Reaching for the sun.

February 13, 2015 by Abhaya

With or without burning your wings, this is the challenge. I have a trick, the best way is to ride an invisible camel. Border of Pakistan. Thar Desert, India, 2014.

With a light heart.

January 1, 2015 by Abhaya

Too late, too soon, too slow, too fast. Time to celebrate, time to move on. If you don’t move, there is no time. Celebrate; with each and every breath.

The Golden City [Jaisalmer in Photos]

December 13, 2014 by Abhaya

This could be my father. He used to smoke, too, but he never wore a turban. When I’ll be back home, I’ll do some portraits with him. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Where am I? Dance the pigeons around my head like on any public place in Paris. The sun rising over the desert is starting to reveal the golden buildings arising from the sand. Is this sun the same as before? Is there only one sun lighting all the places in the world? Certainly not. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

The swastika means you well. Swastika or Lucky Charm. In Sanskrit: su “well” asti “being” ka “making”. The oldest found has been dated as early as 10,000 BC. In 1920 it was adopted by the Nazi party to symbolize the Aryan race, stigmatizing the sign as associated with antisemitism, hatred, death and murder. In India, painted next to a door, it’s still an auspicious sign and an invitation to the gods. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Please do not give tips. He looked at me, I looked at him, he looked at the lamp (I was meant to place my hand on top of it for a prayer), I looked at the lamp, I looked at him, he looked at me, he looked at the bill (giving a donation afterward…), I looked at the bill, he looked at me, I looked at him moving my camera upward, he initiated his eyes move on the side… I took the picture. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

I am Rishabha and not the Buddha! I was the first human to attain enlightenment. I’m the founder of Jainism, a non-theistic religion which prescribe a path of Ahimsa – nonviolence – towards all living beings, and emphasizes equality between all forms of life. In Jainism, violence refers primarily to injuring one’s own self – behaviour which inhibits the soul’s own ability to attain liberation. At the same time it also means violence to others because it is this tendency to harm others that ultimately harms one’s own soul. Ahiṃsā profoundly influenced Mahatma Gandhi; it formed a basis of his satyagraha (truth struggle) against colonial ruling. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

The Arecaceae antenna. Going around the fortifications in the early morning I find myself in front of man on the phone. He sounded quite serious, I noted the flashy yellow shirt. I don’t like to disturb people when they are in a conversation, still I took a pictures quickly, then I backed off. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

I’ll never forget you. The entrance of the Fort Palace is still showing some red painted hand prints. It was the last trace a woman would leave behind her before entering the Harem. She would never go out or leave the place for the rest of her life. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

The door was left open. But you shouldn’t go look inside, what happened there is pretty dreadful. Sometimes things are in purpose left to the open for the people to see and learn what could happen to them. It’s not money, neither power, it’s fear that drives the world. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Under the veil. Of every person lies a world of memories, expectations and dreams. I’ll never know what’s behind the green door, I would expect a warm home for a family. Still I’ll never know what her dreams are about, what life made her going through, what it is to open the green door everyday. I’ll never know the world under this woman purple veil. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Keeping on building things. Building things with Legos. Building things with 3D softwares. Building relationships, and destroying them too. Building things in my mind all the time. I hope one day I’ll be building a temple for my mind to be at rest. Well, actually, isn’t that my body? Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Striking thing to witness that, whatever I do, how far I can go, she'll always be waiting for me to come back home. A mother in the fort. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

She’ll always be there. Striking thing to witness that, whatever I do, how far I can go, she’ll always be waiting for me to come back home. A mother in the fort. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

On taking pictures of kids. One assistant teacher at the International Center of Photography told me one day: “Don’t take too many pictures of children in the street, they aren’t real subjects!” I still love to do it, and to remember the time I spend observing them while watching the pictures afterwards (this one was fighting with his sister over candies a moment before). Remembering how free is their mind, unstained by a troubled past, and desires to “become”. How natural this all is in their childhood! Then I try to remember mine. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Girls are tough. My sister lives in a neighbor city of Paris, she now has two kids and works at the headquarters of the French Red Cross, she has a very busy life. She is often doubting about herself even though she always kept on taking more and more commitments in life and succeeded in everything she undertook. I’m so proud of her. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Holy cows! 2. The man and the cow. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

Holy cows! I’m anxious to leave a world where cows are in the city malls shopping along (bazaar in India). Gandhi loved them too: “Our mother, when she dies, means expenses of burial or cremation. Mother cow is as useful dead as when she is alive. We can make use of every part of her body — her flesh, her bones, her intestines, her horns and her skin.” Which wasn’t that nice for his mommy. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

The time goes by. And there will always be a train I’ll be missing. Life is like that, you need to make choices, and when they’re made you can’t go back. But who make the choices anyway? That’s the real question. In India, I learned how to miss trains and stop to care about it. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

I’ve been on the road for a long time. People often ask me for how long I’ve been traveling, I use to say something like, a month, then 6 months, over a year… Now my answer is: “It’s been 33 years”. The little boy at the gas station. Rajasthan, India, 2014.

The little boy at the gas station from close. Rajasthan, India, 2014.

Far away was the fort still rising. We left very early the morning to walk our way towards the desert. A herd of cows followed us for a while, then they stopped. We were leaving everything behind. One last glance over my shoulder. And that was it. We were on own. And now nothing could stop us. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

The coolest night in the desert. When I say cool, I mean cold. The most freezing wind blowing all night long, cooling your body to the bones, the camels ran away. Pakistan wasn’t that far. Memories of a long extinguished fire, but the stars, yes the stars. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

The city made of Gold. I was there looking at the man on the top of the fort, but maybe I am this man looking over the birds. Or maybe I am the birds. Jaisalmer, India, 2014.

EP13: Be Born Live Die Repeat [Wander In Varanasi]

October 18, 2014 by Abhaya

EP12: Meet Unryu

September 7, 2014 by Abhaya

Jātipi dukkhā – Birth is dukkha
Jarāpi dukkhā – Ageing is dukkha
Maranampi dukkham – And death is dukkha
Soka-parideva-dukkha-domanassupāyāsāpi dukkhā – Sorrow lamentation pain grief and despair are dukkha
Appiyehi sampayogo dukkho – Association with the disliked is dukkha
Piyehi vippayogo dukkho – Separation from the liked is dukkha
Yampiccham na labhati tampi dukkham – Not attaining one’s wishes is dukkha
Saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā – In brief the five focuses of identity are dukkha

Siddhārtha Gautama was not born as a Buddha, he became one.

4 years ago I discovered Buddhism, and meditation. This led me to go in the footsteps of the Buddha between Nepal and India to get a better understanding of his teachings.
While discovering the places where the Buddha lived, Meet Unryu, a Japanese Zen Monk in Bodh Gaya who share with us the fundamentals of the Buddhism Way to Enlightenment.

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Blue is the warmest color [Jodhpur in Photos]

August 22, 2014 by Abhaya

Alone at night in the street of Jodhpur, all I have in mind is the latest movie I saw at the cinema 9 months ago, “Blue is the warmest color”. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

I rushed to the end of the fort to take a picture of the sunset, I was too late. I think about my home town, back in France in the Loire valley, over-there there is a castle as well, where I used to go to watch over the city at dusk. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

They were playing cricket. I stayed there 30 minutes just watching the game. Then I saw a star. I think about New York and the photos of Alex Webb. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

They obviously didn’t knew each other, and awkwardly agreed to take the pose. The two families were around observing them – Learning to love – This is my first wedding photograph ever. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

The women were deciding who was going on the carriage with the body for the cremation. A friend from Ukraine just told me: “This is hell – I’m going to the front line for the third time – Yes as a journalist (he is a political journalist and tv presenter) – So far they didn’t call me to arms, I’m not complaining.” Jodhpur, India, 2014.

He said: “I’m a very bad driver! I’m the worst driver in the whole city!”. He was in fact quite drunk. He said: “If you want to go anywhere, you’ll have to drive”. Then I had my first rickshaw driving lesson. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

“Plus belle la vie” version Jodhpur (people from France will understand). I have a cast for a tv series for youth in India. Parrot included. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

What happens when we grow up? Where do we put this ever being bliss of aliveness? I’m chatting over the web with a friend in Canada, it’s 7:15am over there. How can one remember the little girl she once was? Jodhpur, India, 2014.

I’m alone in a blue Indian city. My sister and my brother still live in France. I would want to see them, my nephews are growing up so fast! Jodhpur, India, 2014.

I’m wandering at night in the bazaar, mesmerized by the traffic, I’m trying to get this picture showing the madness of this ballet of rickshaws, motor bikes and the incessant crowd roaming the small streets… in vain, the light is too scarce, I steal this picture of a small convenience shop owner. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

I’m thinking about cinema. I dream about a great movie with huge elephants on green screen, shot in high frame rate with many cameras on big cranes, to inlay them in a computer generated futuristic city. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

When I was a child, I use to spend hours watching my brother playing video games. We had an Atari 520ST hooked up to a TV monitor, now smartphones do the job everywhere on earth. To all the brothers who shared those moments. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

First a plane “disappeared”, 239 souls “missing” – then Ukraine at war – then a civil plane shot down, 289 casualties – then the Israeli-Palestinian conflict restarted – then Robin Williams killed himself … RIP ALL. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

I miss my bicycle. I think it is the best vehicle for human ever created. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

Sometimes I’m not really looking anymore, just letting the world passing by in front of me, in those moments, time is like “in suspension”. This was in the streets of the old city of Jodhpur, right at this corner, time stopped for a couple of seconds. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

Three modern Maharajahs getting out of their castle. The world forgot the Americas were discovered looking to go faster to India. At that time it was the place of thousands of wonders, it still is. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

No branding, no labellings, no marketing, no Wall St, just raw vegetables and a blue wall. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

He told me he had a great life, that now that his wife passed away and his children left the city, he just spend his time playing with his friend: “I was born as a child, I will die as a child”. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

She was looking to see the pictures I had taken of her little brother on the screen of the camera, I said ok but I’ll take a picture of you before. I got some kind of an attitude! Jodhpur, India, 2014.

Guard dog in the blue. Jodhpur, India, 2014.

EP11: Wander in Dhobi Ghat

July 17, 2014 by Abhaya

Before the present world, the Absolute alone was present.
The emergence of consciousness and matter created the cosmic ocean and thus the universe.
The universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles.
After enduring 4,320,000,000 years, the universe is then destroyed by fire or water elements.

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Jaipur in Photos

May 26, 2014 by Abhaya

Jaipur. India, 2014.

EP10: Meet Pankaj

May 8, 2014 by Abhaya

Do you want to see a real Slumdog Millionnaire?
In the most important slum in Mumbai and where parts of Danny Boyle’s movie was shot, Meet Pankaj in Dharavi!
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