MSNBC: Lathmar Holi

Photo © Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

I featured quite a number of posts on Holi in the past weeks, and I'm not about to stop now especially as a number of photographer friends will soon be on their way to Mathura and Rajasthan to document the festivities.

MSNBC's PhotoBlog just featured a couple of large photos of Lathmar Holi, a festival which took place yesterday, a few of days before the actual Holi celebration. It takes place at Barsana near Mathura, where people flock to celebrate the revelries.

The Lathmar Holi festival begins with a ceremony at the Radha Rani temple. The legend has it that Radha and her friends decided to teach a lesson to Krishna for stealing their clothes at a bathing ghat, and in a sort of re-enactment ceremony, the male villagers in Barsana smear themselves with colors while the women attack them with wooden sticks in response to their efforts to put color on them.

More here with Kevin Frayer's photographs. On one of these photographs, the colored water was clearly splashed on his lens!

Alfonso Moral: Machine Man: 69th POYi


"Allah has said that a woman should behind 5 fences"

Alfonso Moral and Roser Corella were awarded POYi's First Place Award for Long Form Multimedia Story with their Machine Man, a documentary dealing with modernity and global development, with men (and women) as machines.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, men and women undertake hard physical tasks with machine precision and routine: they load their bodies with heavy materials; they manufacture bricks; they separate plastics and they drive rickshaws. They are the machine men, a mass of millions of people who become the driving force for the city.

There's a lot of powerful work by a variety of photographers on POYi 69th which has announced its winners. However, I decided to feature the work of Alfonso Moral (photographer ) and Roser Corella (editor) on this blog, not only because Machine Man is a very well done documentary, but because they're freelance.

I might take some flak for this, but the photographers and photojournalists backed by powerful newspapers, magazines and other media such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and the National Geographic getting awards have a considerable edge over others who don't enjoy this backing. It's therefore refreshing to see that POYi chose freelancers for this category.

Alfonso Moral is a Spanish photographer, who worked for a while with El Norte del Castiliano newspaper. He later moved to Syria and began focusing on the Middle East from where he covered Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq in addition to elections in Afganisthan and the Hezbollah movement in Southern Lebanon. Apart from winning a photojournalism grant for his work on the Palestinian refugees, his work was featured in El Pais and Newsweek amongst other publications. He is currently based in Barcelona.

Travel To Vakarufalhi Island Resort In Maldives



Vakarufalhi Island Resort - one among the simplest Four Star Maldives resorts, tucked away within the remote corner of South Ari atoll, 90km aloof from the airport, Vakarufalhi is among the pearls that compose the wonderful Maldives Islands.

Vakarufalhi, higher referred to as Vakaru may be a tropical island enhanced by swaying coconut palms and white sandy beaches. Surrounding the island may be a pristine lagoon enriched by a stunningly lovely living house reef. These options combined with ancient Maldivian building ideas, makes Vakarufalhi a haven of nature and tranquility. nearly 1 / 4 of a sq. kilometer of land space with fifty ocean front Beach Villas unfold evenly round the island and twenty five Water Villas creates an environment that rejuvenates your body and mind.

Accommodation:

Vakarufalhi is one among the premier resorts and is recognized in concert of the luxurious Maldives Resorts providing the simplest Maldives luxury vacation accommodation, it additionally encompasses a big selection of accommodation choices which will cater to any or all your relaxation wants.

Vakarufalhi offers twenty five trendy Water villas and forty five Beach villas, four Garden villas and a Pool Villa Suite in its own modern vogue overlooking the pristine crystal clear lagoon the Indian Ocean.

Inside, our Maldives accommodation options everything that's needed for an incredible relaxation and entertaining expertise. Vakarufalhi may be a premium Maldives accommodation operated and maintained by a well dedicated and a committed team guaranteeing your visit are 

Room Features:

A private verandah with day bed  chairs, picket floors, Air-conditioning, Ceiling fan, Sitting space 42”, plasma TV, Stocked Mini Bar, Tea/coffee creating facility, Espresso machine (available at a further charge), IDD dialing facilities, Hair dryer, A semi open-air rest room with garden, Shower cubical & shower, Family rooms are offered in seven semi-detached bungalows

Spa:

Duniye Spa believes in an innovative approach which mixes West with East, ancient ideas with trendy techniques and high-touch with high-tech. we have a tendency to honor nature’s healing and beautifying properties using chemical free, organic and top quality beauty skin care line guaranteeing best results integrity and authenticity paired with skilled ethics. In our management and business vogue, we have a tendency to believe in our responsibility to develop and support sustainable spa product and firms. we have a tendency to achieve our goals with passion, perseverance and impeccable attention to details throughout the complete method from project development to pre-opening, management and operations. we have a tendency to follow four main principles as our guideline and framework for project coming up with, development, design, concept and operations: simplicity, purity, diversity, quality. we've got a hands-on approach in any respect stages. we have a tendency to generate enticing monetary returns by delivering a wonderful spa product and smart worth for cash.

Richard Van Lê: Cao Dai



I've recently found this updated short movie on Cao Dai by Richard Van Lê, which fits my current mindset, as I am thinking of a photo expedition-workshop to Vietnam in the near future.

Cao Dai (Cao Đài) is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, in southern Vietnam, in 1926. Its first disciples claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion. It's a blend of elements from Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Animism.

Its saints' list is rather an eclectic one; with Buddha, Confucius, Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc, William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, and Jesus.

More background on Cao Dai can be found here.

Richard Van Lêis a New York City-based photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia designer. He is the founder of 138 Media LLC.