Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha is a major influence on Swiss photographer Fred Mayer’s life and work over a six-decade photographic career. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hesse’s death, Mayer traveled with his wife Ilse to Varanasi, India, to retrace in images the life of Hesse’s protagonist in the time of Buddha. Their personal, spiritual response to the novel features local subjects acting out scenes for the camera. With an endorsement from Hesse’s grandson Silver Hesse adding cachet, in September 2011 Mayer self-published a 280-page homage to Hesse in a jubilee edition with Blurb. Mayer’s work is one of twenty notable projects featured in the seventh annual Best of ASMP, a publication of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). From Thursday, October 27 to Saturday, October 29 ASMP will be an exhibitor at PDN’s PhotoPlus Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New York. Stop by booth #1276 to pick up the print edition of the Best of ASMP or read extended interviews with all twenty featured photographers here.