Charlotte Rush-Bailey: Sufis of Gujarat

Photo © Charlotte Rush-Bailey-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Charlotte Rush-Bailey-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Charlotte Rush-Bailey-All Rights Reserved

A second-time participant in my photo-expeditions (Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat, and in my just completed In Search of Sufis of Gujarat), Charlotte Rush-Bailey is a photographer who migrated to the world of photography from a corporate career that covered three decades of marketing and communications positions in a variety of global industries including energy, financial services, media, conservation, technology and professional services. This gave her opportunities to work with people all over the world, and to learn to appreciate cultural nuances and the influences of socio-political forces.

She's the third participant to send me samples of her work during the photo`expedition. The top photograph was made at a the dargah of Gayaban Shah Pir, a Sufi saint buried in Rajkot. It's of pilgrims/devotees at the shrine who, since they are women, cannot enter the actual tomb of the saint.

The middle photograph is of a mujjawir and a woman pilgrim at the dargah of the Sufi saint Hazrat Saydi Ali Mira Datar. The mujjawirs claim to be direct descendants of the saint, and therefore make it a business to bless the thousands of devotees who come to the shrine on a weekly bases.

The lower photograph is of a Jain pilgrim at the holiest Jain temple in Palitana. Charlotte knows of my preference for horizontals, but included this one amongst the rest of her submissions, expecting that I wouldn't choose it for the blog. I've proven her wrong. It's a lovely photograph.

Charlotte published two books ‘Soul Survivors', a tribute to the people of the Sahel and Kutch Classic, a collection of photographs of her first foray in the Gujarati Kutch area.