The festivals of the desert
The camel fairs of Pushkar and Chandrabaga, in Rajasthan,are spectacular gatherings that evoke age-old times in the heart of an India in quest of a future…
Photos and text by Jean-Baptiste Rabouan/LightMediation
Contact – Thierry Tinacci – LightMediation Photo Agency +33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 email: thierry[AT]lightmediation.com
Parution COREE DU SUD – Spiti, la vallée secrète par Jean-Baptiste Rabouan
Secrets of the French Gothic cathedrals.
At the start of the 13th century, the 100-year war and the great plague epidemics have not yet darkened Europe. During this golden age, men have been longing for splendour and craving for light : it is the time of the cathedrals. An extraordinary enthusiasm will lead the builders of this era to erect the most beautiful and impressive monuments ever built for the glory of God. The architectural feats they managed to perform were nearly impossible and are still puzzling today’s architects. Behind the imposing naves, the details of the stained glasses, statues and other ornaments reveal deep esoteric meanings with sometimes erotic representations. Holding the right keys, the visitor will be able to decode the hidden meanings and then have an insight of the mystic state of mind prevaling in the Middle-Ages.
Photos and text © Sandrine and Jean-Baptiste Rabouan/Lightmediation
Contact- Thierry Tinacci- LightMediation Photo Agency +33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 thierry[AT]lightmediation.com
Parution Pologne – FOCUS – les secrets des cathédrales de Jean Baptiste Rabouan
Le sujet sur l’architecture des cathédrales de Jean Baptiste Rabouan parait dans l’édition polonaise de FOCUS:
Parution Roumanie – DESCOPERA – La pierre médicinale de Jean Baptiste Rabouan
Le reportage de Jean Baptiste Rabouan sur la médecine du Tibet est publié dans le magazine roumain DESCOPERA: 
La Loire en danger
Le dernier fleuve sauvage d’Europe classé par l’UNESCO est sérieusement menacé. En trente ans le niveau d’eau a baissé de 3 à 5 mètres. Réchauffement climatique, surexploitation des ressources naturelles, pompage pour l’irrigation et les centrales nucléaires… les activités de l’homme mettent en péril tout l’écosystème ligérien et avec lui, l’art de vivre en Val de Loire : un héritage auquel les générations à venir devront renoncer si l’on ne change pas de cap.
Parution Danemark – Adventure World – Sabrimala de Jean Baptiste Rabouan
Le reportage sur la nouvelle Mecque hindoue parait sur 3 doubles pages dans ADVENTURE WORLD:
Parution Maroc – MAG4YOU – avec « Fès l’impériale » de Jean-Baptiste Rabouan
Toujours dans MAG4YOU, une série de doubles pages réalisées par Jean Baptiste Rabouan sur la ville de Fès. 
The quest of medicinal cristal stone
In Ladakh, a country in the heart of the Himalayan range, traditional tibetan medicine men use cristal stones to heal their patients. The medicinal stones can be worn as jewellery or prepared as drugs to be ingested but this practice is considered dangerous because cristal could be toxic unless it is crushed with yak milk on the full moon day of the 8th lunar month. At the time of collecting medinal plants, Tsering Amchi, medicine man in Leh Ladakh, organizes a nine-day trek through high mountains to find a medicinal cristal stone vein. It is a tough trek, crossing fierce streams and climbing through passes at an altitude of 5000 meters. It is the story of a man searching for a secret knowledge of the art of healing in a magnificent wilderness.
Sabrimala, the new Mecca of Hinduism
The news has rapidly spread all over India : the Lord Ayyappa will fulfill his pilgrims’ wishes. Within a few years this confidential Hinduist pilgrimage has turned into the largest one.
Every year, in January, several million pilgrims gather in Sabrimala. There are scores of stories of « miracles ». Says Jai Dev Rao : « My wife couldn’t bear a child so I made up my mind to go on this pilgrimage : thanks to the Lord Ayyappa I have got a son. » Bela Krishna says : « Being disabled, I was crawling on the ground for my first pilgrimage, Ayyappa healed me and I came back walking! » And yet, the pilgrimage, if it is undertaken according to rule, is far from easy. It requires 41 days of austerities: walking bare-foot, a vegeterian diet, sleeping on a mat on the ground, strict chastity…
The pilgrim will have to trek along a 57-km trail in the midst of the jungle, carrying a bag with a coconut on his head until he reaches the Lord Ayyappa’s temple on the hill of Sabrimala. There he will break a coconut on the golden steps of the sanctuary. Lord Ayyappa’s temple is open one month a year and the pilgrims rush particularly during the holy week at the end of which the Lord’s light is supposed to shine. Processions of richly adorned elephants, mystical dancing, Brahman rituals… the Lord Ayyappa pilgrimage is now the key-date of Hinduism.
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Photos and text ©Jean-Baptiste Rabouan / Lightmediation
