Photo Flashback | McLeod Ganj, India
Butter Lamps, McLeod Ganj (2006)
I woke well before the sun and scaled the infamous stairs leading to Jogiwara Road. I was careful to stay in the middle of the seemingly never-ending climb. The nettles were plentiful and encroached on the uneven staircase. The darkness and my sandals were the worst possible combination for the climb.
I crept uphill through the languid town towards the bus stand, McLeod Ganj’s main intersection. I greeted a gentleman with leprosy and then veered left with other shadowy figures. Most of us moved swiftly down Temple Road to the Tsuglagkhang, attempting to be on time for the 5:00 a.m. prayer service.
I passed the sleepy guards outside of the Photang, the Dalai Lama's residence. It was an odd feeling knowing that His Holiness, just returned from a lecture series abroad, was a stone’s throw away.
I made it to the complex by 4:45 a.m. and entered one of the world’s most renowned religious centers. Hundreds of pilgrims were already gathered at the temple, processing clockwise with prayer beads in hand or bending into supplicating postures. I meandered through the corridors and noticed a glint of light coming from one of the interior prayer rooms. There, elderly monks lit butter lamps, sending out their cosmic energy for those who could afford to have the prayers made. The scene was mesmerizing.
I purchased a lamp and asked the elder for a specific prayer request. As the monk turned to light my lamp, I casually snapped a photo. Now, over a decade later, I can’t remember what I petitioned the holy man to pray for. Perhaps the universe received his mantras. Perhaps not. Either way, I am glad I have a grainy image of that tiny moment in time.
About the Image
Date: March 2006
Film: Ilford 400 Black and White
The film roll was processed a few days later in McLeod Ganj, India. A blue and yellow sign above the developer’s kiosk simply stated, “STD and Photo.” At the time, a photo-developing-pay-phone-center seemed like just the place to have my film developed.
I remember getting the photos back a few days later and being enamored with this particular shot. Out of the hundreds of photos I made on my first trip to India, this image sticks out in my mind. It was the first photograph I had ever made that I was visually happy with. Now, in hindsight, I realize that Butter Lamps served as a catalyst for my career as a travel editorial photographer.