Visions of the world

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | flickr photos

I'm a software developer living in Melbourne, I've had an interest in photography for a few years now, and the same with travel. I think that the two have grown together since I got the travel bug, and I always make sure that I have a camera, any camera with me. Mostly I enjoy seeing nature in all its glory, the views, the landscapes, the power, and beauty of the environment.
The photos that I have chosen to submit were taken earlier this year on a trip to India. They were all part of a trek I slugged through in Ladakh in the Jammu and Kashmir region. The trek was at an altitude of more than 3 500m the whole way with high points at or near 5 000m. Mostly they show the landscapes of the region, dry, although fertile for part of the year, and with magnificent views every way you look.
The first picture shows my guide and donkey man as we approached the village of Hinju, just one of several villages along the trail, sustained by glacial melt during the Summer months.
The next three highlight the three high passes encountered on the trek, all a massive struggle for me, although the guides and donkey men made it look like walking on the beach. You can see the joy I felt after conquering the third and final high pass, perhaps a little premature considering that I had a further 10-15km of downhill hiking over rocky, loose trail.
The final picture was one that I had been hunting for since the start of the trek, trying to highlight the trail, the altitude, the views, simply, the magnificent scenery in the region, and adding a bit of perspective with the man and his donkeys. It was literally all downhill from there, though there was still plenty of great scenery to see. It was the hardest trek I've ever done, but I enjoyed every bit of it, even if it left me feeling ill :).

I understand that there are many government restrictions on tourism in Bhutan, making any trip to the country a privilege and certainly a photography trip would be a the highest sort.