Portfolio and Blog | Jeff Henig Photography

Photoshelter Gallery: More images from the Vegetarian Festival Phuket Thailand

Jeff Henig — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:30:34 +0000

I can never get enough of this event. Here’s another festival that I’ve been top multiple times and always come away leaving with mixed emotions. What did I actually see? Spirits entering a person’s body, an exorcism, a spiritual cleansing? Was it the mind over coming pain? Or was this a farce, a spectacular event put on just for local and foreigners. I imagine it’s a little bit of all the above. Thousands come to Phuket, Thailand’s premier island, to witness the unthinkable.

The Thai-Chinese in Phuket have long passed on the vegetarian festival to purify mind and soul by refraining from meat consumption and meditating. Symbolising the presence of the deities throughout the festival are 9 lanterns lit up and placed aloft on Ko Teng poles. On the 6th day of the festival, there are religious processions and incredible displays of face-and-body piercing. On the last day, a “Koi Han” ceremony to exorcize ill fortune and a farewell ceremony for the deities at night.

The Vegetarian Festival sets the bar high for all other wild, wacky and bizarre festivals in the world.

I’ve uploaded these images and more into my Phuket Vegetarian Photoshelter Gallery:

Phuket Vegetarian – Images by Jeff Henig

New Photoshelter Gallery: Sanja Matsuri Festival Tokyo Japan

Jeff Henig — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:16:25 +0000

When asked what is the most popular festival celebrated in Japan is, one that comes to mind is the Asakusa Shrine is Sanja Matsuri. As an annual celebration held on the third weekend of May, Sanja Matsuri festival is held to honor the three men that established Sensoji – Hinokuma Hamanari, Hinokuma Takenari and Hajino Nakatomo. Large scale parades, traditional music, dances, Geisha shows and taiko performances are among the activities lined up over three days. I’ve been to the festival 3 times while in Japan. It never fails. Despite it’s originally a religious festival, Sanja Matsuri is celebrated in a loose manner, so the streets are busy with giant crowds and perpetual loud music.

Everyone is having good time and challenges between the neighborhoods, each with it’s own Matsuri, are really exciting to watch. It’s like a dance, a perpetual wave of motion, up and down, side to side. The Matsuri’s are carried around each neighborhood for 3 days. On the final day the Matsuri’s are carried to the Asakusa Shrine at night for a religious spell bounding finale. I leave the shrine close to midnight exhausted.

Some Matsuris weigh several tons. I have a small one at home in a glass case. Matsuri are the fabric of Japan festivals.

A rare vantage point to capture the procession entering the shrine.

Everyone wants to carry or touch the Matsuri.

More images can be found at my Photoshelter Gallery:

Shinto Belief: Sanja Matsuri Festaval of Asakusa – Images by Jeff Henig

New Photoshelter Gallery:Tenjin Matsuri Festival Osaka Japan

Jeff Henig — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:16:30 +0000

The Tenjin Festival is a spectacular boat festival held at the Osaka Tenman-guu Shrine in Osaka. Millions attend this epic event, known as one of the three great festivals of Japan, and also as the greatest boat festival in the world. It reflects Osaka’s mercantile, canal-centric history as Japan’s “city of water.” The Tenjin Matsuri’s history reaches back 1,000 years, and is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane, who is enshrined and worshipped as the Tenman Tenjin, the god of learning and the arts. Needless to say, it is an important time for Osakans, and is a huge part of Osakan culture.

Some 3000 people dressed in gorgeous traditional imperial-court style of the 8th-12th Centuries march in a parade on the festival day of 25 July. Led by a portable shrine (mikoshi) housing the enshrined Sugawara no Michizane, the land procession (rikutogyo) heads towards the Nakanoshima area. At Tenjimbashi Bridge, the participants board some 100 boats for the boat procession (funatogyo), the climax of the festival. At dusk, the boats with countless torches and lanterns proceed from the Hokonagashi Bridge on the Dojimagawa River to Enokoshima, creating a spectacular pageant that passes in front of spectators and reflects beautifully on the water. The festival ends in the evening with a grand display of over 1000 magnificent fireworks (hanabi), marking a festival of fire and water. Other events include traditional Japanese performing arts such as kagura music, bunraku and Noh theatrical performances.

More images can be found at my Photoshelter Gallery:

Surin Elephant Round Up Thailand

Jeff Henig — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 03:07:14 +0000

The Surin Elephant Round-up usually takes place on the third weekend of November in Surin province, Isan, Thailand.

Thai’s descend on this place by every conceivable means of transport – buffalo, rickshaw, pedicar, lorry, van, car, motor cycle , some even by elephant, – there is seemingly no limit to the mode of transport used. People come from the far ends of the Kingdom even foreigners pour in bus and train loads from the likes of Bangkok and Chiang Mai. They all come to see what Asia’s largest animal – the lovable elephant – can do and they rarely go away disappointed.

The Thai people hold the giant, grey elephant in great esteem, especially the festival participants many of where are from the village of Tai Klong, which is around 40km north of Surin. The Asian elephant is slightly larger than the African one but the Thais even believe the shape of their country resembles the head of the elephant.

Images can be found on my Photoshelter Gallery:

Surin Elephant Roundup Thailand – Images by Jeff Henig

Giving Alms to Monks in Luang Prabang, Laos

Jeff Henig — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:16:11 +0000

Luang Prabang is a small town near the confluence of the Mekong River and its tributary the Nam Khane. The Lan Xang kingdom unified the country of Laos in the 14th century and Luang Prabang became its capital. The town since then has been known as a Mecca for Theravada Buddhism, also known as Hinayama Buddhism. The influence of this early form of Buddhism resulted in 80 monasteries in the town. Luang Prabang gets very little visitors compared to it’s neighbor Thailand, but one attraction that stands out and hasn’t changed over a century is the morning Alms for the local Buddhist monks. You have to get up very early to participate since the monks are up at 5 am. People in town come out to the street and wait for the monks. Luang Prabang has approximately 16,000 people and around 1200 monks, almost 10% of the total population. The alms processions of Buddhist monks take place every day. The townspeople are devout Buddhists; they place sticky rice into the alms bowls.

My images below can also be found on my Photoshelter site and in my Gallery section.

Buddhist Monks in Laos Giving Alms – Images by Jeff Henig

Yurakucho Street Night Scene

Jeff Henig — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:54:18 +0000

During the Yurakucho is a business center brimming with suited salarymen and quite a few foreign businesses. At night the traditional old restaurants and street vendors come out and offer yakitori, grilled chicken, ramen (noodles) and anything else that goes well with beer and sake. A city where history and future all comes together in one street is how I describe Yurakucho.

In the Street…Omotesando, Tokyo

Jeff Henig — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:49:36 +0000

Omotesando is to Tokyo as 57th street is to New York. Those that have been to NYC know what I mean. Wide streets, designer stores, models and plenty of fashion conscious Tokyoites shop Japan’s best street for high end fashion. The Omotesando area is good to walk around. The expensive brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada all have stores there. So do many international brands like The Body Shop and Zara. There are many so-trendy-that-it-hurts coffee shops and cafes dotted along the street. As a result, it’s sometimes known as “Tokyo’s Champs-Élysées”. There is affordable shopping on Omotesando, but you’d be better off darting down the side streets and lanes looking for little boutiques and shops where the locals go. The main Omotesando drag (particularly Omotesando Hills) is for those with plenty of cash to throw around.

Every week there are new photos categorised by the fashion hotspots and stores around Tokyo of Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza, Omotesando and Daikanyama.

Tokyo Tower

Jeff Henig — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:32:48 +0000

Tokyo Tower continues to dominate the Tokyo skyline as the world’s tallest self-supporting steel tower, easily seen from the Imperial Palace and Roppongi. It boasts an antenna that broadcasts all that vital anime that Japanese watch on TV stations in Tokyo like NHK, TBS and Fuji TV. I like this image especially because of the way the foliage frames the tower.

Nikko Toshogu Shrine Grand Festival- New Photoshelter Gallery

Jeff Henig — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:38:25 +0000

Photographs from my trip to Nikko Japan. A procession of 100 samurai warriers held at the world heritage site in Nikko City.

Check out my Photoshelter Nikko Toshogu Shrine Grand Festival gallery for all the shots.

Nikko Toshogu Shrine Grand Festival Japan – Images by Jeff Henig

Golden Gai a Dive Bar Paradise in Tokyo

Jeff Henig — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:11:27 +0000

The last time I was in Shinjiku I stumbled upon a row of bars each with a unique colorful character. ”Golden Gai” (Golden district) is an area in Shinjuku adjacent to Hanazono Shrine and renowned with its more than 200 small bars as the place where writers, poets, manga artists and directors, actors and staff of film and theater get together, drink and talk all night. Each establishment in Golden Gai tends to have a different theme and caters to a different crowed of the artistic type. The small bars tend to be rather friendly places with a real international feeling attracting people from all over the world and Tokyo to discuss their latest projects.

The origin of Golden Gai was a black market in front of the east entrance of Shinjuku railway station, which opened soon after the end of the WWII on August 15, 1945. The black market gradually turned into a district of outdoor bar stalls, but they were ordered to close by the Occupying Forces in 1949. The stalls then moved to the present Golden Gai area, which was then an empty lot overgrown with weeds and crossed by a street-car line. “Shiki-no-michi” (Four seasons alley), the walkway adjacent to Golden Gai, is the trace of railway.

The bars don’t open their doors till 10pm but stay open till the early am hours. During the day Golden Gai is very photogenic. In fact the area is down right colorful. Looking at these images it’s hard to imagine how raunchy and ramshackle the place is. Golden Gai is a dive bar paradise and is very unique.