immortalizing to the grid even though we’re a stories culture now
my photo of sarah sherman aka sarah squirm on the front page of the new yorker for their write up on her new hbo special. surreal moment
Last week at the Takayama spring festival, one of the two tiems of year the breakout these ancient floats to celebrate the cherry blossoms blooming the Japanese Alps
Kopkari in the districts of Uzbekistan in between Samarkand and Bukhara to celebrate Nowruz. Riders fight over the goat carcass they need to break free with so they can sprint across the open field to victory. Wanted to give this one its own moment in the sun from the gallery last week
#uzbekistan #kopkari #cntraveller #natgeoyourshot #canon
Thaipusam - Back in February, I rerouted my entire trip to visit Malaysia on a whim after hearing about this festival. Known for its ritual pierces and coconut smashing it was a 100 degree fever dream I’m still waking up from.
The Tamil Hindu devotees in the region set off at sunrise for a two day walk. A giant silver chariot is paraded block by block through the city. As it passes each temple, locals brings offerings, bless their babies and smash brittle flaming coconuts in the concrete. In certain temples, select few pierce their bodies to put themselves into a trance. Dancing with hooks and bells pierced through their skin after weeks of fasting and purifying. Each temple fed festival goers for free and near the final temple it transformed almost into a block part subwoofer show off. Been sitting on this because it’s some of my favorite work and this just scratches the surface so there will be more but for now here’s the appetizer
#thaipusam #tamil #malaysiatravel #penang #canon
Some shots from a kopkari, an old nomad game, a few weeks ago in a field in the middle of Uzbekistan. Locals on horseback fight over a headless goat, first to race it across the field and drop it in a circle wins the prize. This day the big match was for a car. No schedule for these, I just knew they pop up around holidays like Nowruz. Had to cold text a bunch of people once I landed and got lucky in a facebook thread. Dirt road into a canyon with the arena made of whoever felt like standing closest. Took vodka shots with old dudes in the back of a soviet truck and almost got stampeded. One more check off the bucket list, one less what if.
Scenes from today’s Rualane festival 10,000 ft up in the village of Kalpa, India. Drove 10 hrs through the mountains on a hope and prayer that this was even happening. Stumbled across a year old article with a guess on the details and I’m glad I took the gamble. Two different sets of strangers invited me in to have tea with them this morning and I spent the afternoon watching an ancient tradition welcome in spring with the Himalayas as the backdrop. I’m a lucky man
#rualane #himachalpradesh #natgeo #canon #festivalphotography
A day trip up the Nam Ou river in Laos to a tiny village of Muang Ngoi where this woman watched out over the afternoon traffic. Love the patterns on her dress here
