How to Photograph the Wonders of Nepal

Peter West Carey heads to the "Roof of the World" with his Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD lens.

Article By Jennifer Gidman

Images by Peter West Carey

"One of the things I love about the Tamron lens is how small and light it is," Carey says. "It's easier walking around with it, rather than having this huge, bulky lens around your neck. It's also not an in-your-face lens. It's a lot less intimidating when you're shooting people or even if you're letting other people try it out. It's versatile, too, which means you don't have to carry around the weight of more than one lens."

The 18-270's Vibration Compensation also proved handy for many of Carey's low-light shots. "I prefer handholding as much as I can," he explains. "I don't want to have to bring a tripod if I don't have to. That VC helped me capture a lot of my evening shots, especially some of the street scenes."

Read on for Carey's tips for capturing the awe-inspiring landscapes and culture of this breathtaking nation.

Before your trip, hook up with someone who's been there.
Find somebody who knows the country you're visiting well enough that he or she can help get you to some of the prime photographic places. With the ubiquity of social media these days, it's pretty easy to find one or two connections or someone who can point you in the right direction. It helps to know the right times of day to head to certain iconic places or landmarks so you don't waste a lot of time at a place during a suboptimal time.

For example, I'll be heading to Jordan this month, and I have a photographer friend who was just there. I was simply asking her how Petra was, and she started rambling off these great bullet points, saying "don't go here in the morning," "don't go here in the middle of the day because the shadows are too harsh," and so on. Those little bits of information, which I wasn't even trying to pull out of her, are going to be invaluable on my trip.

Shoot a wide variety of subjects.
I have a mental checklist I adapted from a National Geographic talk a long time ago of different things to shoot when you're traveling. You want to include everything from religious sites, classic architecture, and scenics to old people, young people, animals, and local food and food preparation to really get a taste of what a country is like.

This also gives you a wide breadth of images and gets you out of the box of how you usually take pictures. I used to shoot pretty much just landscapes, for example, and wouldn't really take people pictures. Over the past five years or so, though, I've expanded into other types of shots - now I'm used to shooting those people photos.

Don't be afraid to ask the locals if you can take their picture.
The tendency of most people is to not approach the residents, especially when you're on more of a vacation to someplace exotic like Nepal and you're unfamiliar with the territory and culture. That's why you'll see a lot of shots of the backs of people's heads and street shots of people looking away. Photographers are afraid to approach them.

It can be intimidating at first, but I've heard "yes" or gotten a nod of the head more times than I've heard "no." It builds your confidence the more you do it, because you realize that profiles only go so far. A lot of us are afraid of rejection, but you're never going to see that person again. Plus, it's not like they don't like you if they say no. They may just be uncomfortable in front of the camera.

Capture different sides of a usually stoic culture.
People in Nepal and Bhutan, as well as India to some extent, get pretty stoic when you put a camera up to them, so you'll see a lot of images from these areas where everyone seems really serious. What I did was take the standard-looking "proud" shot, then took a photo of their shoes. First, this shows an aspect of that culture we don't usually see. You might have this old, wrinkled man in front of you, but he's wearing a brand-new pair of Nikes.

Shooting people's feet also serves another purpose: It relaxes them. When you're taking a straight-on photo of them and suddenly start pointing your camera at their sneakers, they're like, "Why are you taking a picture of that?" They immediately lighten up, and you're able to get a whole new perspective.

Photograph the enthusiasm of the younger generation.
Kids in Nepal weren't shy at all about getting their pictures taken. The kids right on the trekking routes are especially used to seeing the cameras - a lot of times they'll want to see themselves on the back of it. When you get to some of the further-out places off the beaten path, like when I was in India, those kids just say thank you and walk away.

Don't forget to venture out into town at night.
For many of the street scenes I took, I shot them handheld, which is why the Vibration Compensation feature on this lens was great. The one good thing about photographing in Kathmandu is that no one's going to yell at you for standing in the middle of the street - you just have to make sure you keep yourself safe!

I took a couple of pictures right in the street, including one of one my clients with his camera. I set my camera on a concrete barrier and played with the exposure until I was able to get as much streak as I wanted in the image. I adjusted the aperture to darken it up so I could balance the foreground and background. I shot it at 18mm for 1/5 of a second, F/6.3.

After work hours, local markets spring up, so I wanted to capture that aspect of the culture as well. I got a nice shot of one market with the motion of the people in the foreground and a temple in the background. I shot this at 18mm at 0.3 seconds at F/8 to get as much depth-of-field as I could.

Look for unique perspectives that haven't been covered.
So many people take the postcard shots where everything's in focus. Instead, tell a story about where you are. For example, everyone shoots the Eiffel Tower, but I don't see a lot of shots of the rivets, of the steel patterns, of the artwork of the structure itself. Without those details, your pictures will look just like everybody else's.

In Nepal, this especially applies to overdone locations like Mount Everest and the trekking trails. You need to search out those other aspects of the trekking life. This is my third trip to Nepal, so certain patterns pop out at me. For instance, I took a series of pictures of the stoves in each of the teahouses because they're all from the same manufacturer, even though all of the kitchens are different. That's something you might take for granted by the end of the trip after you've seen a bunch of them, but if you focus on them early on, it really tells a story of the place you're in.

Understand the volatile weather and be prepared to wait.
There are different weather patterns in the spring treks in the Himalayas as opposed to the fall treks. In the fall, which is when I went, the weather usually starts to come in about midday or so. We got up before the sun, watched the sun rise, ate breakfast, then waited for the clouds to roll in later. If we could see a mountain peak and it was hiding behind the clouds, we would wait: A half-hour is going to bring a huge variety of shots, depending on whether the clouds are covering the peaks or letting them show. In essence, there are an infinite number of photos in one spot. Just let nature take its course.

For my nighttime shot of the moon over Ama Dablam, we went out after sunset, and most of the clouds were shrouding the peak. We were sitting there, staring up at the mountain, shooting the breeze, when the mountain peak suddenly popped out. I quickly took the shot, then the rest of the night it was completely covered over. You wouldn't even know there were any mountain peaks there!

To see more of Peter West Carey's work, go to www.peterwestcarey.com.