McLeod Ganj

View all photos in this gallery (186 photos)

Contact the photographer

A selection of photographs (from so so many) taken during a six week teaching placement in McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, North India. The residence of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile, McLeod has become a haven for Tibetan refugees, Buddhist pilgrims and the ever-present kitsch tourist 'Children of the World' who take to playing flutes out of cafe windows and not wearing any shoes. Regardless of that annoyance McLeod is wonderful. The smell of damp pine needles and incense drift across on the breeze with the thick mist - as pervasive, even, as the hippies during the monsoon season - lending to everything a surreal (and, annoyingly for photography, a harsh white glare and slightly blurred) edge. The distance, though rarely visible, occasionally broke through after a good air-clearing storm to reveal the fantastic views into the valley below and up to the Himalaya proper. A marvelous, magical monk-filled place. For anyone going there to shoot I suggest comprehensive camera insurance and the acceptance that nothing, in the second wettest place in India, in monsoon season, at that altitude, will ever, ever truly be what we the British consider 'dry'...

Album updated! More photos of Tsechokling Monestary, bird photos, and now features photos taken from our trek to Triund (9325ft), including a few shots from an impromtu cricket game we had with a few locals at about 5000ft. The crease was situated either side of a very steep slope, one of which we'd just spent the last two or so hours getting up. Needless to say I was glad to not be fielding...

Prints available from £3.00