NICHOLAS VREELAND: Travels with a Monk

 Offering a scarf to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Color Portrait by Ven. Nicholas Vreeland

RETURN TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD, Photo Exhibition, Taipei

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche and Ven. Nicholas Vreeland, Photographer and Abbot of Rato Monastery in Southern India, traveled to Hong Kong and Taipei where Vreeland's exhibition, "RETURN TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD: A Photographic Exhibition by Nicholas Vreeland," of color portraits and black and white photographs is showing through February 28.

 Nicholas Vreeland Photo Exhibition, Taipei, February 2014

RETURN TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
A Photographic Exhibition by Nicholas Vreeland

February 14-28 2014

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

1F, M2, No. 1, Sec. 1, Bade Rd., Taipei, Taiwan

We went to see Master Guo Ru, Dharma Heir of Master Sheng Yen

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NICHOLAS VREELAND: A Monk's Journal in Taiwan

 Life

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

 New Friends

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

View from our hostel... once the tallest building in the world

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche and Nicholas Vreeland, Abbot of Rato Dratsang

NicholasVreeland.com

NICHOLAS VREELAND: A Monks Journal Preparing for HH Dalai Lama Visit

 Little Ones Study

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

 

 Manooj's Painting Team
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

 Tashi Milks and Cares for Our Buffalo

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

 

 

Monks Polishing

 Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

Workman, Studio Portrait

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland
 

Workmen

 Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

 The Monks of Rato Monastery, Mundgod, Karnataka, India

 Photographer Nicholas Vreeland (2nd row, center)

"Here we prepare for a visit from His Holiness. All hands are on deck." Buddhist monk and Photographer, Nicholas Vreeland, is the Abbot of Rato Monastery, Mundgod, India. Read more about Vreeland in the Washington Post here.

Robert Delpire selected twenty black and white Fine Art photographs by Nicholas Vreeland taken over the 24 years he has been a Rato monk. Each image, signed and numbered, is part of a limited edition of 25 that are on sale to raise money to support Rato Monastery. Purchase 'Photos For Rato' online here

THE LEICA CAMERA BLOG: An Interview With Nicholas Vreeland

The Nechung Medium and Dog, Dharamsala, India, 1979
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

Q: The Oskar Barnack Room contains five very large color portraits from the 1970’s that you shot with a 5×7 camera. Can you tell us something about your experience with the large format?

A: I went to India with an old wooden 5×7 view camera and a lot of sheets of black and white film. A friend insisted that I take along some color sheets as well. At each sitting, I’d expose a sheet or two of color and the color turned out to be magnificent. Shooting in large format established a very different rapport between my subjects and myself. I was photographing some of the greatest living Tibetan Buddhist masters. The slow formal quality of the view camera process helped me to photograph them respectfully.– from the LEICA CAMERA BLOG Interview

Nicholas Vreeland and Elizabeth Avedon, Bodh Gaya, India, 1985
Photograph (c) All Rights Reserved

"In terms of my work as a monk-photographer, I feel that I’m photographing the extraordinary world in which I live, whether I’m in New York City, in my teacher’s home in New Jersey, my monastery India or in Tibet." – from the LEICA CAMERA BLOG Interview

Vreeland on the way to his Leica Gallery exhibition, NYC, 2011.
Photograph (c) Elizabeth Paul

Self Portrait, Rato Monastery, India
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland

Q: ...your images transcend those of a typical travel photographer: they have a dimension, a spiritual dimension, and a sense of congruity because they represent the two parts of your life that are tied together?

A: They are two sides of my life that have begun to be brought into harmony with each other. Many years ago, I didn’t feel they were congruent. In fact, initially I didn’t even have a camera in the monastery. And when I was given one, I kept it locked in “Pandora’s box."– from the LEICA CAMERA BLOG Interview

LEICA CAMERA BLOG
Nicholas Vreeland Interview
"Capturing Photographs to Honor and Preserve His World"

More about Vreeland's exhibition Return to the Roof of the World
on La Lettre de la Photographie

A MONKS PHOTO JOURNAL: Preparing For HH The Dalai Lama's Visit to Mundgod

The monks of Rato Dratsang preparing for HH The Dalai Lama's visit

Rato Monastery, Mundgod, Karnataka, India

The monks of Rato Dratsang preparing for HH The Dalai Lama's visit

Preparing for HH The Dalai Lama's visit, Rato Dratsang Monastery

Preparing for HH The Dalai Lama's visit, Rato Dratsang Monastery

Rato Monastery, Mundgod, Karnataka, India

A Monk's PhotoJournalist, Nicholas Vreeland

The monks of Rato Dratsang Monastery, in Mundgod, Karnataka, India, are preparing for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Inaugurate their Monastery January 31, 2011, followed by Teachings Febuary 1-5th. HH The Dalai Lama Schedule of teachings Here. Many of the new buildings for the Monastery were provided for from the sale of photographs by Nicholas Vreeland through the Rato Dratsang Foundation. Early in his career, Vreeland worked for both Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. An exhibition of his photographs will be shown at the Leica Gallery, New York, April 22- June 4, 2011.

All Photographs (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

TRAVEL NOTES: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche

Richard Gere and Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, with HH the Dalai Lama's senior tutor, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche (embalmed body d. 1983), Dharamsala, India 1988. Photograph (c) Elizabeth Paul Avedon /All Rights Reserved

A Monk's PhotoJournal: December 2009

Greetings From The Mountains In Taiwan

Photograph (c) 2009 Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Taiwan
Photograph (c) 2009 Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Rato Dratsang Foundation
The Gere Foundation