_{Vijaya Thapa "Body Guard"}

Back in England I sit in my apartment several thousand miles from Kathmandu my thoughts firmly with the people of Nepal. Although now great distance separates my new friends and I, editing my work I have just spoken by telephone with film producer Sanu Thapa and the distance between us seems not so great.

Commissioned to photograph a football tournament and school opening in Kavre south west of Kathmandu. My customer UAP ltd gave me this opportunity and I did not think twice about accepting. The event run by charity DCWC Nepal included a volunteer medical team who treated two thousand patents in five days…….. AMAZING ! I extended my trip to Nepal beyond my work in the village, Kathmandu was my home for 18 nights with my guides Komal Lama, Vijaya Thapa and film producer Sanu Thapa.

My memories of Nepal are not of the cues for fuel or the twice weekly power cuts and the candles in my room, my mind can not forget the people of Kavre and also a wider Nepal. Speaking little Nepalese I found a strong connection was quickly formed with the people even though our meeting may have only lasted a few moments. The strength of the people is incredible, talking with Dr Ramu Sharma, he told me of a patient he treated in the village a lady who had had given birth nineteen times with 13 children surviving. To bring up this huge family with no electricity or running water just seems beyond belief. This storey highlights the difference in our two worlds; mine being a comfortable life in England with more or less everything a man could want and the harsh reality of life in Nepal. My resounding memory is of its people’s gift of friendship and their wonderfully happy smiles. At times I was overwhelmed by the numbers who wanted to be photographed, and on occasions I put away my camera just for a short break.

Kavre village lacked many things I take for granted in England such as a hot shower however I embraced my time there and will never forget it. With no mobile phone or internet I immersed myself in work pausing briefly to eat or wash in the river an amazing experience. I did not care about communication with the outside world, it was just my work and the people what more could a passionate photographer ask for. As I left the village after five days tears in my eyes, looking back from the steep path climbing from the valley bottom my thoughts were not of leaving this amazing place but of my compulsion to return.

Back in Kathmandu my work at times was difficult I found the speed at which things happened frustrating. I commissioned a short film which was produced over three days by director Sanu Thapa. I am overjoyed with his work and you can watch the film here. Often I organised my own work, waiting to long for other people to do it for me, it’s a very different world in Nepal a lot slower pace than in England. If things happen at all seemed to have little importance and I lost count of the times I was told “tomorrow”. I take my work very seriously and will let little come between me and my subject. My guides on reflection were so good to me they all tried to accommodate my wishes and I visited all but one of there homes, something I feel very privileged to have done. I forged a strong bond with all three guides a process that started on my second night in Kavre when I sat talking with Komal Lama until the early hours. In Komal I see a very good man! Highlights of my work in Kathmandu were photographing models in traditional Nepalese costume and meeting and photographing Shambu Tamang who sumitted Everest age 17 in 1973. I was thrilled to meet for the first time a man who had stood on top of the world. I also built a good relationship with the Sadhu men of Durbury square producing several memorable images.

As I sit editing images created in Nepal my realization is that without the people I would have no photographs. It is the people of Nepal that made my trip so memorable. I have a strong desire to return and meet my new friends again to shake there hands and to see how they have changed. My next visit to the country is not in question my only concern is of timing.

_{Komal Lama "Guide and Friend"}

Thank you to my guides Vijaya, Komal, Sanu and the people of Nepal

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Writing on my biography page I say that the perfect image does not exist, that there is always something you would change and that the measure of success should be the distance for which the image falls short of perfection. My work In Nepal has I believe created a perfect image. On several occasions I photographed a Sadhu (Holy Man) in Dubar square, Kathmandu. There was a small temple with an open door and no windows it was pitch black inside. The doorway gave me the opportunity to create a black background similar to one I would create in the studio. With a reflector made from a cardboard box and silver foil I could fill the models face with a beautiful Light.

The resulting image is as near to perfect as I have created, great subject, well composed the image is pin sharp with great saturation and light. I played around with the levels only to return to the original unaltered file. There is nothing I would change about this image judge for yourself Download the full size file here.