RAMAYANA TATTOOS

I am pleased to announce the Vietnam: North Of The 16th Parallel Photo Expedition/Workshop™ during which we are planning to explore the street life of bustling Ha Noi, the colorful villages and ethnic minority tribes around Sapa and the Sunday market of Bac Ha, the daily life in the ancient port city of Hoi An, the beauty of the Forbidden City in Hue and the fishing village of Lang Co, as well as spending a night on Halong Bay.

All the details, including a link to register interest in joining, for this exciting photographic expedition and workshop are on this website.

I will be assisted on this photo expedition by Maika Elan, a talented Vietnamese photographer and photojournalist.

I normally don't feature details of my photo expeditions on this blog until they are fully subscribed, but as I am flying to India today and returning home at the end of March, I thought it would be more practical to put it out there now.

I've already received a number of outright registrations and indications of interest, as a result of my newsletter.

Photo © Mark Coughlan-All Rights Reserved

Well, I'll be on my way to India in about 24 hours...and what better way to start the trip than by featuring Mark Coughlan's Maha Shivatri's photo gallery?!

A warning though...and perhaps in time of breakfast for my US-based readers. If you have no stomach for viewing ash-smeared sadhus with their testicles lifting piles of stones. look elsewhere. For instance, Mark's Portraits Of A Saint photo gallery, which is much tamer in comparison and consists of the sadhus' portraits. Not a testicle in sight there.

Maha Shivratri is a Hindu festival celebrated every year in reverence of Lord Shiva, and in common with many Hindu religious festivals, sees pilgrims and devotees bathe at sunrise, preferably in the Ganges, and carry pots of water to the temples to bathe the Shiva "linga",  and offer prayers to the sun, Vishnu and Shiva. Unmarried women pray for a husband like Shiva, considered to be the ideal husband.

Mark Coughlan is a documentary travel photographer specializing in global social issues and world events/festivals, who traveled diverse countries such as Myanmar (Burma), Mongolia, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, China, Cambodia and Bolivia amongst others. He photographed some of the world’s greatest festivals and events including two Maha Kumbh Mela festivals (India), Maha Shivaratri (India & Nepal), and Nadam (Mongolia).

Photo © Adnan Abidi/Reuters-All Rights Reserved

I know....I've featured photographs of Lathmar Holi and of the main Holi festival a little too enthusiastically over the past few weeks, but the color is overpowering...and I'm in grey London on my way to India in a couple of days. I'm giving Holi a miss...landing in Delhi a day later, so I'm making up by posting really phenomenal photographs by Adnan Abidi, Manan Vatsyayana, and Kevin Frayer who've done a really great job of documenting this "pre-Holi Holi".

The Big Picture photo blog featured 22 of these photographs....each one better than the other.

Photo © Kevin Frayer-All Rights Reserved