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Blog // Images
October 4, 2010

Lessons From Ladakh

This is the first of a series of posts drafted while on the Lumen Dei Photo Tour of Ladakh. My hopes for the photo tour were extensive and perhaps unrealistic. I was keen to explore a number of styles of photography, from cultural portraiture to landscape panoramic. Moreover, my hope was to get some sense […]

This is the first of a series of posts drafted while on the Lumen Dei Photo Tour of Ladakh.

My hopes for the photo tour were extensive and perhaps unrealistic. I was keen to explore a number of styles of photography, from cultural portraiture to landscape panoramic. Moreover, my hope was to get some sense of how good my photography might become. With so many requests and opportunities coming in I felt like some hard decisions had to made, about how much time, effort and money to commit to image making.

Of course, all of that felt rarified and abstract as soon as I set foot in Ladakh itself; a dusty, harsh, but beguilingly beautiful region of Northern India. Acclimatising to the altitude (Leh, is over 3,500 metres and in some places we stayed at close to 5,000 metres) was even harder than adjusting to carrying so much gear (lenses, two bodies, computer, back drives, etc), or being part of a group tour for the first time in over seventeen years.

Moreover, Leh and it’s surrounding region were recently subject to a catastrophic cloudburst, with the loss at least 183 people. The aftermath of this was evident throughout our trip, from ravaged roads and homes, to dramatic rebuilding and even public figures making visits (including the Dali Lama). As I struggled with my feelings on inadequacy (my gear, photographic knowledge and software chops often felt deficient), I was also reminded constantly of the luxury of my day to day life back home.

Did I learn a lot? Yes. Was the trip worth it? Yes. Over the next couple of posts I’ll unpack some of the lessons from the trip a little more, while also showcasing a few of the locations we visited.

Responses
Rajan Alexander 14 years ago

Leh Cloudburst: What caused it? The Most Plausible Theory

There are many presumptive theories floating around on what triggered the Leh Cloudburst. Some are on the lines of conspiracy theories like those attributing it to Chinese targeting the country with their weapon modification program. Others sound seemingly outright outlandish being attributed to UFO activities. Still there are others blatantly anti-Green, accusing massive reforestation and afforestation drives over the decades as being responsible for the disaster.

Some simply end up stirring a controversy, like those blaming the disaster on global warming. The remaining theories suggest the disaster was caused by natural climatic phenomena. However, these still fall short of offering a complete synoptic explanation of what forces actually caused the strong updraft and downdraft that led to the cloudburst in the first place.

If we need to crack the Leh Cloudburst in order to adequately and scientifically explain it, then we must identify what forces were behind both the strong updraft and downdraft. We examined seven major theories in attempt to understand which among them appeared most plausible.

Read more: https://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.com/2010/08/leh-cloudburst-what-caused-it-most.html

Lore 13 years ago

A few years ago I’d have to pay somoene for this information.

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