Buddhist monk and photographer, Nicholas Vreeland. takes a break from his duties in India and visits his 96-year- old father, and former, American diplomat, Frederick Vreeland, in Italy and discovers a man who is raring to go
Frederick Vreeland keeps up with the world and technology.
In these stunning series of photographs from a vacation in Italy with his father, Nicholas Vreeland shares the portrait of a nonagenarian who is living it up. His indefatigable zest for life is evident in the way he recovers from old-age challenges like the recent bump on his head which landed him in hospital.
Frederick Vreeland’s ikigai lies in his innate ability to embrace life with all its imperfections and unpredictability.
“He has the extraordinary ability to live in and enjoy the moment. He has trained himself to not judge but simply experience life. He’s well and happy with his 63-year-old wife Sandra.,” says Nicholas Vreeland as he captures his father’s many moods and his joie de vivre.
Nicholas Vreeland bonds with his father Frederick Vreeland
Nicholas Vreeland is the former abbot of Rato Dratsang, an important Tibetan government monastery under the patronage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. A New York Times best-selling author and photographer, Vreeland is also Director of the Tibet Center, the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City. He is a Buddhist monk and holds a Geshe degree, the equivalent of a PhD. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, to American parents, Vreeland was educated in Europe, North Africa and the United States, after which he pursued a career in photography. In the late 60s and early 70s, Vreeland worked as an assistant to Irving Penn and Richard Avedon and studied film at New York University. In 1977, he met his teacher Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, the founder of the Tibet Centre, and became a monk in 1985.
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