Penang Thaipusam Festival Photo Tour
Event on 2014-01-11 13:00:00
Thaipusam is a visually stunning festival held by Hindu Indian ethnic Malaysians who originate from south India.
This exotic festival denotes when the god Murugan obtained a spear or vel with which he would defeat his opponent. To celebrate this annual event, cows pull an elaborately decorated cart through the streets of Georgetown, Penang. On the cart rides a silver figure of Murugan said to be of unspeakable value. Hindus, Chinese & others gather to smash coconuts on the streets in order to sanctify Murugan's pathway. Then, for a couple days Murugan presides at a complex of waterfall temples.
Once he's in his temporary abode, hundreds of Hindu devotees move into action. After prayers at their scattered temples, they have their cheeks & tongues pierced with metal skewers, & then have multitudes of small hooks placed in their backs & chests–honoring Murugan's preference for spears.
Then they take up heavy kavadi–colorful religious burdens–& carry them–barefoot–on hot asphalt roads for 8 kilometers to the waterfall temple.
Along the way they are encouraged on by Hindu music blaring from banks of speakers. Despite their exhaustion, they break into dancing, catch their second wind & briskly set off again toward the goal of their pilgrimage. Once they arrive at the end of their journey, their friends & family help them out from under their kavadi so that they can climb hundreds of stairs to the final waterfall temple, carrying a metal urn of milk that they'll pour over Murugan's figure.
You will get to photograph Hindu artists crafting amazing kavadi & then will follow a pilgrim carrying his kavadi. Unlike the occasional tourists standing by the road getting a passing shot at a these pilgrims, you will be embeded with one of these devotees through his ordeal & will come away with photographic coverage unavailable to bystander tourists.
Also, during early part of the week you'll get to photograph around the UNESCO World Hertiage Site of Georgetown, Penang's old port city. This Chinese-Malay port has retained most of it's 19th Century architecture & charm. We'll be staying not far from "Harmony Lane" where you can see Chinese, Christian, Hindu, & Muslim (in alphabetical order) places of worship still being used centuries after they were built. And you you'll find Penang's food unforgettable too–just Google it!
Along the way you'll receive instruction in using Lightroom to securely store, organize & edit your images. We'll also teach you how to use software to present your story compellingly–so you'll have something impressive to show your friends & colleagues from your learning experience in Penang.
This is going to be an amazing photo tour–an off-the-charts cultural photography event that will take your photographic portfolio beyond the next level! You definitely don't want to miss out.
George Town, Malaysia
Penang Thaipusam Festival Photo Tour is a post from: golf-tyres.info