Every February, we organize a winter photography tour Ladakh to capture the magnificent snow-filled winter landscapes and the frozen lakes. This journey may not be for everyone, as you have to be willing to endure very cold temperatures, often going down to -20C or colder. Although we tend to go very well equipped, usually for most of us, the first couple of days are a bit of struggle before we eventually get comfortable. This excessive cold, the abundance of snow and our attempt to make our way through all this often creates some memorable, hilarious moments.
Here is recollecting a few. I wish I had photographed everyone of those lighter moment, but sometimes all I have are the images from the surroundings.
The missing watch and the hour long search mission.
Our tour leader Manish walking in snow in search of the missing watch!
Our fellow tour leader Manish Lakhani has a fancy watch that has a thermometer built into it. But it’s a lazy one: it requires about 15 minutes to record the temperature. When we had stopped briefly on a drive through a snow-filled landscape, he decided to measure the temperature and setup the watch on the car roof for those 15 minutes. We all know what happens to anything you leave atop the car! After a brief photography session, we moved on, leaving the poor watch to brave the winds. At the destination, Manish suddenly remembers the watch, and not surprisingly, it’s gone.
This watch has given him company for many years, and he doesn’t want to let it go easily. He decides to walk back in snow for four kilometers to the place where we had stopped, searching hard and finding nothing. He returns with a sullen face, as if he lost a good old buddy.
And the watch? It had fallen off at a bend in the road, just a few meters behind the place where the car was now parked, all the white waiting for Manish to pick it up. In the time spent walking back four kilometers and returning, the black thing was shining in the white snow and laughing at him all the time!
Ice is what you sleep on!
The icicles we were photographing (right), and the amazing landscapes around the location
One day, driving through the highlands we saw a beautiful stream meandering through the valley, partially frozen. We stopped by to photograph the landscapes – the stream and the snow-covered mountains in the background. What I found equally beautiful was the icicle formed by dripping water on either side of the stream. They looked magnificent – like a bunch of some exotic shiny white fruits hanging down from a branch. Perhaps the best way to photograph them was by lying on the ground, and the ground in question was now an ice-field! We did lie down on ice itself and shot them anyway. The icicles were numerous all around, each one looking prettier than the next.
We were down there shooting for a long time, not caring much about the time passing by or about the destination we had reach that day. Our driver, the endearing & ever-smiling Angchuk waited in the car, and watched us with a gentle smile lingering on his face.
Over the years, our people seem to have gained expertise in sleeping on ice!
When we eventually continued the drive, Angchuk was ready to tease us. For rest of the trip, each time we passed by a snow bed, he would look at me and say,
‘Arun, there is ice here. Shall I stop the car? Do you want to sleep on it?’
This went on for days without stopping, and the way he would say it, we split into laughter every single time. This was on a tour almost five years ago. This October, I was driving again with Angchuk after a gap of three years. Winter hadn’t begun yet and there was no ice to lie on. But he did not miss any opportunity to talk about sleeping on ice all along our journey!
Jumping up and down on snow, not exactly with joy!
The image that took me 45 minutes to make on a *really really* cold night!
God know how cold it was that night! But we had covered ourselves well and were reasonably comfortable when we started photographing the night sky. We shot star-trails, not exactly an endevour that I would recommend at -20C, when you have to spend 45 minutes outside! Nearly thirty minutes into the shoot, it started to become apparent how cold it is. I was standing, barely moving much all this time, and the cold from the ground had started seeping into my feet penetrating the thick heavily insulated inch-high sole. At some point in time, I started jumping up and down trying to warm my feet by getting some more blood into it. What would you call someone who is laughing out loud, jumping up and down, and happens to be in a bit of pain that he is trying to rid of? You decide!
Sometimes it’s just too incredible to stop laughing!
When you have such incredible formation, you can’t just not have too much fun!
And finally, how can you keep a serious demeanour when it is so amazing out there?!
Also see: our photography tour to Ladakh in winter.
Also see: Images of snow filled winters in Ladakh
8 Comments