Sacred Masks and Voodoo Festival

with FROST PHOTO TOURS

Benin, West-Africa. Not your average tourist destination, that’s exactly what I like ! It is hot, it is humid, I have never sweated so much in my life, but it is sensational, so colorful, friendly and laid back easy, this country is very special and so totally cool. To be honest, before I traveled, I  had to look it up on the map, West Africa is big and has many countries….Now I know where it is, and will never forget !

Didn’t know much about Voodoo either, but we soon learned that Voodoo is a religion, not some scary cult. It is a peaceful way of life aligned with the natural elements. They have divinities like Christianity has angels and a God they call the Fa, and when they celebrate it is like the carnival in Brazil or Venice, with splendid dresses, tons of spectators and lots of music and ecstatic dancing.

I jumped at the chance and joined this cultural photo tour with Kirsten Frost. I am picked up at the airport by our driver Moise, (pronounce Moh-iz) in full body, extremely colorful dress. Just that made me smile, and I had really good hopes that this trip would become awesome, which it definitely did.

Welcome to Benin

In case you didn’t know where it is

DAY 1: GANVIÉ, GRAFFITI & THE AMAZONE

A portrait masterclass with Pawel Lipski

I’ve always wanted to go to India. All these beautiful people with dark almond eyes and thick, dark, black hair, the colorful sari’s and intricate decorations on palaces, temples and fortresses. This must be heaven for a people photographer, which my husband isn’t, so I go alone, I just have to go ! 

The most beautiful people to photograph

DAY 1

After an 8 hrs flight I land in Delhi at 1 am or so. Now find the hotel’s driver between about 60 guys waving signs with names. After quite a while I find him in the far left corner, great, let’s go ! There is so much traffic even in the middle of the night, and all are hooting and driving like crazy, overtaking in spaces I didn’t believe there was space, and this guy is doing some funny shortcut, or am I on the way to some involuntary organ donor place ? No, all is good, we reach the SHANTI PALACE HOTEL, which isn’t really a palace but a hotel on a strip with lots of hotels and flashy signs, somewhat like the red light district, I don’t care, all I want is a bed.