Jasper Johal posts
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Angel
There are two schools of thought when it comes to photography, “discover” versus “create”.Some photographers thrive on capturing the world as they find it, “discovering” beautiful moments. Brassaï’s night time photos of Paris in the 1920s, and Henri Cartier-Bresson with his street photography and “decisive moment” are early proponents of this.But other artists treat photography almost like painting, “creating” an image that...
Finding Balance
Sweet, there is nothing left to sayBut this, that love is never lost,Keen winter stabs the breasts of MayWhose crimson roses burst his frost,Ships tempest-tossedWill find a harbour in some bay,And so we may.– from a poem by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Lioness in the grass
PHOTO: Cheyenne was not an advance yogi, or a highly trained dancer. But she is a published model.When she was visiting Los Angeles she emailed me. She loved my Body as Temple photographs and was curious to see if we might be able to create some interesting images with her.I picked her up from her Beverly Hills hotel and we played around for a couple of hours. Instead of trying to match others, I told her to just have fun moving. To be creative, ...
Ending
Evening arrives, glowing with colorShimmering clouds hover on the horizonConstantly moving, like jewels draped on a dancer’s bodyWhy lament the end of day?Why not celebrate instead the coming of night?Hiding within the sadness of every endinglies the tremulous anticipation of every beginningDarkest periodsyield the brightest lessons– Pardesi PyaraPHOTO: Julina packed a bag full of cool jewelry and scarves on one of her trips to LA. We had so ...
BALLERINA
Ballerinas are usually very slender and appear to be frail and soft. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ballerinas are some of the strongest athletes I have worked with. It takes incredible strength to float on the tips of one’s toes and make it look effortless!
Back Beauty
It seems the American culture has a tendency to obsess over large breasts or chiseled abs. But it is often a strong beautiful back that catches my eye.In yoga we realize how much of a body’s strength comes from the back. Best of all, most exercises and yoga poses that are designed to strengthen the back also inevitably work the entire core, including the stomach.PHOTO: An example of playing with window light.Normally shooting directly into a su...
Circus woman
There is a section on Santa Monica beach, in California, known as the "Green". It is a place where acro yogis, dancers and circus people gather together and perform every weekend.One day I was hanging out at the Green and chatting with a woman who happened to be sitting next to me as we watched the free show. I admired a particularly gifted performer. My companion beamed proudly and said that was her daughter.That is how I met Angelica Bo...
Dancing with myself
When in the morning’s misty hour,When the sun beams gently o’er each flower;When thou dost cease to smile benign,And think each heart responds with thine,When seeking rest among divine,Forget me not.– from a poem by Ann Plato, one of the earliest African American women to publish a collection of poems (1841)PHOTO: This image is from a shoot I did with a soulful and expressive yogi named Karina eight years ago, when I was living in Californi...
PINUP ART
PINUP ART:World War II was responsible for a lot of young US men going overseas to fight.Being away from wives and girl friends was not good for morale. Surprisingly the US army decided to unofficially encourage the dissemination of “pinup” art to boost morale. The term pinup was coined in the early 1940s because this art ended up being “pinned” onto the barrack walls, (and even painted onto airplane fuselages!).An artist named George Pet...
Beauty
If ever any beauty I did see,Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;If our two loves be one, or, thou and ILove so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.–– from a poem by John Donne (1572 – 1631)
Courage
Above the ponds, beyond the valleys,The woods, the mountains, the clouds, the seas,Farther than the sun, the distant breeze,The spheres that wilt to infinityThe one whose thoughts are like skylarks taken wingAcross the heavens mornings in full flightWho hovers over life, understanding without effortThe language of flowers and mute things.– from a poem by Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)PHOTO: My dear friend Crystal is such a ray of sunshine! Ev...
Titibhasana variation
Maria’s strength as an Ashtanga yogi is legendary. We have done dozens of advertising shoots together but the photos I love the most are the art images we created, free of commercial constraints. This photograph was published in one of my Body as Temple art calendars.Some of Maria’s family are pretty conservative, and they gave her grief for shooting nudes. When she was younger she let that affect her. But now that she is older, she quite fra...
Balance inside and out
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” ––BuddhaPHOTO: Caroline showing her beautiful balance in Padangusthasana pose. (This yoga pose is from the Bikram series. Ashtanga yogis have a different pose by that name.)
Flow
“Pull the thorns from your heart. Then you will see the rose gardens within you.” — Rumi, Ghazal
Dancing upside down
From the wreck of the past, which hath perish’d,Thus much I at least may recall,It hath taught me that what I most cherish’dDeserved to be dearest of all:In the desert a fountain is springing,In the wide waste there still is a tree,And a bird in the solitude singing,Which speaks to my spirit of thee.–– Lord Byron (1788–1824)
Phenomenal woman
It’s in the arch of my back,The sun of my smile,The ride of my breasts,The grace of my style.I’m a womanPhenomenally.Phenomenal woman,That’s me.– Maya Angelou
Solitude
THOUGH the day of my destiny’s over,And the star of my fate hath declined,Thy soft heart refused to discoverThe faults which so many could find.Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted,It shrunk not to share it with me,And the love which my spirit hath paintedIt never hath found but in thee.– Lord Byron (1788–1824)
Tiger pose
The forest, letting me walk amongst its nakedlimbs, had me on my knees again in silenceshouting – yes, yes my holy friend, let yoursplendour devour me.–– Hafez, translated by Daniel Ladinsky⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀PHOTO: A timeless photo of Shawn from almost a decade ago. Yogini, writer, and a poet herself, Shawn visited my studio when I was living in Venice Beach, California.IG: @sparell1008
Veil dance
When You and I behind the Veil are past,Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,Which of our Coming and Departure heedsAs the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.–– from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward FitzGerald (1859)
Memories
Ah dream too bright to last!Ah starry Hope! that didst ariseBut to be overcast!And all my days are trancesAnd all my nightly dreamsAre where thy grey eye glancesAnd where thy footstep gleams --In what ethereal dancesBy what eternal streams.–– Edgar Allan Poe (1809 — 1849)
Two dancers
Alexis and Jacqui dancing together. One of the early shoots when I first built the Venice studio. The second photo shows what it’s really like doing a shoot like this.
Timeless
Sancta Maria! turn thine eyesUpon the sinner's sacrificeOf fervent prayer and humble love,From thy holy throne above.At morn, at noon, at twilight dimMaria! thou hast heard my hymn.In joy and wo, in good and illMother of God! be with us still.When my hours flew gently by,And no storms were in the sky,My soul, lest it should truant be —Thy love did guide to thine and thee.Now, when clouds of Fate o'ercastAll my Present, and my Past,Let m...
Moving meditation
Allow ourselfto sink into this momentFill our lungs with this instantLive fully in the nowAll else is illusionconjured by our mind–– Pardesi Pyara⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀PHOTO: Kate flowing through her beautiful practice in my studio.IG: @mclambertime
Unentangle
No matter how hard the roadhow steep the obstaclesEach day we unentangle ourselvesfrom our hesitationsfrom our doubtsand rise up– Pardesi Pyara
Vintage Body as Temple
Memories! A print from my first art show for “The Body as Temple” that introduced this series of yoga nudes.
Beauty of a woman
The beauty of a womanisn’t in the clothes she wears,The figure that she carries,or the way she combs her hair.The beauty of a womanmust be seen from in her eyes;Because that’s the doorway to her heart,the place where love resides– Audrey Hepburn
Cocoon
Fear not the worldShow them your vulnerable creationEmerge, discard the cocoonIts time for the butterfly to take wing–– Pardesi Pyara⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀_PHOTO: From a shoot last year in California. Crystal found a new thing to play with in my studio.Instagram: @mustbecrystal
Liberate
We, unaccustomed to courageexiles from delightlive coiled in shells of lonelinessuntil love leaves its high holy templeand comes into our sightto liberate us into life.–– Maya Angelou
Pregnant dancing
"Don't curse the darkness, light a candle." – Confucius⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀PHOTO: My dear friend Leah is an amazing dancer and one of the best Pilates teachers in Southern California. I have photographed her for several publications over the years. She also came and created beautiful art nudes, some of which have appeared in my Body as Temple calendars. This image is from her first pregnancy.
Trance dance
Ah starry Hope! that didst ariseBut to be overcast!And all my days are trancesAnd all my nightly dreamsAre where thy grey eye glancesAnd where thy footstep gleams --In what ethereal dancesBy what eternal streams.–– Edgar Allan Poe (1809 — 1849)
