“ I WANTED IT TO LOOK LIKE
THESE BRIDGES ARE SOMETHING
RIGHT OUT OF LORD OF THE RINGS,
AND THEN SAY, ‘NO, THEY’RE
NOT FICTION, THEY EXIST.’”
—Prasenjeet YadavA TANGLED RIVER
In northeastern India, heavy rains erode infrastructure. So villagers
A FEW MONTHS OUT
HOW TO GET
THE SHOT
Yadav had never visited
a living root bridge before
embarking on this project,
but he knew of this partic-
ular bridge near the village
of Nohwet. With so many
tourists shooting photo-
graphs, Yadav wanted his
image to stand out. “It’s
difficult to make a plant
look charismatic,” he says.
To prepare, he consulted
other photographers and
studied landscape paint-
ings. He decided to take
the shot after dark. It was
risky: Unexpected cloud-
bursts can spawn flash
floods, which can be espe-
cially dangerous at night.TWO WEEKS OUT
ESSENTIAL
PACKING LIST
As this was Yadav’s fourth
trip to the region, he
knew what to pack. Paring
supplies to the basics,
he brought little rainwear
for himself and prioritized
keeping his camera dry.- Umbrellas to cover
the camera gear - Granola bars
- Flashlights and an LED
light panel - A strong headlamp
- Rubber housing to
protect the camera - A tripod
- A sheet of black Cinefoil
to shield the lens - Light modifiers
LAUNCH
‘PAINTING’
WITH LIGHT
From his home base
of Bangalore, Yadav flew
to Guwahati and took
a cab to Nohwet. From
there, he walked 30
minutes to the bridge.
During a three-week
stay, Yadav experi-
mented with using
lights to “paint” parts
of the bridge and sur-
roundings during a
long exposure. In the
438 seconds it took
to expose this image,
Yadav moved between
locations to aim his
lights. Shrouded in dark-
ness, he’s not visible in
the final photograph.IN THE INDIAN STATE of Meghalaya, one of the wettest places on Earth,
villagers weave the roots of living rubber trees into sturdy pedestrian
bridges. On a quest to document the tradition, Prasenjeet Yadav
photographed around 30 root bridges over the course of a year.EXPLORE | GETTING THERE
32 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC