The Sunday Times November 28, 2021 11
Travel Asia
A
haze hung in the
dining-room air
as conversations
bubbled away
in English and
Nepali. Two of us huddled
over a camera, our faces lit
from below by bluish light.
“Not bad,” Mark said,
looking at the camera screen.
“The composition is nice and
you’ve created some good
separation between subject
and background. But you need
to get some light in his eyes.
That brings a portrait to life.”
I’m used to having my
photography critiqued, but
this was the first time it had
happened a mile and a half
above sea level, in a
Himalayan teahouse.
My teacher was Mark
Brightwell, a former officer
in the British Army’s Royal
Gurkha Rifles, a regiment
of Nepali soldiers. Brightwell
founded the company
Photo Journey with
a former colleague, Johnny
Fenn. After leaving the army,
both men became professional
photographers and decided
to share what they had
learnt with people of all
photographic abilities.
“We wanted to create
a learning experience that
blended adventure with
practice in an amazing setting,”
Brightwell told me. “We spent
a lot of time in Nepal when
we were in the army, trekking,
learning the language and
living alongside Nepalis.
We realised it was perfect,
and our background gives us
more cultural insight than
those doing similar
photographic holidays.”
We started with four days
at the Temple Tree Resort
in Pokhara, where lessons
covered everything from
camera set-ups to composition.
There were 30 of us on the trip,
all at different levels, with kitranging from simple point-
and-shoot cameras to
professional gear. Between
classes we practised our craft
on sunrises over Fewa Lake
and market street scenes.
Our tutors reviewed our photos
on the go, offering tips and
adjustments that we put into
immediate practice.
Next we split into three
groups. Some stayed in
Pokhara with Saraya Cortaville,
the president of the BritishMEMORIES
PHOTOGRAPHIC
A guided photography trip is a great way to
experience Nepal and boost its tourism
industry, as well as brush up on your camera
skills, discovers Ash Bhardwaj
Gavin Foden of Photo Journey shows Aruna Nepali, a little girl in Lwang, how to use a video camera
Kathmandu
NEPAL
INDIA
CHINA
20 milesAnnapurna
Lwang
Pokhara
Institute of Professional
Photography, to develop
their street photography and
portraiture. Others headed to
nearby hill villages to do the
same with Fenn. I joined a
dozen others for a four-day
trek in the Annapurna massif
to work on landscape
photography with Brightwell.
We drove uphill from the
valley around Pokhara to a
village 1,600m above sea level,
then put on our packs and
started walking. We walked for
five hours a day, which allowed
us to acclimatise to the steadily
increasing altitude, along paths
that wove between villages and
through forests before opening
up to magnificent vistas of the
world’s highest mountains.
“Life can be hard up here,”
said Addy, a Nepali guide and
photographer who often works
with Photo Journey. “The
land is steep and it’s not good
for farming, so tourism is
important. Most people live
off what they earn through
the trekking seasons in spring
and autumn.”
I did this trip in February
2020, weeks before Covid-19
shut down international travel.
Nepal went on to lose three
trekking seasons, which was
devastating for the region.
We stayed in teahouses —
simple trekking guesthouses
run by the families who lived
there. While the temperature
was mild during the day, it
dropped to below freezing at
night, so we spent our evenings
in the shared dining room,
swapping photography tips
next to the wood-burner.
The evening meal was
always dal bhat, the
national dish of riceand lentils, served with a
variety of pickles and curries
that were unique to each
teahouse. While landscape
photography was our focus,
the smoky light in teahouse
kitchens made for magical
portraits. One chef even
cooked us a second meal,
just to help us to practise.
“In a few weeks these trails
will be heaving,” Brightwell
said, unaware at the time that
Covid was about to strike.
“February is a bit chillier
than March, but now we have
the teahouses and trails to
ourselves. From my years of
trekking in these hills, I can
tell you that it’s worth it.”
The trails were narrow but
well kept. The porters would
usually leave after we did but
would quickly catch up and
overtake us. I asked one of
them, Issa Tiwali, if I could
take his photo, and we chatted
about his background.
“I live in Kathmandu,” he
said, “but I come to Pokhara
for work. Many of my clients
are Korean because I speak the
language, and tourism is the
only real employment in the
region. I used to be a hotel
waiter, but now I am a porter
and guide; it keeps me fit,
I spend my days with friends,
and I am outside in this
beautiful place. It’s a good
income too.”
On the third day, at
an altitude of 2,400m,
I found myself alone in a
rhododendron forest. Trees
soared 20m into the sky, their
trunks covered by lichen. The
floor was a tangle of roots and
patches of snow lingered in
the shade. As I climbed higher,
the trees became gradually
shorter until they were
indistinguishable from the
squat rhododendron bushes
found in British gardens.
In the thinning air every
step became harder. Then, at
3,300m, I broke through the
trees onto a bare rocky ridge.
Clouds impeded my view and
I could only imagine what lay
beyond them as I made my
way to that evening’s teahouse
and to bed.
The cold woke me before
dawn and I crept outside.
The clouds were gone and the
constellations were as clear
as an astronomy book, but
the grand spectacle was
Machapuchare, the Fishtail
Mountain, lit up by the moon
Continued on page 12→ASH BHARDWAJThe key to
landscape
photography is
going back to the
same place until it
looks good
The Annapurna massif, top.
From left, a teahouse
owner; in Pothana village;
on the trail near Lwang