Photographer Pascal Mannaerts captures the 'daily gestures, rituals, and landscapes' of global cities and towns.
- Photographer Pascal Mannaerts has been travelling the world for 10 years.
- He noticed that the morning was the perfect moment to "feel the vibe" of a new place.
- His "8 a.m. around the world" photo series captures the "daily gestures, rituals, and landscapes" of cities and towns across Asia, Africa, Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Belgian photographer Pascal Mannaerts has been travelling the world for more than 10 years in an attempt to "portray humanity in its strongest forms" across Asia, Africa, Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East.
He told INSIDER: "When I started to travel around the world and take pictures, I quickly noticed that I loved to wake up very early to discover a new place. It’s about the amazing morning light, about the feeling to start another day in an unknown place, with an open and totally fresh mind."
He added that the early morning is the "perfect moment to feel the vibe of any new place I discovered" — so he started getting up early on every trip, a habit which ultimately inspired his "8 a.m. around the world" photo series.
Read more: These photos show how your face changes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
"Over the years, I have collected a whole series of photos of daily gestures, rituals, landscapes, taken around the world around 8 a.m.," he said. "It was amazing to see how lifestyles, moods, daily activities can be different from one place to another... I also feel a strong sense of spontaneity and an even greater closeness to people, early in the day, before the daily activities takes everyone into his or her own universe."
Mannaerts, who posts some of his work to his Instagram account @pascalmannaerts, shared some images from the series with INSIDER. Scroll down to see what 8 a.m. looks like in cities and towns around the world.
Varanasi, India, 2008 — "At that time, every day, Hindus bathe or do their ritual ablutions," Mannaerts said. "Hundreds of pilgrims from all over India come to the city and arrive everyday at that time on the banks of the 'promised' river that they have often travelled so long for. It’s a human tide and ocean of beauty and color everywhere. I just love it. A perfect time and occasion to take a deep breath, make your eyes wide open and realize once again how blessed you are to travel and discover the world."
"I will always keep the sunrise and early morning on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, in India, among my best and unforgettable travel memories," he added. "I was in Varanasi in 2000 for the very first time. I've gone back there more than 10 times since then, and I feel the same magic every time I am there.
"Imagine yourself at dawn, lost in a maze of alleys, almost a chiaroscuro from a medieval city. Mysterious silhouettes walk all in the same direction. Sounds of bells ring out in the distance, the sacred Ganges is somewhere below. A powerful feeling permeates your mind as you realize that you are in the holiest of all Hindu cities: Varanasi."