Breathless in Nepal

On 16th October Julian Elliot joined us from France via the internet to give a talk ‘Breathless in Nepal’  Julian is a professional travel photographer and has made several trip to Nepal visiting places off the beaten track. He gave members a great insight into the work of a travel photographer and at the same time showed some stunning photographs.  

His landscapes were of spectacular mountain ranges.  He said the in order to capture the scale of the scene he would stitch together several photos taken in portrait format to produce one panoramic format photograph.  Julian showed us his photographs of the festivals he had seen and explained that one of the hardest parts of this was to find a high vantage point so that he could capture the whole event in addition to getting in close to the action.  The travel portraits he took fell into two broad categories, ones of people he has met on his travels who are now friends who meet up when he passes that way again, and more candid shots of strangers.  These are powerful in the use of light and shadows often achieved by eliminating nearly all the light on the subject save for that coming from a window or a partial open door.  He warned members that although, perhaps because, the subjects were strangers it was still important to get permission to take the photos.

Three non-photographic things that Julian mentioned about travelling in Nepal were the need to be aware of the dangers of altitude sickness which he had personally experienced, the need to be prepared to accept that death is a daily part of Nepalese life, and to know not expect five star luxury accommodation, many villages had just one hotel, there was not an option of upgrading to a higher standard.