Frozen in time

BANGALORE: Tasveer gallery will present Photo’s for Rato, a photography exhibition by Nicholas Vreeland, from September 22 to October 12, in the city.Photos for Rato is a collection of twenty rare photographs by Vreeland taken over the 26 years he has been a Rato monk.They provide a glimpse into daily life in a monastery which only an insider could have experienced.Vreeland’s father was a diplomat. So young Nicholas, had lived in many parts of the world before he became the Dalai Lama’s photographer during His Holiness’s first trip to America in 1979.Vreeland was born in Switzerland and had lived in Germany, Morocco, France, Italy and America before coming to live in India.And if his surname sounds familiar, it’s because his grandmother was the influential fashion editor Diana Vreeland.In the late sixties and early seventies, during his summer holidays in New York City, he worked in the studios of two great photographers.“I was very fortunate to be able to work for Irving Penn when I was 15 years old,” says Vreeland.“Penn recommended that I work for Richard Avedon the next summer.I continued working for these two great photographers whenever I was able to”.In 1971 the Vreelands moved to Paris, and Nicholas spent the first two years of college “mainly enjoying the wonders of that beautiful city”.He continued assisting Penn and Avedon when they came to Paris, however he then returned to New York to study film at New York University.After completing his studies there he resumed his first love, still photography, and supported himself as a photographer.He came to India in February 1985, and became a monk on the first of March.Vreeland remained at Rato for 13 years before being awarded a Geshe degree (Doctorate of Divinity) in 1998.He now divides his time between Rato Dratsang in India and The Tibet Center in New York.