Lola Ida
In Ivana, a tiny town in the south of Batan Island you can find the oldest house in the neighborhood known widely as the House of Dakay and get to know one of the nicest women from Batanes. Ms. Floresida Estrella, also known as Lola Ida (“Lola” means “Grandma”) was born in Negros Occidental, one of the islands in the centre of the Philippines. When she was 8 years old, she moved with her whole family to Batanes and “Finally it was possible to eat rice or camote (sweet potatoes) every day” she said to us after she had invited us to visit her house.
We also met her son, a man in his 60s, who lives nearby in a simple house built from wood and corrugated iron and helps his mother when she needs it. From time to time also a granddaughter comes and getting some small pocket money from her grandma, she sweeps the only room of the House of Dakay.
Lola Ida is always happy to see her guests. But we were so surprised when the 85 years old lady began to speak English!
We hoped to visit her again and bring her pictures I’d taken before, but the weather was not good enough to ride a motorbike. Instead we decided to leave these photos to one of our friends from Batanes who promised to take them to her. Because all the people know each other on the islands.
Portraits of Tea Pickers from Sri Lanka
I’ve written already about hard work on Sri Lankan tea plantations, so you if you are interested, you can check Green is All Around.
Today I’d like to share some portraits of these hard working ladies – tea pickers from Ceylon. These are a little bit old pictures, taken almost two years ago, but I still like them:)
Peacock Feather Seller from Jaisalmer
It was early in the morning when I met him sitting near the Jaisalmer fort. Wearing a vivid orange turban on his head and surrounded by peacock feathers, he was waiting for his first clients.
I asked him what the price for a peacock feather fan would be, but what I heard was definitely disapointing.
Fortunately, although I bought nothing, he didin’t mind if I took a picture.
- No problem. – he told me, when I asked him to take a photo. – I’m a very famous man.
To prove his fame, he proudly took out from his bag a kind of portfolio and among many other photos and papers he found an old issue of the German magazine “GEO” with his smiling face on the cover!
Mr Kalichran Singh is a licenced peacock feather seller and it’s possible to meet him in Jaisalmer. Probably some of you have met him already.
I have his business card, because I promised that if somebody decided to publish his photo, I would send him a copy for his portfolio.
Postcard from Sapa
Vietnam, Sapa. Hmong woman. The Hmongs are one of the Vietnamese minorities inhabiting the northern part of the country.
Little Radha
Probably many of you know who Radha is. For those who don’t recognize her: she is the childhood friend and lover of Krishna, one of the Hindu gods.
I have to admit that I’ve only known her name since yesterday when my Indian friend saw one of these pictures and let me know, that this little girl looks like a little Radha.
Probably she does;)
She is wearing a colourful dress, a lot of jewelry and many adornments on her head. But the reason for this is simpler than you would imagine. Her mother, a Rajasthani Gypsy, dressed her like a little Radha, because she wanted people visiting Jaisalmer to pay more attention to her daughter. And it worked perfectly;)
This little girl is one of the most natural children, I have ever had opportunity to take photos of. She would be able to became a famous model in future, but probably her life will be very different.
Desert Hairdresser
Yesterday, I posted here a photo of a beautiful girl living in a tiny desert village. I also mentioned that I had an opportunity to have my hair done there.
Let me introduce my young desert hairdresser:)
Princess from the Thar Desert
- My wife is the most beautiful woman in the neighborhood. – one of the men from a tiny village situated in the Thar Desert told me. He also wanted me to get to know her, but unfortunately she was very shy so she hid her face with a red scarf.
A moment later I was invited to have a glass of chai with women inhabiting a small mud hut. We were not only drinking tea, but also “talking” and they were incredibly happy when I allowed them to do my hair and put a special decoration on my forehead. I’m not sure when exactly the beautiful woman joined us.
Then, in the women’s company, she definitely felt more comfortable. She was laughing, joking with others and in the end she wanted me to take some photos.
She was beautiful indeed.
Although she didn’t live in a palace, but in an ordinary hut, she looked like a real princess.
Some Portraits from Jodhpur
I’ve been at home since yesterday.
I managed to post here some portraits from Jodhpur and l hope you’ll like them.
Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Pink Sari
I met this beautiful girl wearing a pink sari today in the evening near Ghat Badaj in Pushkar. She arrived here from a village near Udaipur with her big family (parents, sisters and cousins with their husbands and children) to take a bath in the holy water of the lake.
In the evening all of them were resting after the hot day. I was sitting nearby and fortunately we met.
She was behaving like a real model, so I have more of her photographs and I’m going to show them here in future.
Today there’s only one of them, with hope that you will like it:)
Nepalese Amusements
- “I used to smoke this and that. Bushes of varying were growing everywhere. Imagine, that my Nepalese host used to treat marijuana in the same way as she treated weeds! Ah, those were the days … “ – a Spaniard I met recalls the sixties in Nepal with emotion in his voice. I heard that almost a year after I had made this picture and it was not in Nepal, but in Myanmar.
I met this smoker near the Hindu temple Pashupatinath in Kathmandu. He was sitting alone in a corner and smoking. I do not know, what exactly he had in his large pipe, because any contact with the smoker was not possible.
But I am sure it was something special, which gave him particular pleasure.
Once in Mandalay
Myanmar, Mandalay. Late in the afternoon in one of the temples, whose names are too difficult for me to remember.
I was sitting in the corner and counting my money, because I was afraid that I did not have enough. The condition of my 20 dollar bills had been questioned, while I could not get others from an ATM because there are not any in Myanmar.
Then a monk with a little novice came.
The older monk immediately became interested in the money, probably because he hadn’t had the chance to see that number of dollars before.
The little novice was admiring a shiny temple and didn’t pay any attention to me. He was standing near one of the temple’s pillars, and his eyes were becoming bigger and bigger.
I took out the camera.
The shutter sound didn’t change anything. The little boy was still staring at the temple and the only difference was that he also opened his mouth.
Beauty has an address: Oman!
Today, I’m going to tell you about Omani hospitality.
It was early Friday afternoon, when we decided to go to Al-Hamra, a small village situated in the mountains. We were going there to see the old “Yemeni style” houses, which we had read about before. We finally found them, but they were rather disappointing. That’s why we were walking the street looking for some shade and then suddenly we heard:
- Hello! How are you?
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The Mien – the Yao from Laos
The Yao people inhabit areas of the famous Golden Triangle. This is a very old ethnic group. It is said that they were living in China 4000 years ago! The most important subgroup among the Yao are the Mien, whom I had the pleasure to meet near Muang Sing, a small village in northern Laos.
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Merry wives of Phyang
A man wearing a traditional hat is resting on one of the pillars of the monastery, three festively dressed grandmas are gossiping in one of the corners while young novices are playing with Chinese plastic guns. Hundreds of people are sitting around making the festival in the Phyang monastery very picturesque.
An old lady wearing a green hat, dark sunglasses and holding a cane in her hand seems to be the most friendly.
- Could I take a picture of you – I ask her*.
The old lady looks at me and with a mischievous smile, responds:
- No, no, I do not want to, but .. my friend likes pictures. Take a photo of her!**
I ask the mentioned old lady, but she seems to be even more amused than the previous grandma and she tells me:
- No, no, I do not want it either, but .. That friend of mine sitting on the right will want for sure! See how she has dressed herself up today!
Another friend points to another. I know that it will not be possible to take a picture this afternoon.
But surprisingly a few hours later I meet the grandmas again. They “known” me already and now the grandma in a green hat will let me take her picture. What an afternoon surprise! It was worth waiting!
*When I want to take a picture of someone, especially when I want to take someone’s portrait, I always try to ask for permission. I believe, that there is nothing worse than sneakily taking people’s pictures. Besides the lack of contact with the “model”, it usually makes the picture much worse than it could be, not to mention the fact that the person photographed in this way may feel like a monkey in a zoo. And probably nobody would want to feel this way. To sum up: I try to treat people as I would like to be treated by them.
**Of course, I do not understand what she says. I know only one word in the Ladakhi language. It is “jule” which means “good morning”, “goodbye”, “please” and “thank you “. So I do not understand exactly what she says, but I can read from her gestures;)
The power of a smile
It’s not that difficult to imagine this situation. It’s the last day of my trekking in the Himalayas, so I’m dirty and exhausted. I’m coming back to Lukla, because I have my plane to Kathmandu from there the next day. It is sometimes surprising for me, even now, but at this time Kathmandu was the place of my dreams.
I meet this lady somewhere on a trail from Namche Bazaar to Lukla. She works as a porter so she has a heavy basket on her back. She’s having a break now so I decide to do the same and we end up sitting together. My Sherpa model is relaxed until I take out my camera, but then she becomes very serious.
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Getting old on Bali
She was sitting on the steps of the Pura Beji, a Hindu temple in Sangsit on Bali and selling frangipani flowers used by Balinese Hindus as sacrifices for local deities.
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The Beginning
I began late. Sometimes I think that it was definitely too late. Now I can only regret all those missed opportunities. I can’t turn back the clock, but fortunately I can try to catch up.
It happened in Cuba. I remember that day very well. My throat was so dry because of my strong emotions and I wasn’t able to control my shaking hands. It was a real miracle that my first portrait wasn’t spoilt.
My Cuban model was sitting on one of the streets of old Havana. There were more people like her – posing for tourists with thick cigars in their mouths. But this particular woman seemed to be special for me. I really do not know what so attracted my attention. Red flower? The blue hat? Maybe the yellow wall?
But for the first time in my life I was brave enough to approach her and explain that I would like to take a picture.
She agreed. And then I took my first portrait.
Pangong Tso’s grandfather
Grandfather Gongma lives in a tiny village situated by a Himalayan lake. The name of the village is Spangmik and it has barely a dozen houses. It is so small that it tis not worth to delivering post there – it needs to be collected from a few dozen kilometers away.
Most villagers earn money by selling their crops, however sometimes tourists rent rooms in their houses. Unfortunately not many tourists decide to stay overnight in Spangmik, many of them prefer only a one day trip to see the Pangong lake. Guests come only in summer, because winter at an altitude of over 4300 meters above the sea level is very severe.
Probably the oldest resident of Spangmik is grandfather Gongma and the years and months are passing quietly for him. He lives with his son and a daughter in law, but his two granddaughters live in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. They were sent to school there, because there’s no school in Spangmik.
Grandfather Gongma loves to sit on a bench in the front of his house and warm himself in the sun. He’s glad to see every passing day.
Portraits of the Akha women
They are one of the main hilltribes inhabiting the Golden Triangle area. You can meet them in the mountains of Laos, Myanmar, China and northern Thailand. Some of you will find the Akha people peculiar or exotic, but for me they are people, for whom I feel a special fondness.
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