Travel Photography – Landscape Photography and Efflorescence in Spiti Valley
This article appeared in October issue of Terrascape magazine, where I write a column on photography. Read all the earlier travel photography articles on India Travel Blog.
When I started as a photography enthusiast more than a decade ago, the subjects that interested me most were landscapes. I used to spend a lot of time travelling in forests, hilly regions and around water bodies, trying to freeze the beauty of the earth with my camera. Over the years, my photography expanded and evolved in several genres including people photography, architecture photography and commercial work. Yet, photographing landscapes continued to be something that I still cherished.
My last attempt in photographing landscapes was in July-August months at Lahaul & Spiti, a mountainous region in the northern parts of Himachal Pradesh. It is a highland between the Tibetan plateau and the Indian Himalayas, where the altitude is always above ten thousand feet. Its landscapes, comprising fast-flowing rivers, snowy peaks, a few calm lakes and high passes form a great recipe for photography. During the early summer months, tiny flowers bloom and carpet the slope, adding colour to the already beautiful landscape.
My journey to Lahaul & Spiti began from Manali, passing through the well-known Rohtang Pass and climbing over thirteen thousand feet. This was a trip focused on photographing the landscapes of these highlands, where we spent plenty of time stopping along the way, camping next to a lake and staying in faraway villages in picturesque locations. The locations were remote and reaching these places was physically demanding. The thin air of high altitude deprived the body from oxygen and drained of all its strength. Despite the difficulties of the terrain, an urge to make images kept me going, and in the process came several memorable moments.
One such moment that I will always remember is seeing a flower bed, where yellow flowers filled the mountain slopes against snow peaks. We were driving near the 15,000 feet high Kunzum Pass, when we encountered this beautiful field of densely packed yellow flowers. The tall, snowy mountains in the background added a drama to the landscapes. It was a sight that I would never forget, and the images made in the process are something that will stay close to my heart for a long time to come.
Only a short distance from this field of flowers flowed Spiti River in a deep valley made by brown and barren mountains. Dark clouds decorated a part of the sky, creating a pattern of light and shade in the vast mountain-landscape of the river. The deep blue hues of the sky, the saturated brown colours of the mountains and another flower bed right below us created a rich combination of elements that worked well for photographs. It was another picturesque location that seemed to make the journey worthwhile.
In a decade of photographing landscapes, I have always found the process of shooting difficult. It required waking up at early hours, making long walks or travelling to faraway places that are difficult to access. But every time I have made that effort and spent time photographing the landscapes, it has left me with cherished moments and images that I will recount fondly.