A Matter of Faith

 Girl praying at a mosque, Kabul,  Afghanistan

 

 I have seen many manifestations of  faith during my travels over the past three decades.  Some have been spontaneous, some have been part of a liturgy, some have been prescribed rituals, some have been in magnificent buildings, others have been outside under a tree.   Some people’s faith is embedded in the way they live their lives.

 

 

 

Shaolin monks training, Zhengzhou, China

 

“Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure strength of faith.”   Mohandas Gandhi

 

 

Prayers and teaching, Peshawar, Pakistan

 

 

 

 Sikh holiest site, Golden Temple,  Amritsar, India

 

 

 

 

Sri Lanka

 

 

 

Prayer Flags, Lhasa, Tibet

 

 

 

Charlotte, North Carolina

 

 

 Religious Instruction – Jewish child  in Yemen

 

 

 

Srinagar, Kashmir

 

 

 

Brazil

 

 

Camino, Italy

 

 

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”   

- St. Thomas Aquinas

 

 

India

 

 

Thrissur Pooram, Kerala, India

 

  “Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark.”

    - Rabindranath Tagore

 

                                                                       

Tibetan Prayer Festival in Bodh Gaya, India

 

 

Pilgrim praying with monks at the Buddhist Academy of Larung Gar, Kham Province, Tibet

 

“What is Faith?  When your good deed pleases you and your evil deed grieves you, you are a believer.”

- Prophet Muhammad

 

Monk at Jokhang temple, Lhasa, Tibet

 

Family, Nature’s Masterpiece

Tagong, Tibet

Families return to Herat, Afghanistan

Burma/Myanmar

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
-Jane Howard

Viet Tri City, Vietnam

Tihamah Plain, Yemen

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” - George Santayana

Honduras

Jodhpur, India

Shanghai, China

Maimana, Afghanistan

Tiguent, Mauritania

Macedonia

Cambodian refugees in Thailand

Porbandar, Gujarat

“The family is the nucleus of civilization.” -  William Durant

Fusion: The Synergy of Images and Words Part III

Herat, Afghanistan

For hundreds of years artists have tried to portray the relationship of a reader and his/her book.  We are familiar with words describing images, but not so familiar with images describing words and the impact that reading has on our lives.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Kham, Tibet

Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma

“Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.”  – Charles Scribner

Old Delhi, India

Everywhere I go in the world, I see young and old, rich and poor, reading books. Whether readers are engaged in the sacred or the secular, they are, for a time, transported to  another world.

Varanasi, India

Kham, Tibet

The world’s largest book fair will be held in Frankfurt starting on October 6. Publishers, booksellers, agents, film producers,  authors, and journalists from all over the world will attend.  It is a privilege that my series of reading pictures will be projected during the opening press conference and featured in the daily publication, Publishing Perspectives.

Saõ Paolo, Brazil

Angkor Thom,  Angkor, Cambodia

Susan Sontag said, ”The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality…” The same can be said for reading books.

Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Yangon, Burma

Tokyo, Japan

Shanghai, China

“We read to know we’re not alone.”   – C.S. Lewis

Yemen