Hermitary - Gallery - Photos

About the photographs on this page

The Himilayas represent several cultures, each sharing the tenacity and strength of the mountain environs: northern India, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim. The hermits of modern times are represented by the invention of the camera and photography, but their visages are timeless. Alexandra David-Neel, woman explorer and chronicler of her adventures, may have been the first Western photogrpher in the Himilayas, with perhaps the first photograph of a Himilayan Buddhist hermit, whom she called a gomchen. Yogins (yogin is synonymous with hermit) captured by Crook and Low also reflect the timelessness of the personality and perseverant strength of the hermits in the several invaluable photos here. More recent is the work of Matthieu Ricard, himself a Buddhist monk, traveler, author, photographer, and observer of cultural expression. The Himilayas circle is here completed by Tenzin Palmo, the British-born Diane Perry, who spent 12 years a cave hermit, became a Buddhist nun, and is founder of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India.