The story behind: Face To Faith | Mount Kailash | Tibet
Check out these stunning images from the new book Face To Faith shot by Samuel Zuder and #retouched by gloss!
From the photographer:
In the midst of the stony desert of the Changtang plateau, it towers up like a pyramid: the Mount Kailash. It is one of the most fascinating places i’ve ever been to.
In its territory arise the four major rivers of Asia : the ” Indus “, the ” Satluj “, the ” Brahmaputra ” and the ” Karnali ” ( tributary of the Ganges ). The four major religious traditions Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Bon worship the Mount Kailash not only as a sacred mountain , they look at him even as the origin of the universe.
Year after year, hundreds of believers set out for the exhausting pilgrimage to the Kailash. They circumambulate the mountain on a 54 kilometers long path – the so-called kora – to free themselves from the sins of life. Deeply religious pilgrims walk the path doing prostrations. It will take about 2 to 4 weeks. Buddhists believe that 108 circumambulations lead towards enlightenment.
Out of respect for its spiritual importance the Mount Kailash has never been climbed. In 1985, Reinhold Messner was authorized to climb it but he consciously decided against it. For this reason, the Mount Kailash is one of the rare untrodden places of our world.
In 2012 I spent several weeks in the remote Kailash area to take photos for my project FACE TO FAITH | MOUNT KAILASH | TIBET . My bag was packed with an analog 4×5 inch camera, numerous sheet film cassettes, hundreds of polaroid and color negative films. This slow way of taking photos enabled me to show the same respect to the pilgrims and to the sacred mountain which means so much to them. I returned with a series of iconic portraits and landscape panoramas wich will be published in the photobook FACE TO FAITH | MOUNT KAILASH | TIBET by Hatje Cantz publishers.
In 2012 I spent several weeks in the remote Kailash area to take photos for my project FACE TO FAITH | MOUNT KAILASH | TIBET . My bag was packed with an analog 4×5 inch camera, numerous sheet film cassettes, hundreds of polaroid and color negative films. This slow way of taking photos enabled me to show the same respect to the pilgrims and to the sacred mountain which means so much to them. I returned with a series of iconic portraits and landscape panoramas wich will be published in the photobook FACE TO FAITH | MOUNT KAILASH | TIBET by Hatje Cantz publishers.
