A Song, A Dream, A Whisper

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved. 
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“You are the answer to every prayer I’ve offered.
You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don’t know how I could have lived without you for as long as I have.”
(From “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks)

Early in the morning this lady lit up a diya (candle) at Dasaswamedh ghat and let the holy waters of the Ganges carry away her prayer as if it was a song, a dream, a whisper…

Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

In God’s Hands

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess”
(Martin Luther – German Priest and Scholar whose questioning led to the Protestant Reformation, 1483-1546)

Three ladies were performing a puja at Gay ghat at the feet of the big statue of Nandi which stands in front of several Shiva ligams.
We were alone and they smiled at me, the day was rising up among a heavy mist.
I didn’t want to disturb that moment but they insisted that I took some pictures, they seemed to be happy.

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

The Beauty of the Flower

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.”
(Rabindranath Tagore – Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

At sunrise many women spread their sarees along the Ganges after washing them.
They look huge petals of extraordinary flowers which bring life to the awaking ghats.
This festival of colours and patterns becomes a treat for the lense of a photographer and a tribute to femininity…

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

Blessings of Love

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.”
(Andre Maurois – French author, 1885–1967)

This picture was shot along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where a new-married couple was getting the blessings from the groom’s mother.
This ceremony happens the day after the wedding, early in the morning when the couple is coming to seek blessings from the Goddess Ganga.

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

Frozen Time

© All rights reserved.

All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

 

“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.”
(Henry Van Dyke – American Writer, Poet and Essayist, 1852-1933)

A young lady was standing along the holy waters of the Ganges at Dasaswamedh Ghat, in Varanasi (Benaras).
She was keeping the golden watch of her father while he was worshiping in the river.
It was after sunrise and the light was already bright.
I took several portraits of her but I thought that her hands holding that watch was showing more about who she was, I could feel all the tenderness and respect she had for the most important man of her young life.
I showed her those pictures and she smiled at me with modesty.
My camera allowed me to freeze this moment in time as if it was possible to stop time running…

 

In Your Hands

© All rights reserved.

All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

 

“What can you ever really know of other people’s souls – of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles?
One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands”.
(C.S. Lewis – British Scholar and Novelist, 1898-1963)

This is one more picture shot at Gai ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (benaras) of a man receiving an ayurvedic massage treatment from one of his brahman friend.

The Infinite Between Two Souls

© All rights reserved.

All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“Music fills the infinite between two souls”
(Rabindranath Tagore – Indian Poet, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

This picture was shot last afternoon at Hauz Khas village in South Delhi.
In front of the large water tank there are the ruins of a Madrasa from the fourteenth century where I met Jatin who was playing guitar with three of his friends.
It was at the end of the afternoon and the weather became cool with a few raindrops, auspicious signs of the end of summer and the forthwith begining of the rainy season.
Jatin’s music brouht an uncommon atmosphere to the place with a few colours reminding me some of the Eagles.

A Game of Cards

“Life is like a game of cards. 
The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.”
(Jawaharlal Nehru – Indian Prime Minister, 1889-1964)

On Sunday afternoons I often see a few workers gathering at the ghats along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) in order to play cards.
They offer a great topic to a photographer with the help of the winter sun which becomes then an ally.

Carving Elephants out of Silver

“People are entangled in the enjoyment of fine clothes, but gold and silver are only dust. 
They acquire beautiful horses and elephants, and ornate carriages of many kinds.
They think of nothing else, and they forget all their relatives. 
They ignore their Creator; without the Name, they are impure.”
(Sri Guru Granth Sahib)

As I was walking in Kashi, the oldest part of Varanasi (Benaras) I met this man who was carving elephants out of silver.
This quote is coming from The Guru Granth Sahib which is the holy scripture and the final Guru of the Sikhs.

Banarsi Chicks

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”
(Isaac Bashevis Singer – Polish-born American writer 1904-1991)

There are a few stores in the street where I live in Varanasi (Benaras) where people can buy chicks.
Each time I walk there I can hear them peeping inside their boxes.
A few days ago I took a few pictures of those baby birds and I felt happy that I am still a vegetarian…;)