Before the recent launch of Xiaomi Note 3, I was commissioned by Xiaomi to use the phone-camera and create a collection of colourful images. Here is the set of images created during my assignment. Do have a look at the them below, and scroll down to read-on about my thoughts on photography with a mobile-phone.
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Until now, I hadn’t taken mobile-phone photography seriously. My slightly older smartphone did not have a very powerful camera. Although I kept reading about how much better the phone-cameras are becoming, I wasn’t too sure. Using the Xiaomi Note 3 helped me change my opinion about smart-phone cameras. Today’s phone-cameras can easily create good quality images, which could once be made only with a decent quality dedicated digital camera.
Also see: Our photography tour to Myanmar in October
It was a festival morning. About a hundred or so boats had gathered as a long thick band in the middle of the lake, waiting for the procession to pass by. A hundred boats would seem like a lot, but against the scale of the lake that is spread more than a hundred sq kilometers, the boats did not make up to much. As we approached the place of all the action, I heard the sound of bells at a distance to my left, somewhere in the vicinity of a monastery in Lin Kin Village. The procession was about to begin. Today’s procession was to take four Buddha idols of Phaung Daw Oo pagoda from Lin Kin to Nyaung Shwe town.
Inle Lake sets out for this festive celebrations every year in October-November months. The procession of Buddha images begins from their temple of residence–the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda–and crisscrosses every village in the lake taking eighteen days before returning home. Everyday, as Buddha moves from village to village, entire community gathers together to escort the parade with great fanfare. Every village decorates a long boat that will be part of the ‘boatcade‘. Each boat, carrying more than a hundred people rowing in sync to music, escort a gilded boat carrying the four golden Buddha images slowly glides over the lake. But one Buddha image continues to stay out of the festival.
Theyyam is a form of ritual performance usually seen in the temples of North Kerala. While there are a few hundred different variety of Theyyams, nearly all of them have performers painted in rich colours and adoring elaborate costumes. As soon as the ritual begins, the performer or Theyyam enters a trans-like situation and is considered God. At the end of the performances, attending devotees seek blessings from the Theyyam and ask for solutions to their problems.
Some Theyyam performances can be fierce, involving the performer jumping across fire or even dancing with torches on the body. Kandanar Kelan Theyyam is one such Theyyam where the performer, helped by two assistants, jumps over the blaze. Here is a collection of images from a Kandanad Kelan Theyyam held in Kunnaru Village in Kannur district, Kerala.
A Theyyam artist jumps over the fire during Kandanar Kelan Theyyam. Click on the thumbnails below for more images from the Theyyam.
