Hirsute pursuits in Rajasthan, India
8 Sep 2018
I wouldn’t call myself a pogonophile, being of the (approximately) clean-shaven persuasion myself. But as one travels, photographing the tribes of Rajasthan, flourishing facial hair is everywhere. Rajasthan is where, it would seem, every male is simply itching to demonstrate his masculinity and virility via the display of flamboyantly fertile facial follicles. Plus one carefully-wound turban.
I won’t claim to have combed India to create a genuine study of its millions of fine beards, ’taches and turbans — others have, categorising them under terms such as ‘the chin strap’, ‘the soup strainer’, ‘the wing commander’, and ‘the walrus’. But for what it’s worth, without further chin-wagging, I present a few photos that came to hand when browsing through the output of recent photography tours of Rajasthan.
And as always, a big shout-out to all the gracious gentlemen in these photographs, whose patience, generosity and unhesitating willingness to participate never ceases to amaze me.
Shoot this with us:
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