The Need for Speed

Mali

India 

It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is.
It’s a symphony of  motion.
And when you’re rowing well
Why it’s nearing perfection
And when you
reach perfection
You’re touching the divine.
It touches the you of you’s
Which is your soul.
~George Pocock

India

 Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan

Mizoram, India

I ran and ran every day, and I acquired a sense of determination,
this sense of spirit that I would never, never, give up, no matter what else happened.
- Wilma Rudolph, Winner of three gold medals at the Olympic Games

Tibet

Mauritania

India

With the catching ends the pleasure of the chase.
- Abraham Lincoln

Tibet

Burma

Walking on fire has existed for thousands of years, with records dating back to 1200 B.C.
It is used to demonstrate faith, healing, and rites of initiation.
David A. Willey, Firewalking Myth vs. Physics

Sri Lanka

Italy

I always loved running… it was something you could do by yourself,
and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted,
fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet
and the courage of your lungs.

- Jesse Owens, Winner of four gold medals at the Olympic Games

  Jodhpur, India

Cambodia

Mali

The five S’s of sports training are:
Stamina, Speed, Strength, Skill and Spirit;
but the greatest of these is Spirit.
- Ken Doherty

Bangladesh 

 India

 Bamiyan, Afghanistan

 Afghanistan
The ancient game of Buzkashi, Afghanistan’s national sport

Buzkashi
Rearing, wheeling, plunging,
urged by leather-booted heels –
a rugby scrum of horses.
Whips and hooves, knife sharp,
slice frozen winter air as rising dust
meets sweat and steaming breath.
Laws of gravity ignored, a horseman leans,
crazy-angled, reins between clenched teeth,
and grabs the goat.

Men and animals scream defiance,
the maelstrom melts, dissolves –
a tidal wave of horses.
Thundering hooves become
thudding heartbeats, spectators roar approval,
ancestral memories stirred
by sounds and scents of victory.
No longer taxi drivers, labourers, shopkeepers,
they are Genghis Khan’s army streaming –
invincible – across Asia’s plains…
- Mary Smith

 Texas, USA

A horse can lend its rider the speed and strength he or she lacks,
but the rider who is wise remembers it is no more than a loan.
- Pam Brown

Steve’s London gallery has launched a new initiative called Photo Democracy to support young collectors and photographers!
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More Fun and Games

Wodaabe Tribe, Niger

Laughter is by definition healthy.
- Doris Lessing,  Nobel Laureate in Literature

La Fortuna, Honduras

Shanghai Circus, Shanghai, China 

Moscow, Russia 

Perugia, Italy

If music be the food of love, play on.
- William Shakespeare

Havana, Cuba

India

Rajasthan, India

Lucknow, India

No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called games.
- W. H. Auden

Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

Mersin, Turkey 

Could we look into the head of a Chess player,
we should see there a whole world of feelings,
images, ideas, emotion and passion.
- Alfred Binet

Jodhpur, India

Peru

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Some people believe football is a matter of
life and death.
I’m very disappointed with that attitude.
I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.
- Bill Shankly, English soccer manager.

Maningrida, Australia

Tibet

Young Shepherd during Holi, Rajasthan, India

We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.
- Immanual Kant

Istanbul, Turkey

Until one has loved an animal,
a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
- Anatole France

Mumbai/Bombay, India

 

Buzkashi, Kabul, Afghanistan

Yangon, Myanmar/Burma

They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them.
Golf is more complicated than that.
- Gardner Dickinson

Bangladesh

 

Yemen

 

You must invent your own games and
teach us old ones how to play.
- Nikki Giovanni

Burma/Myanmar

Varanasi, India