Nicholas Vreeland is the Abbot of Rato Dratsang, one of a few important Tibetan government monasteries under the patronage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Vreeland is also Director of The Tibet Center, the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City. Born in Geneva, Switzerland to American parents, Vreeland was educated in Europe, North Africa, and the United States. In the late sixties and early seventies, Vreeland worked as an assistant to Irving Penn and Richard Avedon and studied film at New York University, after which he pursued a career in photography. He became a monk in 1985 and has been a resident of India since then. (Photo shot in Mumbai, India 2017. Photo sponsors: Alex and Rebecca Agner.)