_Ashok

Five weeks after returning from Nepal it feels like five months since I left Kathmandu!

Yet, to think a week into my trip I felt like crying I was on a real low. My guides who I worked with in 2007 Vijay and Sanu were intent on stealing every penny from me that I entered the country with. I did not trust them and did not feel safe; my number one priority when working in Asia. The final straw was when Sanu squared up to me! A difficult a decision but they had to go, I sacked them!

A friend Marie, who was doing voluntary work, recommended her guide. An ex trekking guide Enoch now works in his sisters orphanage in Pokhara west of Kathmandu. I took the short flight and was met by Enoch, whilst having lunch I explained just what I expected and that a big tip would be his reward. The rest is history…

Enoch was first class, a master at dealing with people and actually thought like a photographer even though he has little knowledge of the art. We spent five days at a sand quarry on the River Seti; I photographed one of the world’s smallest men; Khogendra Thapa and apprentice mechanics who are only twelve years old. Such was the success of our partnership, I asked Enoch to join me for my final week in Kathmandu, were we spent time at a brick factory and an afternoon photographing Garema one of only 150 ladyboys living in Kathmandu. Nepal offers many opportunities and is a bottomless pit of photographic opportunities; I have committed to return later this year

I have four new gallery’s, if you do nothing else please read the next piece entitled Ganesh The River Boy who is just Eleven years old and is forced to work

Brick Factory
Garage Boys
Sand Quarry
Ganesh The River Boy

Many thanks to Barry Lord , Andrea, Marie, Shanta shanty, saurabh, Enoch Lamichhane, Harry and Goma Dhakal, Binod Thapa and his family, Ganesh Nepali his brothers and cousins, Garema and all the staff at Green peace hotel especially Raju

Ganesh River Boy

Forced to work Ganesh is just twelve years old and suffering from vitiligo. My guide Enoch took me 40 minutes from my base in Pokhara to see stone being quarried by hand on the Seti River at Mushiti, a place I was told no westerner had previously visited. After thirty minutes I made the decision to leave due to a lack of activity and the poor light caused by fog. As we mounted the motorbike I spotted a small boy working alone. As most people work in family groups I found this strange so I asked my guide to go and investigate. The boy’s story by far is the most disturbing I came across in Nepal.

With nine brothers and a sister Garneshes father is alcoholic and his mother disabled. They do not provide for him and if he does not work he can not eat. He digs stone from the river bed, it takes him five days to fill a truck his reward 450NR; approximately four UK pounds. I spent some thirty minutes photographing Ganesh, gave him some money and left. As we rode off Ganesh ran behind our bike along the muddy track which rose from the river to the main highway. His excitement was tangible, my guide told me he was taking his money to buy rice for the family, that after learning about his plight I found quite unbelievable.

Over the days that followed I felt guilty I had not done more for Ganesh so I told my guide we would return with clothes, shoes and a football. Nothing would have prepared me for my return. As we approached the river a tiny boy Sunil brother to Ganesh ran over to the bike. He had not washed for weeks if not months, I was shocked! I captured this image of Sunil
I think a great picture however I find it difficult to look at I find it very disturbing.

To me the sad thing about Ganesh and his brothers is that they are not alone. A poor and politically unstable country Nepal has thousands of children who do not attend school and need to work just to survive.

You can view images of Ganesh here

_{Ganesh River Boy}

I recently made a huge decision to purchase a Phase one digital back for my Mamiya medium format camera. Used by many of the worlds top photographers and producing huge digital files (31 Mega pixels) this equipment gives me the opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Phase One ( http://www.phaseone.com/ ) was established in 1993 and are based in Denmark Phase One a world leader in digital imaging.

I will use this kit along side my Canon equipment and although I bought the back last October I used it for the first time in February. The detail in the digital files is staggering! Why not download this image of model Claire Williams and look for yourself ?

P30 link

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE IMAGE