An Indian Army convoy wends its way up to a high camp and military exercises in the imposing Ladakh region of the Indian Himalayas. The massive scale of these spectacular mountains is put into some perspective here, reminding us of just how insignificant we really are when contemplating nature.
"What...exactly?" is the usual reaction to this picture that compresses perspective: of a tiny, delicate wafer of compressed sand, wrought by howling winds and flowing water, juxtaposed against mighty Himalayan mountainsides on the distant opposite bank of a mighty river in India's Ladakh region.
Applying finishing touches to a painstakingly constructed Kalachakra Mandala sand sculpture at the Samstanling monastery in Ladakh. The sculpture takes weeks to complete and is then ritually destroyed in seconds. It marks the “profound affirmation of the impermanence of all things”, especially the human condition. After discussing their monastic order - the Gelugpa, or ‘Yellow Hat Sect’ - the monks were kind enough to let me get pretty close to their work, as long as I didn’t bump into anything.
