Dreams Without Measure

“When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was there, a wandering desire.
Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born.
And dreams were time limitless, and dreams were space without measure.”
(Kahlil Gibran – Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer, 1883-1931)

The City Palace is a palace complex in Udaipur, the City of Lakes, in the Indian state Rajasthan.
It was built by the Maharana Udai Singh in 1559 in a flamboyant fusion of Rajasthani and Mughal architectural styles and stands on a hill top that gives a panoramic view of the city and the Lake Pichola.
This picture was shot in the Audience Room of the maharaja’s apartments and symbolizes what I always dreamt of India when I was younger.
Each time I have an opportunity to escape for a few days to Udaipur, I come back there and the dream is untouched, flawless and without measure…

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Elevation

In Varanasi (Benaras) there is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva between Scindia ghat and Manikarnika ghat which doesn’t look like any other in the city because of its amazing sculptures with angels which are all around the shrine playing different music instruments.
This place is a kind of gate to after death as the cremation ghat is underneath with funeral pyres burning day and night.
It is not easy to climb the high and narrow staircase plunged in total darkness.
However each stair allows to ascend towards the light and to take the time to elevate oneself…

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The Unexpected

“I’m looking for the unexpected.
I’m looking for things I’ve never seen before.”
(Robert Mapplethorpe – American photographer, 1946–1989)

Jonathan is a French wannabe actor who wants to perform on theatre stage on the footsteps of his family.
He has Caribbean roots with a West Indian background from Guadeloupe and Indian ancestors from Pondicherry.
This picture was shot during his first modeling photo session as we were building up his portfolio and it was a promising beginning…

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What Comes Out

“One thing that struck me very early is that you don’t put into a photograph what’s going to come out.
Or, vice versa, what comes out is not what you put in.”
(Diane Arbus – American photographer and writer, 1923–1971)

Jonathan is a French wannabe actor who wants to perform on theatre stage on the footsteps of his family.
He has Caribbean roots with a West Indian background from Guadeloupe and Indian ancestors from Pondicherry.
This picture was shot during his first modeling photo session as we were building up his portfolio and it was a promising beginning…

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Life Itself

“And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself ?”
(From “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera)

This picture was shot at Scindia ghat in Varanasi (Benaras) where a few young men were enjoying the freshness of dawn in the holy waters of the Ganges.

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Eid Mubarak

“ Abraham said:
“I will go to my Lord! He will surely guide me “O my Lord! Grant me a righteous son!” So We gave him the good news of a forbearing son. Then, when the son reached the age of serious work with him, Abraham said: “O my son! I have seen in a vision that I offer you in sacrifice: now see what your view is?” The son said: “O my father! Do as you are commanded: you will find me, if Allah so wills, one of the steadfast!”
So when they had both submitted Allah and Abraham had laid his son prostrate on his forehead for sacrifice, We called out to him “O Abraham! You have already fulfilled the dream!” – you are indeed Do We reward those who do right.”
(Qur’ân – verse 37:99 to verse 37:109)

Islam focuses on Abraham more than either Judaism or Christianity, but with an important difference: where Judaism holds that one becomes a descendant of Abraham through birth, and Christianity that one becomes a descendant through faith, Islam holds that descent is unimportant – Abraham, in other words, is not the father of the believing community, but a link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Mohammad.
Islamic traditions consider Abraham the first Pioneer of Islam (which is also called millat Ibrahim, the “religion of Abraham”), and that his purpose and mission throughout his life was to proclaim the Oneness of God.
When Abraham was asked for sacrifice, he took Ishmael to sacrifice. When he was about to use the knife, God placed a sheep under his hand.
Abraham had shown that his love for Allah superseded all others: that he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dearest to him in submission to Allah’s command.
As a reward for this sacrifice, God then granted Abraham the good news of the birth of his second son, Is-haaq (Isaac).
Muslims around the world commemorate this ultimate act of sacrifice every year during Eid al-Adha, to follow the path of Abraham that is called Qurbani (sacrifice).

During this festival in Varanasi (Benaras), it is common for Muslims and non-Muslims to visit their Muslim friends and neighbours on Eid to convey their good wishes and share a meal or sweets.
This is a view shot from the upper terrace of the Bara Imambara in Lucknow built by Asaf-ud-Daula, the Nawab of the city, in 1784.
The two minars on the left belong to the Asfi Mosque and on the right stands the Rumi Darwaza known as the Turkish Gate.
This picture of the City of Nawabs, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, allows me to wish everyone a happy and peaceful Eid Mubarak.
“May Allah ease the suffering of all people around the world…”

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A Shaft of Light

“Wake! For the Sun, who scatter’d into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav’n,
and strikes
The Sultan’s Turret with a Shaft of Light”
(Omar Khayyám – Persian polymath, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet, 1048-1131)

Varanasi taught me to wake up early in order to enjoy the sunrise on the Ganges.
These promises at dawn are an absolute treat for the senses and the Heaven’s connection…

This is a picture of the bank of the Ganges facing Varanasi (Benaras) at dawn.

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With A Sprinkle Of Golden Dreams

“Are you looking for gold, friend?
Look around you; anything useful to you is pure gold, pure silver!”
(Mehmet Murat ildan – Turkish author, b.1965)

This picture was shot at Scindia ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
Two friends were finishing their daily yoga exercises in the river.
It was at dawn when reality is still foggy with a sprinkle of dreams and allows the holy waters of the Ganges to become gold…

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Bathing in Unmined Gold

“Hidden in the glorious wildness like unmined gold.”
(John Muir – Scottish-born American naturalist and author, 1838–1914)

At sunrise, this young man was doing yoga in the holy waters of the Ganges at Scindia ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
He was floating as quiet and still as possible in order to find a deep relaxation.

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Lui the Painter, Charles 55, and 3 other people added this photo to their favorites.

The Wholeness Of The Self

“Remembering our past, carrying it around with us always, may be the necessary requirement for maintaining, as they say, the wholeness of the self.
To ensure that the self doesn’t shrink, to see that it holds on to its volume, memories have to be watered like potted flowers, and the watering calls for regular contact with the witnesses of the past, that is to say, with friends.
They are our mirror; our memory; we ask nothing of them but that they polish the mirror from time to time so we can look at ourselves in it.”
(From “Identity” by Milan Kundera)

This man was standing at the gate of the mausoleum of the third Mughal emperor, Akbar the Great, located in Sikandra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
He was not young but he was not old either and his face carried emotional wounds with a moving melancholy…

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