Ken Hermann: Sadhus of the Kumbh

Photo ©Ken Hermann-All Rights Reserved

Ken Hermann is a photographer based in Copenhagen, Denmark and is a member of the Behance Network. He has a personal website, but I get a no access message when I try to view it.

No matter, his portraits of Sadhus made during the 2010 Kumbh Mela in Haridwar can be seen on here.

Sadhus attend Kumbh Mela festivals and are amongst the many driving forces behind these festivals, and are also a magnet for photographers and photojournalists because of their appearance, and lifestyle.

The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 4 years. The Ardh Kumbh Mella is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, as the one earlier this year. The Purna Kumbh takes place every twelve years at four places: Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik. The Maha Kumbh Mela occurs after 12 Purna Kumbh Melas, or 144 years, and is always held at Allahabad. This is the one I attended in January 2001 along with  60 million other people.

The 900th And 901st Follower

Photo © Debarpita Mohapatra- All Rights Reserved

My list of Google Followers has now grown to just over 900 people. This list is distinct from my Twitter and Facebook followers and/or friends, Feed subscribers or from the subscribers to my newsletters.

To commemorate this milestone, here are the two Followers as they've joined at the same time.

The 900th Google Follower is Debarpita Mohapatra. He's an architect, photographer and biker based in Bhubaneswar and New Delhi. He also authors a blog titled The Indian Expedition.

Photo © Luisa Puccini- All Rights Reserved

As for the 901st Google Follower, she's Luisa Puccini from Camogli near Florence. She's a traveler and photographer, and authors a blog titled Fotovagando, or Photo Wanderer. She seems to have been wandering in the right places since her blog has photographs and entries from Bali, Delhi's Nizam Uddin, Burma, and other interesting places.

Thank you for following The Travel Photographer!

Human Rights Watch: Burma Defenders

The Human Rights Watch feature Burma Defenders is timed to coincide with the first elections to be held in the repressed country in more than 20 years. Burma has been run by a junta of army generals who have silenced any opposition to their brutal regime with human rights abuses and by silencing any dissent.

Political observers are awaiting the elections and wondering if civil unrest flare up after what is widely perceived as a sham election on November 7, and whether Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, be released when her sentence ends on November 13.

Human Rights Watch and photographer Platon have teamed up to photograph opposition members, former political prisoners, and journalists who have sought political refuge in neighboring Thailand.

Platon is a photographer who attended London's St. Martin's School of Art, holds a BA in Graphic Design and a MA in Photography and Fine Art from the Royal College of Art. Now living in New York, he continues to shoot portrait, and documentary work for a range of international publications, including The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, and The Sunday Times Magazine.