Sadhus partaking in a procession at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, India. The Kumbh Mela is the largest Hindu pilgrimage on earth, attracting millions of devotees. The festival rotates between four holy riverbank locations over a twelve year period.

WPEP #115 Holy Men

The Decagon is the infinitely evolving, always unique, and eternally open membership token of the Decaverse. Designed by Kjetil Golid.

Decagon #3257

A limited edition of 12 different images from the Bikes of Burden book, in an edition of 21 NFTs each, to celebrate the one year anniversary of the original Bikes of Burden 1/1 collection drop on July 30, 2021.

The 12 images in this collection are only available as editions and there will be no further editions of Bikes of Burden NFTs in the future.

BOBAE#12 - Toilet Paper

Schoolchildren in a classroom in the far North of Vietnam.  
I tried to be the least intimidating version of myself and lowered my eye level to that of the kids. It had only a limited effect.

WPEP #116 First Row

Tibetan Khampa horsemen attending a horse festival at Shamalong in Sichuan Province, China. 
A scene reminiscent of a classic Hollywood Western. 

My Genesis Piece on Foundation, it embodies qualities of life I hold dear: A nomadic ability to move around freely, a passionate love for adventure and the unknown and a calm mind in threatening and adverse conditions.

The first collector can get a special A/P (Artist Proof) Ltd Edition 20"X30" Fine Art Print. Contact me on twitter.

Cowboys of the East 

The Writing is on the Wall. La Bodeguita del Medio, Havana. Cuba.

Veintiocho, Siempre! #28

MOKSHA (Liberation)

On a walk through a forest in remote northern Japan I encountered the remains of a bird.

Instead of recoiling in horror I marvelled at the transcendent beauty of the scene spread out on the forest floor before me.

So perfectly positioned, without even the slightest trace of violence, it seemed as if the bird, after a lifetime of weathering ferocious storms one day and soaring to great heights on the prevailing winds the next, had, one faithful morning, decided it was time to move on.

Completely at peace with the transitory nature of life she folded her wings for the last time, lay down on a bed of freshly fallen leaves, and let her spirit rise to heights unknown into realms unknowable.

Fully aware that this scene, too, would vanish without a trace I stood there silently, before, in a vain attempt to capture the ineffable, I took a photograph.

Alan Watts, in one of his lectures, mentions how Ananda Coomaraswamy used to say: “I pray that death will not come and find me still unannihilated.” In other words, when the ego is vanished there’s no need to hold on because there’s nothing to hold on to. Death becomes a mere transition, changing trains on the opposite platform, destination unknown and unknowable.

The freedom this profound awareness engenders is the MOKSHA that can’t be searched for, only realized.


Teuri Island, Hokkaido, Japan, September 2024

ABOUT IMPERMANENCE

My first ever collection on Transient Labs. 
It seems only fitting that I named it IMPERMANENCE.

Every now and then I will add a photograph to the collection. Not just any image but photographs of scenes encountered revealing truths obscured. Such can be the power of an image.

I did not set out to look for these photographs, instead the images found me and I became a witness and chronicler, my favorite role on this stage and in this play we all find ourselves in. 

Hans Kemp

MOKSHA

Chongqing, China. A man smokes a cigarette just outside the translucent plastic curtains of a restaurant.

I was hoping for someone to pierce the curtain. Perhaps a customer exiting and creating a depth in the image by juxtaposing the clarity of outside with the opaqueness inside. I couldn’t have asked for a better scene than this man, positioned in between the two worlds, having a smoke.

About AROUND THE CORNER

A whole new world lies around every corner. 

The street photographer realizes that what we are conditioned to accept as normal and mundane is never that. In the photographer’s eye, mere looking is transcended into seeing. All it really takes is an inner attitude fueled by curiosity and nourished by respect. 

AROUND THE CORNER is an open-ended collection of street photography 1/1 NFTs. Standalone images taken in a multitude of locations, far or near, exotic or ordinary, but always presenting a mirror, encouraging the viewer to turn around and observe their own environment, to marvel at the stage we're on and the play we find ourselves part of.

Cigarette Break - TURN 1

BOBAE#6 - Mushrooms

**The Bikes of Burden Anniversary Editions.**  
 A collection of 12 images from the cult classic Bikes of Burden book, minted in editions of 21 each, to celebrate the one year NFT anniversary of the original Bikes of Burden 1/1 collection, first listed on July 30, 2021.  
These 12 images were not featured in the original collection and will only be available as editions of 21.  

Bikes of Burden Anniversary Editions

Tibetan Buddhist monks dressed in ritual costume circling around the temple grounds during a ceremony in Leh, Ladakh, India.  
Winter in Ladakh is bitterly cold but it's a great time to witness some of the traditional festivals and ceremonies without the tourist crowds. The grey and bleak landscape offers a perfect background for the mysterious and colorful costumes.

WPEP #075 Ritual Walk

I first arrived in Asia in 1986 on a one-way ticket, a little money in my pocket and a desire for adventure to spur me on. 35 years later, I’m still here.

Fuelled by a healthy dose of curiosity I traversed the continent for decades, documenting my encounters on film and memory cards, leaving behind a record of printed material: magazine articles, postcards, calendars and books.

The collection I present here draws from all those stories I reported and roads I traveled and centers around four words that, for me, collectively describe the essence of life in Asia. Work, Play, Eat & Pray.

These four verbs, in their glorious and abundant variety, saturate all aspects of life in Asia; the necessary, the joyful, the nourishing and the solemn. Time and again they draw me back to the road and the desire to document life with all its vicissitudes, and by doing so hopefully bring me and the viewers closer to the understanding of what it is to be human. 

Live a Life of Wonder!

Hans Kemp.


WORK PLAY EAT & PRAY - An Ode to Asia.

A family from the village of Swagup waiting to perform during the Ambunti Crocodile Festival, a yearly sing-sing celebration in the village of Ambunti, on the banks of the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea’s longest waterway. A celebration of the diverse world we live in.

The first collector will get a special A/P (Artist Proof) Ltd Edition 20"X30" Fine Art Print. Contact me on twitter.

Location: Ambunti, Sepik, Papua New Guinea.
 
Year: 2018.

Medium: Digital Photograph. 

Size: 5616 X 3744px.


My Pet Bites

Foundation

Yuliesqui and Marian. Couple in Baracoa, Cuba.

Veintiocho, Siempre! #26

Entirely shot on the Leica Q2 with fixed 28mm lens over a period of 28 days this collection of 28 images of Cuba, split in 14 portraits of people encountered and 14 street scenes, is an exploration of what photography has meant for me in my 35 years of shooting documentary.

It has always been about telling stories. But not my stories. Photography for me is the conduit through which my subjects’ stories can find an audience. The story of humanity is so much larger than me, and waiting to be told.

After the bygone years I worried my passion for documentary had become atrophied. With the world hiding behind pieces of cloth I simply could not engage, for human expression and interaction, the pillars of my photography work, could not thrive in faceless anonymity.

Documentary Photography is here to stay as long as we continue to appreciate the magnificence of our unique existence on this planet, as creators, as collectors but above all as human beings.

Live a Life of Wonder!

Hans Kemp



VEINTIOCHO, SIEMPRE!

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Chongqing, China. A man tends to his potted plants outside the window of an old-style apartment complex.

Face to face with a wall of apartments I was hoping for a sign of life. Much to my delight it occurred where I could frame the image straight on with the man off-centre.

About AROUND THE CORNER

A whole new world lies around every corner. 

The street photographer realizes that what we are conditioned to accept as normal and mundane is never that. In the photographer’s eye, mere looking is transcended into seeing. All it really takes is an inner attitude fueled by curiosity and nourished by respect. 

AROUND THE CORNER is an open-ended collection of street photography 1/1 NFTs. Standalone images taken in a multitude of locations, far or near, exotic or ordinary, but always presenting a mirror, encouraging the viewer to turn around and observe their own environment, to marvel at the stage we’re on and the play we find ourselves part of.

lightchronicler

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