The Fire That Frees: Varanasi, The Final Farewel

• Prize
  Silver in Editorial/Photo Essay
• Photographer
  Stavros Champakis
• Agency / Studio
  Visual-storyteller.com
• Technical Info
  1/180sec, 80mm F/1.9, Iso1600, Medium Format
• Photo Date
  15th of January 2025

At the cremation ghats of Varanasi, where fire and river become gateways to the divine, life and death meet without shame. This series captures the intimate final moments of those letting go—grieving hands, glowing embers, prayers whispered to the Ganges. I followed these rituals not as an observer, but as a fellow human deeply moved by their power. Behind the lens, I stood between the physical and the spiritual, documenting how, in Varanasi, death is not an ending—but a release. The images are raw, reverent, and real: a visual meditation on grief, devotion, and the eternal cycle of existence