Julie-Anne Davies Photography

11/30/2025

I had long dreamt of visiting Pushkar.

A desire driven by an Instagram feed inundated by portraits of stunning Rajasthani women, camel traders and alluring fire rituals.

I missed the camel fair by a month.

All for the better I think, as over 200,000 tourists flock to town that week and while it's undoubtedly quieter here now, the decibels, crowds and spiritual rituals of Pushkar are, well, even for a seasoned traveler, a hefty and constant source of sensory overload.

But hey, that.is.india.

One massive sensory overload.

Daily, I ask myself 'What the heck Julie-Anne?' Truly, what is it about this place that draws me back?

Strangely, it’s all of the things that test me. The yin and yang of them all. The smells. The chaos. The layer upon layer of spirituality that pervade everyday life. The colours. The spices.
Yes. All those things.

But, hands down, it’s the people. Despite a population density that one can almost not comprehend, it's the people within those crowds that keep me loving and returning to this place.

11/28/2025

A boy and his camel.

We visited the Daraw Camel Market in Upper Egypt, one of largest, oldest and most important camel markets in the country.

This boy was gentle with his camel and seemed very proud to show him off.

The markets were a fascinating flurry of bartering, buying and selling - an event that happens two to three times a week with often over 1000 camels being 'transactioned' on each of those days.

Most of the camels here come in from Sudan, and once sold, are loaded into the backs of vehicles or walked miles, sometimes days, to their new homes.

Observing the haggling, bartering and socializing going on inside the market arena was a very interesting, insightful experience into the nuances of traditional Egyptian life.

11/20/2025

Nubian beauty.
Egypt, Nov. 2025

11/06/2025

Aqsarniit. Aksalniit. Aksarnerit.
Arsarnerit. Aurora Borealis. Pa‡ki¢kininmituk. Norfurljós. Wasnode. Wawatay. Northern Lights. Arctic Skies.

These beautiful lights go by many names.

A treasured phenomena to witness indeed.

While we know, scientifically, they are solar flares, these dancing skies have an energy that can suspend your comprehension and thin the veil between this world and some sort of 'other'ness. It's hard to watch them and not feel, even for a moment, that there are powerful and beautiful intangible elements at force in our universe.

In Inuit mythology, these lights were often believed to be ancestors playing soccer with a walrus skull. Others believe they are sprits of our ancestors dancing. Some believed them to bring messages. Or perhaps, some thought, they were a pathway, a bridge to the next world or life. These lights have many names but one thing in common..an energy and beauty that is immense and undeniable.

11/02/2025

There are so many different realities that encompass the concept of ‘home’. For the 180 families that live in the floating village of Prek Toal on Cambodia’s massive freshwater Tonle Sap Lake, home is without a fixed foundation, living off the life the lake and surrounding wetlands provides.
About 900 people call Prek Toal home, mostly ethnic Khmer and Cham and Vietnamese refugees.
They have created an elaborate and intricate water based world, growing their own floating gardens, harvesting fish and crafting water hyacinths into sellable products, raising poultry, running boat based stores, schools, churches and restaurants. More recently, they have opened their homes to tourism. Children learn to swim before they can walk here. They paddle, swim and even ride bikes on narrow docks. Laughter and smiles are in abundance here.
Prek Toal sits at the gateway to one of Asia’s largest bird sanctuaries and while the villagers don’t have much, they have a deeply developed relationship to the natural elements surrounding them.

02/16/2025

https://wildwomenexpeditions.com/i-left-my-heart-in-the-arctic/

Why do we travel? To learn, to explore, to discover things about ourselves, about other cultures, about life?

12/01/2024

In the early hours of every morning, the call to puja echoes across Himalayan valleys, signifying that it is time for the monks of the nearby monastery to wake up and climb up to the temple to chant together, reciting ancient Buddhist scripts. This ritual happens again every evening. If you have been fortunate enough to spend time in the Himalayas, you’ll know this sound well and the site of red robed monks responding, clambering up steep staircases, some sleepy eyed, others chatting as they go, young monks laughing and playing, but all responding like clock work. For thousands of years the sound of these horns have been carried on the wind morning and night through Buddhist lands. Times are changing for the ancient practices of the world, but for now the call continues.

11/25/2024

Cusco, November 2024

11/23/2024

I wonder, daily, what the world will be like for my children when they are my age. One of the elements of change I contemplate often (as there are many) is the fading away of cultural differences across this big old planet. The world is homogenizing, little by little, and one area that this is so visible is in traditional attire. In many parts of the planet now it is only the elders (or middle age and up) who are still dressing traditionally. The younger generations are opting for ‘western’ clothing, with the likes of Nike and Levi more prevalent than handmade, passed down community attire. Once the older generations are gone, this beautiful means of cultural expression, diversity and identity will leave with them. Contemplating this loss sometimes overwhelms me. I wish we (humanity) collectively understood what stands to be lost with the fading away of culture, language, tradition, nature. I think this is the underlying reason I feel the drive to document what ‘still is’ before it is no more. I want my children’s children to know, to visualize and to understand that diversity is a thing of beauty, and to at least have a visual record of how things once were.

11/22/2024

Cusco, November 2024

This woman was weaving and selling her beautiful handmade belts in the art district of Cusco.
I am forever amazed by weavers during my travels. Often using just a few sticks, sometimes rocks for foot stops and hand spun wool from their own animals, they produce gorgeous unique and functional pieces from scratch.
Amazing.