Ladakh for the hapless travel photographer...

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Ladakh has been a part of the world i’ve wanted to visit for years - after all, why wouldn’t I? There’s amazing monasteries perched on hilltops against dramatic background scenery, there are monks and novices, there are beautiful valleys and rivers small and large and there are, more importantly for me, tribespeople to meet and photograph. And all that in a small area - relatively - easily accessible from New Delhi and, from rumours, relatively inexpensive. So, this summer, I actually went - found a really good guide and fixer who claimed to be able to do everything I wanted to do and we were good to go.

Now that I’m back I can say that this was one of the hardest, most challenging trips I’ve done in more than 15 years. Things didn’t actually go wrong, but so many small and larger challenged cropped up pretty much everywhere and worked together to turn this trip into a massive challenge. Here’s a list of what you should expect in Ladakh:• altitude. With Leh at 3550m and with most monasteries ranging from 3900 to 4700m, altitude is a problem. It does not make a difference how fit (or not in my case) you may be, there is simply not enough oxygen for a lot of the basic tasks. Sure, by all means spend at least a full day acclimating - I would recommend two days but life can be VERY boring in Leh, so the choice is yours - and you should take the pills (please make sure you start at least 2 days before you land in Leh) but whatever you do, the altitude will wreak havoc with your body. Your mouth will be dry ALL the time, regardless of how much water you drink (more on the water later), your eyes will be dry and itchy and your nostrils will be dry enough to bleed. Creams and other ointments can do very, very little to help. Even sleep can be problematic - unless you're bone tired from the day, sleep can come and go and the above points can make nights miserable. Having said all the above, most of the symptoms were alleviated significantly while in the Aryan valley - I guess the humidity in that part of Ladakh made a significant difference!• weather and sun. Weather is, well, more at those altitudes. The sun is much harsher and 21C feels like 32C, the wind will feel like a welcome reprieve most of the time but while it’s cooling you it’s also drying you completely so it’s really a curse in disguise. Cold is also colder, so be prepared for layering (and adding and removing layers all the time as conditions change constantly). Get a hat with a brim - jockeys and gangsta caps are useless and you’ll end up with a burned neck - I came across way too many stupid tourists with blistered necks pasted white with sunburn cream.• water. Somehow there is no cold water anywhere in bloody Ladakh. Asking for cold water is like asking for liquid gold with floating diamonds. The local shops and sellers will simply look at you like you’re insane - “cold water? no, why? Tourists never drink cold water” (dunno where the last thing came from, but I heard it more than once). This means you’d better get used to lukewarm water at best. Now, shops do have fridges and do stock beverages and they do look - stress on “look” - cold, but let me tell you, they are not. Shops shut down the fridges at night to save electricity, so you’ll be extremely fortunate to actually get a cold drink. And if you try to go for a Coke or something, please be aware that carbon dioxide at those altitudes is nothing like you know - it’s strange and tastes like crap.• communications. No external, international or global mobile provider works in Ladakh. None (I tried three). And even worse, you cannot actually purchase a SIM card because local providers do not sell cards without a permanent address - apparently it’s a security issue. But, even if you do manage to get a card which works in Ladakh (maybe you get an Airtel card from Delhi), do not expect it to work very well outside Leh and its immediate environs. At the same time, hotels and guesthouses do have internet (and it’s usually quite decent).Now onto the photography parts - this is where things get a bit weirder!

Let’s start with the monasteries. If you have a good guide (and this is critical - I was lucky enough to have a great guide) he should be able to speak to the abbott and monks and get you at least some access to them to allow you to shoot what you want. It will need to be in conjunction with each monastery’s policies of course, but generally monks are amenable to being photographed, especially when you work with them to do something - I saw them reacting quite differently when someone just randomly asked them to "stand there" and snapped away with their massive 70-200. Keep that in mind - involve people in what you're doing, make them part of your process.. However, unfortunately, this is where the good news end.

Here comes the list of crap you’ll have to deal with:• the insides of the temples are lit by harsh, daylight, led lamps everywhere, meaning there is a flat white light hitting every nook and cranny and robing the places from any mystique or interesting light they once had. I only found one exception (out of 6 monasteries we visited) and at two other places, because I was alone, the monks were kind enough to turn most of the lights off for me, but do not count on finding mystical or ancient temples. Most of them are lit like Zara in Oxford Street!• do not count on finding a lot of monks just loitering around the place. Even in the largest monasteries (where more than 200 monks are supposed to live and work), chances are you wont see more than 5-6 at any time spread out all over the place and most of them will be on their way to somewhere rather than being around for you to photograph. Our fixer worked overtime, running all over the place, tracking down monks for the shots we wanted to get. We were only half-successful but it’s hard. Very hard. Monks retire to their cells for study or meditation (or whatever) and visitors are not allowed in those parts of the monastery, so you’ve got that to deal with. Even with special access granted in three monasteries - I was given access never permitted to tourists and was even permitted to shoot inside some temples where no photography is allowed - the Ladakh monasteries are not the hive of activity you may expect and this will cause issues. Having said that, I'm sure the situation would be different during national holidays, festivals and pilgrimages - the downside during those times, of course, would be that you'd have to contend with hundreds if not thousands of tourists (read more on this below)

• aside from an undeniable beauty seen from a distance and the temples themselves, be prepared for the monasteries to be largely "messy" places. This was very surprising to me, especially considering the state of Buddhist monasteries in other parts of the world. Building materials are discarded all over the place, garbage can be seen everywhere, loads and loads of cement - mostly unfinished or roughly slapped on - is everywhere. The monasteries are not the truly traditional, beautiful and mystical places they appear from a distance - they really are not. Why am I saying this? Because unfortunately this means that finding nice corners to shoot in is incredibly difficult - if you’ve ever been to Bagan or Angkor Wat, well, think the exact opposite. I was not impressed to say the least - it was actually a big disappointment.• monks are mostly young(er) and I can only imagine they are bored with photography requests. And this shows. Do not expect to find old and wise monks around to photograph, it’s just not going to happen - at least casually and frequently. I came across a couple but they were mostly on their way to somewhere and not even remotely interested in being photographed (even at the behest of their own abbott!)• ceremonies are actually very, very nice to attend and I would recommend you attend as many as you can. Stick around and don’t just leave after 15-20’ like most people do - it is certainly a very rewarding and a calming experience. However, photographically speaking the ceremonies are almost mostly worthless - light sucks, you are restricted in a space at the back of the temple, and monks are usually obscured by columns and other elements so do not expect good shots. Also, for some reason, Ladakh monasteries do not use incense so any hope of atmospheric lighting also goes away.

• using strobes. Also a problem in most cases - even though I'm sure this wont be a consideration for the overwhelming majority of people reading this, but it's important enough to put it out there. I’m not talking about on-camera flash here - this is seriously forbidden in most cases - I’m talking about strobes with softboxes. I had applied for special permission months in advance and as such I was granted special privileges in 2-3 places, but all in all, do not count on being allowed to use strobes inside a temple by just showing up and asking (not saying it won't happen - these things are not really "stated" and "official" policy, so you may get lucky). Outside the temples and at courtyards is usually okay, but as I said above, there are very few interesting places there so…

Shooting in the Aryan valley (and in some of the other tribal places around Ladakh) is infinitely easier - even though you probably would not have thought so seeing some of the work coming from photographers who visit these villages (more on this later). The people are infinitely more amenable to being photographed and are happy to wear their traditional attire for you and pose where and how you want them. It’s a pleasure shooting there and the people are really, really nice. A couple of words of caution if you dont mind:• make sure your fixer has established already contacts in the villages and has warned them of your arrival. While you may end up being lucky by just showing up and hoping you’ll find people on the day, it’s always easier to pre-arrange things - it allows you to focus more on the actual photography rather than wait around and hope things will turn out okay. In those areas and villages where we were not able to organise things well in advance, we had to visit them the day before (or even before), meet the village head-person and organise things there and then (and even then, on one occasion, we showed up and we could not find anyone, including the head-person - we ended up waiting for 2hrs while our amazing guide ran around trying to sort things out, which, to his credit, managed to do very well).• scout for locations. There are a lot of them in and around the villages so please do try to find them - these people live integrally with their environment, they do not live on floating blackness or in deserted doorways filled with junk. They live in their front porches or in the village square, near the streams or working their fields. The potential is endless - just use it. ANY image of the Aryans against a black or dark background is 100% faked and photoshopped - it does not exist anywhere in reality! So please, don't be one of "those" photographers.• I know some photographers go for the famous “full originality” (I witnessed something truly disturbing: photographers ranting at the locals demanding they were the traditional trousers and felt shoes, shouting etc., and all that because one of their subjects did not wear the “full” attire the photographer had in mind or had read about) but please try to be respectful of the people themselves. They will try and accommodate you as much as possible, but not everyone has the full traditional attire - some will try to do the best they can with what they have - and I'm sure some of that attire can be uncomfortable at the time of the day you want to shoot. Unfortunately, modern, warmer and more comfortable - and more easily and cheaply accessible - clothing is slowly replacing people's daily attires and you cannot simply expect people have a full traditional set hanging at home waiting for you to come and ask for it!. Focus on what’s real and there, be kind and considerate.

So, to summarise:Ladakh is a very physically challenging assignment/trip. It leave you exhausted at the end of each day, drained and feeling like crap. Things at the Aryan valley and villages are much better, but everywhere else it’ll be hard.Leave your anticipation of amazing monk and monastery shots behind. You’ll be lucky if you get some really exceptional shots - this is not Myanmar or Cambodia or even Indonesia. Things here are more procedural and you have less access to people and interesting places. If you go during a festival or other celebration I’m sure things will be better in terms of people, but also worse at the same time, so keep that in mind.Choose a time for your visit very, very carefully! Ladakh is visited by international and Indian visitors in great numbers at the best of times - these are low-season times by the way. When there are religious festivals, national holidays and other celebratory events, monasteries become insanely crowded. Remember, these are not large places - it does not take 500 people to pack them - 100 visitors is already a crowd, 200 means there's no place without someone standing or sitting. I know a lot of pre-made tours to Ladakh take place during times of these events, so keep that in mind. It makes a lot of difference - the attitudes of the priests, monks and abbots also changes during these times, as tourists and photographers become more of an annoyance as the focus is on pilgrims.

ladakh

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challenges

monasteries

religious imagery

altitude

Leh

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