The concept of spiritual posession often plays an important role in the multitude of Bali’s ceremonies. Here, a Balinese man is at the brink of falling into trance at a ceremony held in a small village in the East of Bali.

The Balinese believe that in trance spirits take posession of their bodies and can in this way communicate with the human world. The ceremony was held to honour the spirits and ancestors and to achieve harmony between humans and gods.

Trance ceremonies like this one present a spectacular variety of extreme emotions – involving a mixture of horrendous screams, crying and people fainting that can trigger a response of fear without the knowledge of meaning and cultural background.

A Balinese man dancing trough the temple in trance.

As part of the ritual, the men in trance also hit and stab themselves with ceremonial daggers called “Keris” – without truly getting hurt. To the people of Bali, traditions and ceremonies belong to their everyday life: Many are watching the spectacle with a smirk on their face while others are filming with their smartphones.

A man biting of the head of a living chicken to end his trance.

Back to normal – after the spectacular part is over, the ceremony is concluded with further rituals and prayers: waiting for them to begin.

Offerings to the spirits of Bali

The sulfuric gas surfacing in the crater ignites on contact with air and causes these mystical, meter-high blue flames. A part of the gas condenses into liquid, burning sulfur forming deeply blue glowing, lava-like streams.

The sulfur miners are constantly exposed to the clouds of noxious fumes and the hazards of volcanic activity. Simultaneously, hundreds of tourists climb the volcano each day. A very controversial experience.

A miner extracts sulfur with the help of a long iron pole. Every day 200 miners risk their health and lifes for a meager payment of about 9€ per day.

Pure sulfure - The emerging liquid sulfur is still red, turning orange and finally bright yellow while cooling down. The miners try to earn a little extra money by selling pieces of sulfur to the tourists - raw or carved for example in the form of a turtel

A worker carrying sulfur down from the the volcano. The baskets the miners carry up the steep slope of the crater and then 3km downhill weigh up to 90 kg.

Deceptive beauty - the perfectly innocent turquoise crater lake is in fact 100% deadly. It is the largest acidic lake on earth and has a diameter of almost one kilometer.

Skitour close to Arosa

Winner of the Bergwelten / Schöffel photo contest "Ich bin raus" 2016 and printed in the Bergwelten photocalender 2017. Switzerland 2016

Flyhigh Yoga

Spontaneous shooting with the people of the brand Flyhigh Yoga. Bali 2014

Rockgarden

Rider Daniel Knecht. Switzerland 2017

Shadowbiker

Switzerland 2015

Paraglider

Switzerland 2015

Shot from the documentation of a glider contest (Landesjugendvergleichsfliegen, Grünstadt).
Germany 2012

Domat Ems 2021