Monk With a Camera

Nicholas Vreeland walked away from a worldly life of privilege to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Grandson of legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland and trained by Irving Penn to become a photographer Nicholas' life changed drastically upon meeting a Tibetan master one of the teachers of the Dalai Lama. Soon thereafter he gave up his glamorous life to live in a monastery in India where he studied Buddhism for fourteen years. In an ironic twist of fate Nicholas went back to photography to help his fellow monks rebuild their monastery. Recently the Dalai Lama appointed Nicholas as Abbot of the monastery making him the first Westerner in Tibetan Buddhist history to attain such a highly regarded position.