Friday 20 April 2012

Dharamsala mourns Tibet Deaths

Mass prayer last night in Dharamsala for  two Tibetans who committed suicide in protest against the Chinese occupation. There's been a lot of self immolations in the last twelve months, including one in Delhi in March, which made it onto the front pages of most papers. Those happening in China get little or no press coverage.


Locals were handing out candles, with many Indians and foreigners taking part in the march around town of Mcleod Ganj.
The leaflets they were distributing reads as follows :

Fire rages in China occupied Tibet


Two young Tibetans set themselves on fire in Dzamthang area of Eastern Tibet to protest China's occupation around 1pm Tibet Time. According to Tenpa Dhargyal, who has been in touch with people in Dzamthang Choephak Kyap, 20 (son of Geykor Songthar and Pema) and Sonam, 20 ( son of Semkyi) self-immolated near Jonang Tsangwa Gonchen Monastery.


Tenpa said that the Self-Immolations happened at the same time and at the same spot. He said: my friends told me that the two self-immolators are related by blood, but it was a complete shock to the passersby in Dzamthang market".


Eye witnesses in Dzamthang informed Tenpa that the tow young men set themselves on fire around 1pm Tibet Time today. " Just as the two young men went up in flames Tibetans in the market immediately surrounded the protesters. The large Tibetan gathering was able to protect the self-immolators from being taken away by the Chinese security forces, but they are both dead now." Tenpa said.


Although the bodies of the tow self-immolators are in possession of the Tibetans and being kept at the Dzamthang Monatesry, the Chinese security forces are putting tremendous pressure on the monastery administrators demanding them to get the two bodies cremated by this evening. At the time of writing this report hundreds of monks have gathered at Dzamthang Monastery saying prayers for the martyrs.


"As survivors of self-immolators suffer unending sequence of interrogations and beatings at he hands of Chinese security forces in police custody Tibetans in Tibet have to today recognize victory in the immediate death after the protest by fire." said Lobsang Sopa, General Secretary of Regional Tibetan youth Congress, Dharamsala.


"Dharamsala stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Tibet, and to protest Chinese brutality we are organizing a mass prayer and public procession here in Dharamsala today" said Karma Yongdue, President of Regional Tibetan Women's Association.


The last rites for the brave freedom fighters are expected to be performed this evening in Tibet.


Regional Tibetan Youth Congress
Regional Tibetan Women's Association
19 April,2012,  Dharamsala 











Wednesday 18 April 2012

Rajasthan

In the mountains now. Nice to escape the heat of India, sit and watch the rain for a few days, and a good chance to go through some of the images from the last couple of weeks. I'll be working on a couple of pieces in Dharmasala this week, so will post more when they start to take shape.

Below some shots from Rajasthan.










Monday 9 April 2012

Tikam Chand: Street Photographer

Most photographers start on the streets. To Tikam Chand, it's his studio. Using an old Carl Zeiss box camera manufactured in 1860, he takes portraits for tourists outside the Hawa Mahal, Jaipur. His 'one minute photos', as he call them, are processed on the spot using the dark room built in to the back of the camera and a bucket  he keeps next to him on the pavement.

His Grandfather used the same camera back in the days when not everyone and his monkey had a DSLR slung over their shoulder, and a lot of locals would come to have souvenir photos taken of their trip to the pink city or for identity cards and official documents. The man's an artist, you can see in his movements, his love for his equipment, how he precisely positions his subjects in front of the black sheet he has hanging against a crumbling wall, how he manually exposes the shot by covering the lens for a fraction of a second. Everything this guy does is controlled, calculated.

He got me thinking.It's pretty easy to go out and blast off a memory card in an afternoon in the hope that a few good shots come out, that a couple of moments are captured in the hundred. But is this what photography's about? Has the capacity of digital cameras made us better, or just lazier? One thing's for sure, when Tikam gets home from a days shoot he doesn't turn on his laptop and spend the rest of the night trawling through images over cups of coffee and packs of cigarettes.

To be honest, I envy him.






Tuesday 3 April 2012

Having spent the last five years divided between living in Hanoi, with trips to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, India and Bangladesh I've seen a lot of things, met a lot of interesting people and travelled a lot of kilometres. Some more comfortable than others. But each new place has given me something of worth. Something to remember.

I've decided to try to put some of this into words.

Hopefully, this will be a space to share these encounters, my own reflections and the photos I've taken along the way. Feel free to comment, criticise, or just say what you think. Any feedback is much appreciated.

The last two weeks have been pretty special, wandering through Madhya Pradesh, India, visiting temple towns lying on holy rivers, chatting with Babas, laundry women, train inspectors and a whole host of inquisitive Indians. Being pretty much off the tourist route, foreigners are still a curiosity, and the locals I've met along the way have been both welcoming and affectionate. For me, there's nowhere in the world that can compare with India for dealing out surprises on a daily basis, every day like an empty page waiting to be filled.

Below are some images from the trip.