I was mixing English and Hindi and he was answering in Ladakhi and Tibetan that I don’t speak at all however we managed to understand eachother.
His name is Jigmat Stanzin Lama and he must be one of the purest soul I ever met so far.
I’ll never forget those precious moments, like this one when he was blowing in a ceremonial trumpet in order to welcome several monks and the oracle who were coming back from a ceremony that they had to perform in the hills.

“Rendez-Vous” with Erik

 

This is a portait of my friend Erik Truffaz that I did a few days ago backstage after a concert.
I find difficult to take pictures of someone you know, it has to be faithful to the expressions, physical features and the soul that you have in mind and like most of the musicians Erik is always in motion, he doesn’t have any peculiar expression that I wanted to catch.
Among several shots I selected this one where he looks happy and peaceful like he oftenly is.
The treatment in chiaroscuro reminds Dutch portraits of the 18° and contrasts with the creativity of this jazz trumpeter who infuses so many elements of contemporary music into his compositions.

Erik travels a lot around the world where he gives many concerts and he comes often to Varanasi (Benaras).
His “love story” with the oldest living city in the world produced an album, “Benares” in 2008, my friend Gopal is proudly showing it in his little music store along the Ganges.

These are the links to Erik’s official websites:
http://www.eriktruffaz.com
And http://www.myspace.com/truffaz 
and to the cover of “Rendez-vous”:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/designldg/2964880289/in/set-72157608560615483

A Beautiful Soul

I met Chemet Nameyail at Hemis Monastery which is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh (within the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir). 
Situated 45 km from Leh, the monastery was established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Senge Namgyal.

This young man is a monk, when I first saw him he was blowing into a spectacular Rag-Dung trumpet during a ceremony which was taking place in the inner courtyard of the monastery.
The loud engrossing sound has the amalgamation of mystery and produces meditative, imagination and healing power. 

Later we spoke of several things while he took us inside the building in order to visit a few temples and museum.
I did several pictures of him, sometimes it was difficult as he has a very solar personality and he has many expressions, he knew that I wanted him to smile and he gave me many smiles but I selected this portrait where he is very quiet, maybe this is his inner side.
I wish I could have spent more time with him, there was so much of happiness, contentment and felicity around him, I was happy to feel all this.
He might read those words as I gave him the link of this website and I want to thank him again for the time he gave us and to tell him that I am printing and sending him the pictures very soon.

An Amalgamation of Mystery

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I took this picture during the International Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony which was standing in Bodh Gaya (बोधगया), in the Indian state of Bihar.
It was during lunch time, then there was almost no one under the Bodhi Tree which is behind the Mahabodhi Temple, the place of Gautama Buddha’s attainment of nirvana (Enlightenment).
A few monks were ready to settle the altar for the next ceremony, they started to display some compositions made of flowers with fruit and sweet offerings.
Just nearby I saw those ritual trumpets.

During ceremonies Tibetan monks only use wind and percussion instruments but always played in pairs.
The most spectacular of Tibetan ritual horns is the copper Rag-Dung trumpet.
Some stretching as long as twenty feet and they are designed in sections in order to be folded in on themselves for easy transport.
They are surprisingly easy to play, with a mouthpiece very similar to a bugle or trumpet.
Rag Dung is loud and deeply resonant, an altogether engrossing sound.
This sound has the amalgamation of mystery and produces meditative, imagination and healing power.

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