Eight Years

 
"Did you get some tea?
Let me get you some tea!"

"Did you get something to eat?
Let me get you some food!"

This is how things have gone now for the eight years that I have been photographing the culture of the Tibetan community in Seattle.  People are forever trying to feed me, to be kind.

"Thank you for always being here for us."

It seems like a lifetime ago that I began this project.  Young couples in the community have had babies, and elders have passed away.  I have gone from being an outsider, a stranger with a camera, to "Kurt la"  ("la" in Tibetan culture is a form of address that conveys respect, as in "Tashi la,"  or  "Tsering la.") 

But the pictures I make are not about me, and I try to walk the fine line of presence.  I can do the best and most honest work when people just ignore me.  But the reality of human interaction is that photographic "subjects" feel most comfortable when the "photographer" does not hide his or her human-ness.

When someone offers you tea, you smile and say thank you:  too-je-che.

I thought I'd share some recent pictures.

Seeing Tradition

One evening nearly every month members of the Tibetan community in Seattle gather in their Buddhist monastery,  and, in the language of their homeland, recite prayers for world peace, for good health for their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and for their countrymen still living in Tibet.

The Tibetan community here is vibrant, and, in addition to monthly prayers, there are other kinds of cultural events as well.  A week from now, for example, there will be a concert of modern Tibetan music.  And there are also observances of Tibetan holidays…and of the Dalai Lama's birthday…and traditional ceremonies  to celebrate marriages, or to mourn a death.

The prayers, however, strike me as a kind of centerpiece for the community.  In the eight years now that I have been photographically documenting Tibetan culture in the Pacific Northwest, I have only missed monthly prayers a very few times. 

The prayers are low-key and quiet, admittedly not even a blip on the radar of all that goes on in "big city"  Seattle. 

Nevertheless,  I have seen that gatherings like these bind a community together. 

Tibet Fest 2016

I wonder how often we Americans stop to realize how lucky we are: That we can stand on a street corner shouting grievances we might have about our government; that we can freely practice our religion of choice; that we can assemble and march in parades and celebrate American culture…or German or Japanese traditions…or whatever strikes our fancy.

There are, of course, many countries in our world where citizens can do none of the above without fear of being tossed into jail, or worse.  My Tibetan friends tell me that in Tibet they cannot even possess a picture of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

I spent Saturday and Sunday photographing Tibet Fest, held for 21 years now a stone's throw from the iconic Space Needle at the Seattle Center. The event is part of Seattle's "Festal" program which celebrates various world cultures that are parts of Seattle's melting pot human makeup.

The event is colorful, and wonderful, and I was proud of Seattle for hosting celebrations like this.

A Teaching

The soft drone of  monks' voices, chanting together in monotone in the Tibetan Buddhist monastery, went on for minutes, which, peacefully and serenely,  blended into hours…

OM NAMO BHAGAWATE SARWA…

A Lama friend of mine offered a teaching Sunday, a Kunrig Empowerment,  and the Seattle monastery was full to overflowing with students: Tibetans, other Asians, and Westerners.

"This teaching and the prayers we will say will be of great benefit to those who are suffering and sick," the lama told his students. "It will benefit all sentient beings."  The lama had put out the word on Facebook -- my friend is, after all, a modern lama -- that his social media contacts could submit the names of individuals in need of prayer. That Facebook posting resulted in a list of nearly five hundred names, and even more names were coming in as prayers began.

I turned my camera shutter to "silent" and worked as unobtrusively as possible. The light in the monastery was incredible,  and there were moments when the faces of the earnest students were practically glowing.

"Be kind to all beings," the lama told the students at the end of the nearly six-hour ceremony. "If for whatever reason you cannot be kind, at least do no harm."

Bless You, Rain Shadow

Despite what you might have heard, it does not rain all the time in Western Washington. Come summer, we'll have several months of sunny weather, not too-hot…practically perfect.

The thing is -- though trees are budding out and some folks are outdoors cutting grass and washing cars and doing Summer Stuff --  it is only Spring.  The weather one day can be just nice enough to get you wanting for more of this goodness. And then, the next day, it gets gray and chilly and rains. And rains. And rains.

This is the time of year when my hiking friends and I are grateful for the Cascade Mountain rain shadow.

You see, our wet weather here generally moves in off the Pacific, soaks Western Washington and makes all the tall trees, ferns and mosses happy, then bumps up against the Cascades. More often than not the rain does not make it over the mountains. And so,  when it is rainy in Seattle, chances are that it is dry just east of the Cascades.

Five friends and I crammed into a van Sunday and headed east, destination: Black Canyon, between Ellensburg and Yakima. It was raining, hard, when we left Seattle; but, once over the mountains, we found sunshine. Sweet, blessed sunshine.

We hiked in sagebrush,  and through stands of aspen trees, not yet budded out.
Six adults, playing outside. And taking maximum advantage of the Cascade Mountain rain shadow.

Seeing Resilience

We hear the word "refugee" so often these days, I wonder whether we now even stop to think about what it means.

Imagine: There is so much violence and strife in the place where you live that you feel you have no choice but to abandon your home. You flee, perhaps at great risk, to someplace you hope is safer. If you are fortunate, your loved ones flee with you; or maybe circumstances are such that some have no choice but to stay behind.

I just completed my eighth year of documentary photography of the small but active Tibetan community in Seattle. I'm around my Tibetan brothers and sisters so much, I must admit that I sometimes forget that nearly all of them have some kind of history as refugees. Our world has so many places like Tibet where people experience oppression,  that word too can lose its impact.

Yesterday I photographed the Seattle Tibetans coming together at their Buddhist monastery to celebrate Losar, Tibetan New Year. The morning was prayerful (photos above. )  But, once prayers were done, folks milled about outside the monastery,  and the afternoon was festive. It was a mild, almost spring-like day, and people visited, spun prayer wheels, and sang Tibetan songs. Barley flour was tossed into the air, a Losar tradition.

What you see here is the resilience of the human spirit, and the efforts of a people who will not allow their culture to be erased.

Vagabond Cats & Flying Fish

I told a friend I'd meet him for lunch in downtown Seattle yesterday; and, as I rode the ferry across Puget Sound toward the city, I decided I'd play a favorite game of mine:  Visitor with a Camera.

When I head to the Big City, I often factor extra time into my day, both before and after an appointment. It's always fun to use the time to poke around in some of the tourist hangouts in the city… to see if, like the ever-present visitors from out-of-town,  I might stare at things, look lost and amazed, and take a couple of pictures to share with the folks back home.

In this case, you Dear Reader, no matter where you might live,  are my "folks back home."

Many visitors take a scenic ride on a Washington State Ferry,  and for me it's a great place to look for pictures. On one recent trip I photographed an interesting man and his traveling companion (image above) on the deck of the boat, a portion of the Seattle skyline a convenient backdrop to the picture.

Tourists also flock to the Pike Market to watch the fishmongers throwing fish, and yesterday I did that too.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but it is one of my guilty pleasures, this being a Geeky Tourist. 
I'm pretty sure I will do it again soon.

A Full Day

I'm pretty sure that Saturday, in terms of responsible and sustainable consumerism, I used up more than my fair share of cosmically-allotted digital pixels.  My day began with a ferry ride to Seattle, where I witnessed the foggy sunrise you see above.  That scene duly recorded for my own, ongoing photographic diary, I traveled on to three events I had promised I would shoot for my friends in the Seattle Tibetan community.

I thought that today I would post a bit of a travelogue -- the moments that presented themselves as I went from one event to another, camera in hand.

My first stop (post sunrise) was at the Tibetan Buddhist monastery,  where about a half dozen folks spent the morning cleaning both the inside and outside of the gompa.

My second volunteer shoot of the day took me to a neighborhood near the University of Washington, where a Tibetan lama friend of mine was giving a meditation class. His students were mostly Westerners.

In the evening I was back at the monastery, where the Tibetan community gathered to recite prayers at the request of a gentleman whose mother died recently in Nepal.