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Rich-Joseph Facun: Darshana Ganga

Rich-Joseph Facun is a documentary, lifestyle, travel, commercial, editorial and portrait photographer based in the United Arab Emirates.

He recently published a personal project titled Darshana Ganga which documents the daily life, culture and heritage along the Ganges River over a number of trips to India. The latest trip saw him in Haridwar, an important pilgrimage city, Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world and Devprayag, where two rivers converge to form the Ganga.

Darshana is a Sanskrit term signifying "visions of the divine", and is the central act of Hindu worship, and Rich built his photo essay around the reverence that all Hindus have to the Ganges. He also interspersed it with some excellent photographs of street life scenes in Varanasi...have a look of the one titled Shiva Music House.

It's been quite a while I haven't been to Devaprayag. It's there that the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi forms the Ganges, and where the river is as translucent as a California swimming pool. I know it's hard to believe that when one encounters the Ganges' toxic waters in Varanasi, but it is emerald green in Devaprayag and beyond.