Sacred Moments

“A ritual becomes the match that lights the kindred celebration candle of sacred moments long ago… tantalizing these entombed spirits to surface again.”
(Wes Adamson)

This was shot from a boat on the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

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A Second’s Encounter With Eternity

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.
And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”
(From “Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho)

This was shot from a boat on the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

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

© 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.

The Humanity Of The Moment

“Black and white are the colors of photography.
To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.
Most of my photographs are of people; they are seen simply, as through the eyes of the man in the street.
There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.
This kind of photography is realism.
But realism is not enough–there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.
It is difficult to describe this thin line where matter ends and mind begins.
(Robert Frank – American photographer and filmaker, b.1924)

This sadhu was walking at Scindia ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras), it was after sunrise and he was holding a traditional tiffin-box containing a meal prepared by some generous soul…

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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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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 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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© 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.

Footprints of the Soul

“The Ganges front is the supreme showplace of Benares.
Its tall bluffs are solidly caked from water to summit, along a stretch of three miles, with a splendid jumble of massive and picturesque masonry, a bewildering and beautiful confusion of stone platforms, temples, stair flights, rich and stately palaces….soaring stairways, sculptured temples, majestic palaces, softening away into the distances; and there is movement, motion, human life everywhere, and brilliantly costumed – streaming in rainbows up and down the lofty stairways, and massed in metaphorical gardens on the mile of great platforms at the river’s edge.”
(Mark Twain – American Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)

This is a view of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) from Ahilyabai ghat to Mansrowar Ghat.
Some dreams can never be lost, they become footprints of the soul…
The Eternal city belongs to these kind of dreams…

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Ramzan Mubarak

With this picture of a gate leading to the Masjid-i Jahān-Numā, commonly known as the Jama Masjid, in Old Delhi I would like to wish “Ramzan Mubarak” to all my Muslim friends, colleagues and members of my team.
And of course to all of you, Muslims and non-Muslims, who are following my work on internet.

“May this Ramzan bring you the utmost in peace & prosperity.
May lights triumph over darkness.
May peace transcend the earth.
May the spirit of light illuminate the world…”

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The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

Several blasts in Bodhgaya

This morning on 7 July, 2013, in a terror attack, 9 bombs exploded inside the Mahabodhi temple (“Great Awakening Temple”) complex (a UNESCO World heritage site) located in Bodh-Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar which is the Buddhism’s holiest shrine.
The first blast took place inside the temple at 5:30 am, followed by eight successive explosions in the next half hour, one near the Buddha statue, one near the Mahabodhi tree and others near the Teraga monastery, injuring 5 people.
One unexploded bomb was also traced and defused.
The main temple is intact and sanitised.

This holy site is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.
The site of the Bodhi tree at Bodhigaya is, directly connected to the life of Buddha (566-486 BCE) and attained enlighment or perfect insight when he was meditating under this tree.
The Bodhi tree, which is to the west of the main temple is a direct continuation of original Bodhi tree under which Budha spent his first week after attaining enlighment.
According to the Jatakas, it forms the navel of the earth, and no other place can support the weight of the Buddha’s attainment.

The Intelligence Bureau of India may have alerted state officials of possible threats around 15 days prior to the bombing.
It happens “again” just before some elections in order to raise controversies and disputes which is exactly the opposite of Buddha’s teachings unless it is done in order to mark the Dalai Lama’s birthday who just turned 78 a few hours before those blasts…
Terrorism is not negotiable…Nothing justifies such things…What comes to the mind of those who do such things…???

This insanity is beyond words…I know this place which only inspires love, compassion and brotherhood…
(Last time I went there I took this picture at dawn before anyone came inside the complex)

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Forgetfulness

“What is a man’s life but a prelude to his death?
And what is death but a long sleep, a most welcome forgetfulness.”
(From “Ophelia” by Lisa M. Klein)

This young man was not dying like Shakespeare’s Ophelia, he was simply doing yoga in the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) and was floating as quiet and still as possible for deep relaxation.
This picture was shot early in the morning at Scindia ghat.

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A Physical State

“When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.”
(Swami Vivekananda – Indian Spiritual leader, 1863-1902)

This picture was shot inside the akhara facing the Ganges at Raj Ghat in Varanasi (Benaras) where this pehlwan follows a daily training at dawn.
The reflection in the mirror was providing a backlighting which I always enjoy to work with…

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© 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.