Photo Roulette Round #99 Spiritual Beauty

Thanks to Josie from Housesitting Travel for picking me as the winner of round 98 of Photo Travel Roulette. The theme was ‘Whats your angle’, and the winning picture was from foot level of one the many gulls that circle the shores of Essaouira, Morocco during one of the city’s nightly bright yellow sunsets.

So it’s now my duty to start off the next round of Travel Photo Roulette and choose a theme. With Easter just behind us and a number of other religious festivals in the coming months, I thought it would be fun to see everyone’s best shots of religious practices. Something beautiful that you have come across on your travels from any religion in the world. So Round 99’s theme is ‘Spiritual Beauty’.

Show me your best shot of a religious festival, a Church, Temple, Mosque, or any other religious building. Or… if you aren’t that in touch with your spiritual side show me a photo of a place so beautiful that it made you question your existence or made the world feel huge.

The contest will be open for entries until Monday April 13th 8am EST. The winner will be announced shortly after.

How to Enter Travel Photo Roulette #99

Leave a comment below with a link to your picture (either from your WordPress content upload or a Flickr account or similar) along with a description of what the picture is about and what makes it Spiritual Beautiful! Winners will be chosen based on their ability to show me the beauty of a spiritual event from your travels with a single photo. The Winner will be announced shortly after the contest closes on April 13th.

Examples of Spiritual Beauty:

Religious Festival: Thaipusam Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Beautiful Religious Building: Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore 

Awe inspiring View: South Island, New Zealand

The Rules:

Travel Photo Roulette Contest Overview

The contest rotates through travel/photography blogs, so the winner of the previous round of Travel Photo Roulette hosts the subsequent round on their own blog. The new host then chooses the next theme (a generic keyword or phrase) and bloggers submit their interpretations of the theme over the course of the week of the contest.

At the end of the week, the hosting blogger chooses their favorite photo from the submissions and displays it as the week’s winning entry. They then include direction to the new host for the next round. Readers can attempt to sway the author into picking a certain photo via comments, but the author can ignore comments as they see fit. The game is repeated with the winner hosting the following week’s game and choosing a phrase for new photo submissions.

Feel free to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Trover and StumbleUpon so more people can join the contest – make sure to use the hashtag #PhotoRoulette

Travel Photo Roulette Guidelines

• One submission per blog, so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry.
• Post processing is permitted in this round.
• Abstract submissions welcomed as long as it fits within the interpretation of the chosen phrase. Remember, the hosting blogger chooses the winner, so if they cannot understand the submission, you might not win!
• Please try and keep your images medium-sized and web-optimized.
• If you win, keep these in mind when choosing a new theme: Keep phrases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “Eiffel Tower” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “monuments.” For variety, it is okay to say focused things such as “monuments at night” which most of us have pictures of. Phrases can be generic ‘signs’, or abstract ‘religion’
• Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque,” or “Overlooking Creation.” Use something that is able to be interpreted by all.
• After 1 year, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
• No obscene pictures or phrases allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography can be accepted, but please keep it within reason.
• Keep the ideas and photos fresh!
• Pictures from your entire portfolio are fair to submit. You do not have to take the photo within the week of the contest period to submit it.
• Most importantly, all photographs must be your own.
• One last rule, since this is a competition for travel and photography bloggers, you must have a travel/photography blog to enter. Sorry!

And here is the list of the previous 98 contests. What an amazing bunch of pics there!

1. Nov 2010 Living the Dream Animals
2. Nov 2010 Skinny Backpacker Road Signs
3. Nov 2010 Dream a Little Dream Street Art
4. Dec 2010 Flashpacker HQ Festival
5. Dec 2010 Over Yonderlust Landmarks
6. Dec 2010 Don’t Ever Look Back Beaches
7. Jan 2011 ThePlanetD Portraits
8. Jan 2011 Travel with a Mate Motion
9. Jan 2011 Johnny Vagabond Water
10. Feb 2011 Ken Kaminesky Urban
11. Feb 2011 Travels of Adam Friday Night
12. Mar 2011 Itchy Feet Chronicles The Journey
13. Mar 2011 Brendan’s Adventures  Changing Seasons
14. Apr 2011 Shutterfeet Storytelling
15. Apr 2011 10 Times One Piousness
16. Apr 2011 Beached Eskimo Learning
17. May 2011 Travel Junkies Architecture
18. Jun 2011 Destination World Transportation
19. Jun 2011 Living the Dream Paradise
20. Jun 2011 Vagabond Quest Clothes
21. Jul 2011 The Unframed World Symmetry
22. Jul 2011 Beached Eskimo Home
23. Jul 2011 BackPackerBanter Inspiration
24. Aug 2011 WanderingTrader Darkness
25. Aug 2011 Finding the Universe Tranquillity
26. Sep 2011 Fearful Adventurer Food
27. Sep 2011 Adventures of a GoodMan City
28. Oct 2011 Globe-Trekking.com Reflection
29. Oct 2011 Scene With A Hart Framing
30. Nov 2011 Vagabond Quest Silhouettes
31. Nov 2011 Hecktic Travels Music
32. Dec 2011 Globetrotter Girls Love
33. Dec 2011 Man on the lam Humor
34. Jan 2012 My Walkabout Winter
35. Jan 2012 The Art of Slow Travel Blue
36. Feb 2012 Ten times One Depth of the Field
37. Not hosted anymore
38. Mar 2012 Nomadbiba Sunshine
39. Mar 2012 Travel With Kat Local Character
40. Apr 2012 The Travel Bunny Street Scene
41. Apr 2012 Adventure Crow Spirit of the Country
42. May 2012 Food Travel Bliss Evening
43. May 2012 Matt Gibson Adventure
44. May 2012 Flashpacker HQ Once In A Lifetime
45. Jul 2012 Skinny Backpacker Surreal
46. Aug 2012 2away Smile
47. Aug 2012 Bridges and Balloons Excellent Splendour of the Universe
48. Sep 2012 The GypsyNester What the ?!
49. Oct 2012 Runaway Juno Sweet
50. Nov 2012 GQ Trippin Play
51. Nov 2012 Life’s Little Victories Friendship
52. Dec 2012 Breakaway Backpacker Face
53. Jan 2013 Fly, Icarus, Fly Serendipity
54. Feb 2013 Travel Transmissions Lost in Thought
55. Feb 2013 Wanderlusters The Natural World
56. Mar 2013 Travel Junkies Patterns
57. Apr 2013 Living the Dream Your First Time
58. May 2013 Getting Stamped The Sun Goes Down
59. Jun 2013 The GypsyNester Cheesy Tourist Diversions
60. Jun 2013 Boomeresque Revolution
61. Jul 2013 Breakaway Backpacker Colorful
62. Aug 2013 Around This World Mountains
63. Aug 2013 Passports and Pamplemousse Hands at Work
64. Sep 2013 TurtlesTravel Dance
65. Sep 2013 Keep calm and travel The Sea
66. Sep 2013 Travel Photo Discovery The Market
67. Oct 2013 Am I Nearly There Yet? Travel Fails
68. Oct 2013 The GypsyNester Weird Regional Foods
69. Nov 2013 Sophie’s World Trees
70. Nov 2013 SHOuTography Party
71. Dec 2013 Adventures of a Goodman Ruin
72. Dec 2013 Have Blog Will Travel Light
73. Jan 2014 This World Rocks Crowds
74. Jan 2014 Travel Past 50 Competition
75. Feb 2014 The Working Traveller Working
76. Mar 2014 Travels with Carole Umbrellas
77. Apr 2014 Independent Travel Help Quirky
78. Apr 2014 Quit Job Travel World Statues
79. May 2014 Nomad is Beautiful People Sleeping
80. May 2014 Backpack Me Mouthwatering
81. Jun 2014 20 Years Hence The Face of A Nation
82. Jul 2014 Two for the Road Into the Wild
83. Jul 2014 TurtlesTravel Summer!
84. Aug 2014 Adventures Around Asia Candid
85. Aug 2014 Travel with Kevin and Ruth Hiking
86. Sept 2014 Till The Money Runs Out Transport
87. Sept 2014 The Crowded Planet Wild World
88. Sept 2014 ZigZag On Earth The 4 Element
89. Oct 2014 Travel Addicts Heritage
90. Oct 2014 Living the Dream Your Grand Adventure
91. Oct 2014 Getting Stamped Inspire
92. Nov 2014 Flashpacker HQ Viewpoint
93. Jan 2015 Adventures of a GoodMan WOW!
94. Jan 2015  ZigZag On Earth Roads and Tracks
95. Feb 2015 Where’s The Gos? Street Art
96. Mar 2015 Ice Cream and Perma Frost Frozen
97. Mar 2015 Journey Jottings Detail
98.  April 2015 House Sitting Travel  What’s your Angle?
99. April 2015 JetWayz Spiritual Beauty

Entries:

#1 Jeremy Living the Dream RTW

“One of my favorite photos comes from the Holy Ganges of India. Locals and travelers alike come to this river for the spiritual benefits, but for rowers who take those on pilgrimage over to the opposing river banks, it is just business as usual.”

Entry #2  Josie at Housesitting Travel

“An ancient carved stone from the ruins in Troy, Turkey. Whenever I’m in the presence of long-ago craftsmanship and art, I feel the spirits of the hands that created it. I love to place my hand on the stones and know other ancestral hands touched the same spot.”

Entry #3 Juergen at Dare2Go

“My submission for this round is possibly overwhelming the senses… Everywhere you look you find something new to discover in the small “Church of Santa María Tonantzintla”, found in the town of Cholula, outside Puebla in Mexico. It is an indigenous church, all decorated by indigenous artists. Construction started in the 17th century and was finally finished in the 20th century. Every surface in this small church is covered with colourful or gilded stucco work, often depicting scenes from the native Nahuatl beliefs of the Aztec. Even its name “Tonantzintla” is derived from an old Aztec goddess.
[I don’t know if it falls under ‘beauty’ to the western eye, but it is certainly very unique and surprising.]”

Entry #4 Noel at Travel Photo Discovery  

“I submitting a post and photographs of a trip I took to Sri Lanka recently (7th photograph from the top of the post) with the three monks climbing Siguriya in the Central Hills of Sri Lanka is the spiritual Buddhist center of the island and stunning in landscape and people. Here is the post and image that you can use for the picture.”

Entry #5 Bob at Piran Cafe

“Taken last weekend during the annual Good Friday Procession in Quito, Ecuador, one of the largest such Roman Catholic events in Latin America. It’s of a man with an artificial leg carrying a large cross during the procession.”

Entry #6 Lance at Travel Addicts

“In the late 1990s, I went to live in Nepal for a year. I arrived shortly after the Maoist insurgency erupted into a full scale civil war. My days were spent studying, my afternoons spent dodging military checkpoints and breaking curfew. On the weekends, I would visit the Boudhanath Stupa for prayers and meditation. Looking back on that period, it was the most spiritual time in my life. Now, nearly 20 years later, I often reflect back on that time.”

 Entry #7 Carole from Travels With Carole

“You don’t always need to leave your own area in order to find an amazing spiritual spot. Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is just up the highway from me in Ukiah, California. It is one of the first Buddhist temples and monasteries built in the U.S., it operates on the grounds of a former state mental hospital. The temple (in the former gymnasium) has walls lined with perhaps 10,000 golden Buddha figurines in various sizes, and good-timing presents the opportunity to witness chanting.”

Entry #8 Brittany at The Trading Travelers

“My photo for “Spiritual Beauty” was taken at Prasat Bayon temple in the Angkor Archaelogical Park. It is one of my favorite photos and memories from our time at Angkor. We were enjoying a few peaceful moments away from the crowds as we were exploring the maze-like galleries when we happened upon a Monk who seemed to be doing the same. We shared just a brief moment together but it is one that we will remember the rest of our lives.”

Entry #9  Suzanne at The Travel Bunny

“Vietnamese people leave offerings and prayers for their deceased ancestors at little shrines which you’ll find in shops and restaurants or by the door of a shop. We found this one wedged into a gnarled tree and filled with chrysanthemums and incense sticks in Hoi An, Vietnam.”

Entry #10 Brandon at The Yoga Nomads

“Kids are full of wonder and born without judgement. Maybe we can learn something from them? We met these two cuties outside a small temple in Bagan, Myanmar. We played with them for a few hours and left excited about life.”

Entry #11 Linda at Journey Jottings

“After Minyma Kuniya defeated Wati Liru, her spirit combined with her nephew’s and together became Wanampi (water snake). Wanampi lives here today and has the power to control the source of this precious water” Traditional Owner – Anangu (prounounced: arn-ung-oo) people, Uluru, Central Australia

 Entry #12 Suzanne at Boomeresque

“My photo was taken at a Buddhist monastery in Luang Prabang, Laos. We came upon these student monks resting between classes and meditation sessions in the courtyard. In Laos, many men study Buddhism at a monastery for at least some period of their lives. We learned that poor families are more likely to deliver their young sons to the monks for training because it is the only way they can receive more than a rudimentary education. One of the students in the photo appears to be quite young. In Luang Prabang, one often sees monks and students in their distinctive garb in the streets and each morning they receive alms of rice from the townspeople.”