f11project

I am pleased to announce that I will be participating in this year’s Toronto Urban Photography Festival. The 2 pieces of work shown below will be part of ‘Home - Group Exhibition’ at IX Gallery. The exhibition will run from March 9th - 23rd, 2013. Opening is March 14th, 6:30 - 9 PM.

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A Slice of China: Leisure

A Slice of America.

A Slice of America. Wyoming.

A Slice of America. Chicago.

Motel: Motorists’ Hotel refers to an establishment which provides lodging and parking and in which the rooms are usually accessible from an outdoor parking area. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

The word motel first appeared in 1926 (the “Milestone Mo-Tel” in San Luis Obispo, California). The history of the motel is directly linked to America’s love of the car culture, which began with the first affordable car, the Model T. The automobile and the freedom it represented and provided touched the American spirit of adventure, individualism and exploration.

Santa María Magdalena Cuitzeo is one of the most magnificent 16th century monastery built by the Augustinian missionaries in the western province of Michoacán. 

This ex-convent are filled with imagery of Christian faith. In the room above, you are able to see a fresco depicting Mary Magdalene holding a jar filled with oil and washing the feet of Jesus. In the cloisters, the Capitulary Hall also houses the convent’s nearly 1,100-volume bibliographic and documentary archives, most dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Located 7 kilometres north of Dunhuang city, Mingsha Shan (Echoing-Sand Mountain) is part of the Gobi Desert region with an area spanning 200 square kilometres. The highest peak is 1715 metres above sea level. Mingsha Shan gets its name from the singing sound of people treading or slide on the surface of the sand. The sand mountains are formed by drifting dunes and the sands have five different colors of red, yellow, green, white and black.

There are various theories about the singing sand mechanism. It has been proposed that the sound frequency is controlled by the shear rate. Others have suggested that the frequency of vibration is related to the thickness of the dry surface layer of sand. The sound waves bounce back and forth between the surface of the dune and the surface of the moist layer, creating a resonance that increases the sound’s volume. The noise may be generated by friction between the grains or by the compression of air between them. (Wiki)

A quiet afternoon in an outdoor cafe near Kölner Dom in Köln, Deutschland.

At 32,000 square feet, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir complex in northwest of Toronto is the largest Mandir in Canada and second largest Hindu temple outside of India.

The Mandir was constructed by 2000 builders in a record 18 months with a price tag of $40 millions. This hand crafted Mandir displays the fine tradition of ancient Indian arts & philosophy and was built using Turkish limestone and Italian marble.. Visitors are awestruck by the unique architecture and detailed intricacy of the carvings.

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir was dedicated to the people of Canada on July 22nd, 2007 by the spiritual leader of  BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha and the inspirer, His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj. Our Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and the then Toronto Mayor David Miller were present at the ceremony.

The Chinese character dé (德) is a key concept in Chinese philosophy, usually translated “inherent character; inner power; integrity” in Taoism, “moral character; virtue; morality” in Confucianism and other contexts, and “quality; virtue” or “merit; virtuous deeds” in Chinese Buddhism.

The earliest written forms of dé (德) are oracle script from the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE) and bronzeware script and seal script from the Zhou Dynasty (1045-256 BCE).

~Wikipedia~

Aldeias Guarani M’byá na Cidade de São Paulo

The Guarani were one of the first indigenous peoples that the Europeans came into contact after arriving in South America over 500 years ago. In present day Brasil, there are roughly 46,000 Guarani spread out in seven states. The M’byá is one of the three main group of native Guarani Indians numbering around 6,000. This series of photographs documents the small population of M’byá indians living in the outer limits of São Paulo.

Our Lady of Guadalupe  is a Roman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary. The original Aztec word was Coatlaxopeuh, which means “The one (female) that defeat the snake”. The icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image.