Also see: Every year Darter conducts mentored photography tours to Hornbill Festival and North East India.
Hornbill Festival in Nagaland is a visual delight for photographers, with Naga warriors dressed in their colorful traditional attire, women adorning their best jewelry and elders who have seen the world change around them telling stories that are truly out of this world.
Passionate photographer Shankar Subramanian, traveled to Hornbill festival with Darter Photography to capture the essence of a way of life that may soon be lost forever.
Here are some of the images that Shankar captured during his visit to Hornbill Festival in Nagaland.
A Naga Warrior Portrait
Portraits of Nagas was something that I enjoyed shooting . Different tribes distinguished themselves in the way they dress and the various ornaments used . The Naga people love colour as is evident in the shawls designed and woven by women, and in the headgear that both sexes design. Clothing patterns are traditional to each tribe, and the cloth is woven by the women. They use beads with variety, profusion, and complexity in their jewelry, along with a wide range of materials, including glass, shell, stone, teeth or tusk, claws, horns, metal, bone, wood, seeds, hair, and fibre
Nagas Warriors seated around the Amphitheater
All the tribes are seated around the amphitheatre in the Heritage village and the Hornbill festival is one of the most photographer-friendly festivals . One can sit by the side of the tribes and click pictures.
Waiting for his turn to show his martial skills
The festival is one occasion when various Naga tribes get together
The life of the Naga tribes in not fully understood as they live in remote places inaccessible to the regular traveller . One has to trek through jungles to reach the Naga villages. Apart from cultural contacts with the neighboring Ahoms, the ruler of Assam from 1228, the Naga had little or no contact with the outside world, including that of greater India, until British colonization of the area in the nineteenth century.
The dance is about to begin
The Darter Hornbill Tour gave us an insight into the life of a Naga. Normally they are in their respective villages and don’t get too involved with the outside world.Originally Nagas were not known as tribes. The Naga tribes are linked with tribes in Assam and Myanmar. From 1816 invasion onwards Assam came under the rule of Myanmar. Naga tribes belonged to Indo-Mongoloid Family.
Each of the Naga Tribe is divided into as many as twenty clans. Some of the major Naga tribes are Angami, Chang, Konyak, Lotha, Phoms, Rengma, Sema, Pochury, and Zeliang.
Naga Morung
This was a shot that i was waiting for as the Nagas were busy working out their strategy around the fire. I was hoping something would happen and someone called out and the entire group looked back in unison The morung, or youth dormitory, used to be an essential part of Naga life. Apart from the family, a person’s time living in the morung was the most important part of education and acculturation. The morungs were grand buildings, constructed at the village entrance or in a spot to be effectively guarded. Beginning at puberty, young boys and girls were admitted to their respective gender dormitories. At the cultural village, each tribe is given a morung to rest in between acts where they engage in beating the log drum or just sip some rice beer
Naga Warriors during a vigorous dance
I was exploring to make some images that could capture the vigor and spirit of the Nagas in their dances and hence chose to shoot with a slow shutter . Folk songs and dances are essential ingredients of the traditional Naga culture. The oral tradition is kept alive through the media of folk tales and songs. Naga folk songs are both romantic and historical, with songs narrating entire stories of famous ancestors and incidents. Seasonal songs describe activities done in a particular agricultural cycle.
Naga Women Singing
It was very cold in Nagaland in December during the festival. The women had gathered around the morung to sing some traditional songs while keeping themselves warm around the fire. You can see them here with their traditional shawls
An elderly Naga priest
Portrait of an elderly Naga Woman
Naga jewelry is an important part of identity, with the entire tribe wearing similar bead jewelry
About the photographer
Shankar Subramanian
Shankar is a passionate photographer who has several international awards to his credit . He has won the awards from the prestigious International Photography Awards , International Color awards and Black and White Spider awards. His photographs from Rajasthan, Mathura , Allahabad, feature in these awards .
He has been pursuing photography for the last 15 years and travelled extensively in India and abroad. He has mentored many photographers though his photography group- Thank God It’s Saturday which was set up mainly to provide a platform for new and upcoming photographers . He is passionate about Travel photography and portraiture and loves to create stories about the places he goes to.
He has worked on some international assignments documenting minority women self-help groups as well as contemporary wedding photography .
Also see: Every year Darter conducts mentored photography tours to Hornbill Festival and North East India.