The World-Reflecting Mosque

Masjid-i Jahān-Numā (aka Jama Masjid) - the famous mosque in Old Delhi, India. February 2009.

Morning Meditation

It's always nice coming home from a journey -- returning to the familiar sights, sounds, smells, foods, people. But travel changes how we look at all these things too, the experiences lingering just under the surface, ready to re-emerge as a memory or a comparison or an observation. Yesterday I showed some photos of my recent India journey to some family & friends, and found it amazing how many observations I had about the culture. Not just the facts of where I was and what I did, but how things are done there, and the depth and quality of the cultural differences.

Travel changes me. Travel changes my thought, and my eyes, and the way I look at people. I expect it will continue to change and enhance the way I take photographs as well.

This image is from my last morning in Delhi, walking around the ancient buildings dotting Lodi Garden. This building is a combined tomb and mosque, where people were both praying (Muslim) and doing morning yoga exercises (Hindu). With joggers running on nearby paths.

Red Carpet of Faith

Mosque, Old Delhi, India

Focus

I haven't been posting a lot of new photos here recently, only because I've been too busy taking new ones! I'm currently enjoying the International Festival of Sacred Arts in Delhi, India, with a stunning array of music and dance, along with films, workshops, visual arts, talks, and yes...photographic opportunities! This is a Buddhist mandala under construction. The colors you see are all just colored sand, intricately laid and layered by Buddhist monks using thin metal cones. The monks will work on it throughout the festival, then wipe the sand into a pile and dump it in a nearby river. It's a meditation, and a statement about the impermanence of all things. And it's beautiful.

Door to another world

This amazing door adorns the home of friends. It's as old as it looks, imported from India to its new locale on the moist Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. The wood and old nails and hardware give it amazing personality, no?