Mountaineering and photography. Two passions that go hand in hand
A great wild nature lover and passionate photographer wrote an article about his Everest Base Camp adventure that started like this: “if you love mountains and want to find a place where the overstatements are really justified and deserve all the credit, leave all your worries aside and go to Himalaya!” – Valentin Groza.
He wrote five articles where he described his journey not just using text but also amazing photos, capturing his experience through a photographer’s eyes. It’s the incredible story about one of the most famous trek routes in the world, the route leading to the foot of the highest mountain on Earth and many spectacular peaks surrounding the trek every step of the way.
If we are to look through a photographer’s eyes, there are a few types of photos you can do, and here we will list the main ones, in our opinion:
#1 Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city
You’ll be stunned by the contrasts in this city even before landing. A busy mix of old buildings with the ones being rebuilt after the Earthquake, irregular streets in a constant motion and frequent terraces on top of each block.
The tourist part called “Thamel” looks like an old crowded market where chaos is the keyword. You would take photos at every corner and spend hours trying to capture all the details and the life the neighborhood breathes everywhere. People, old and new constructions, antique shops, restaurants, mountain equipment on display, old doors abandoned and commercials everywhere. It’s a bit of everything put together in an apparent chaos, but this is what the city’s charm is all about. It’s a photographer’s paradise, a place to spend days and still feel like you might have missed a really good shot.
#2 Kathmandu’s temples
Kathmandu is home to two quite different religions, in many ways opposed in what they preach: Buddhism and Hinduism. But locals are very tolerant with each other, and the temples they build sometimes host both a Buddhist temple and a Hindu one in the same building. On top of temples, there are various praying statues or monuments all over the city, fascinating in purest way for a curious camera.
Still, there are three main temples in Kathmandu that a photographer visiting Nepal should absolutely visit:
- The Monkey Temple:a Hindu one, with many buildings put together in the same characteristic chaos, with lots of handmade statues and home to hundreds of friendly monkeys. They sit still for photos but will take advantage of any opportunity to steal anything that has food potential or is shiny enough to trigger their curiosity.
- Boudhanath Stupa:one of the main community center for the Tibetans that are in exile, and the biggest Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. Around the temple there are all sorts of monasteries where you can take part in or assist in the praying rituals and talk to the bald monks dressed in scarlet gowns, and always wearing on a large smile on their faces. They are really friendly and curious about where are you from and what are you doing there, and for sure can help you with tips on what not to miss about their religion while spending the time at their temple.
- Pashupathinath Temple:a sacred Hindu temple for the locals, as this is where they incinerate their dead people, about 40 every day. It’s not an experience a photographer would want to miss, as the opportunities are unique even if it’s on the edge of the viewer’s comfort. You can literally feel the death on every inch of your soul and skin, you can even taste it in your mouth. The photos here will be shocking, but full of nuances you can hardly find elsewhere. But yes, you need to be brave to go to this temple.
#3 Himalayans from above
To start the trek to Everest Base Camp you need to take a small plane from Kathmandu to Lukla, a Nepalese village situated at 2,800 m altitude, home to one of the most dangerous airports in the world. The flight takes you through the clouds and you’ll be able to see from above how the mountain chain shows up, its spectacular valley and rivers, terraces with rice and other crops carefully grown by the isolated locals. If the weather is bad you can fly an helicopter, or just request that one of the journeys to be made with one, even if the cost is higher. This way you can get amazing close-ups of the scenery through a clean windscreen, while the helicopter is much more stable and this always helps when striving for the best shots.
#4 Wild nature
Once landed in Lukla, the trek is done solely on your own two feet. There is no modern mean of transportation, only the “classical” ones, such as yaks, donkeys and very few horses. People work as porters to make sure the tourists and locals have the supplies they need in these secluded villages along the Everest Base Camp Trek. During the first two days, the nature will be green everywhere, alive and happy. As you climb though the scenery changes to stones, sand and ice. Everything is so spectacular that the hungry eyes of the photographer will want to capture everything with the lenses of his camera.
#5 Portraits
If you are passionate about the human’s character, the journey to the Basecamp will offer you the most spectacular range of faces: children, old people, poor and richer, monks, people telling a thousand stories through their eyes and expressions. They don’t speak English but will impress you with the stories they carry and the world they are sharing with every friendly tourist. Kids love sweets, so make sure you have enough candies with you to put some smiles on their faces when you meet them. The porters carrying even up to 40 kg on their heads and backs are superheroes that will make amazing photo albums. Despite their job and fate, their dirty looks uncover friendly and positive eyes, always curious to find out everything they can from the tourists willing to spend some time with them.
Even if we are sure we couldn’t capture in full the picture of this place, we can only hope we have given you a taste of curiosity to choose Everest Base Camp for your next travel photography destination, and live all these possibilities with your own eyes and camera.
Get in touch with usto find out more and book yourself on our next Everest Base Camp Expedition!
