"It is at these religious events that one connects with humanity at its basic denominator, and with the nobility of the human spirit."That's a quote from a longer statement I made to accompany a handful of photographs published in the December issue of the Asian Geographic Passport which can be partially previewed here.
I am waiting for a hard copy of the issue to be mailed to me from the publishers, so that's all I can show at this time.
In any event, the religious rituals I submitted photographs of are the Theyyam rituals of Northern Kerala and of the Tsechus of Bhutan. The photographs are included in my Theyyam: Incarnate Deities and Tsechus!.
I am influenced by Sebastiao Salgado's philosophy which he described by saying: "if you take a picture of a human that does not make him noble, there is no reason to take this picture. That is my way of seeing things.". This is my way of seeing things as well...I find it impossible to photograph otherwise.