Meet The Mentor: Manish Lakhani

Manish Lakhani : Cyclist, Traveler and Photographer

Continuing with our Meet The Mentor Series where we introduce you to Darter Photography mentors who conduct our highly sought after photography workshops and tours. Today we meet Manish Lakhani, who has traveled across the vast landscape of India by all means of transport, with his trusted cycle being his favorite.  All our photographers are highly accomplished passionate photographers, conservationists and travelers who love to share the expertise gained over years.

Manish spent many winters in Ladakh, much before it became a fashionable destination. Even as you read this post, he is just back from Ladakh spending time with nomads, monks and locals in the un-touristy places in the region. No wonder the pictures he clicks are not found anywhere else, for he goes and mingles with people of Ladakh as one of them and not as a tourist or a photographer.

In his own words to describe Manish Lakhani:

“The self is a mystery. The more you understand it, the more you realize how little you know of it. I am in search of that mirage, that self – I am searching for me.”

Manish has been going to Ladakh alone for a decade, when few went there

His love for camera and cycle have grown together and are joined at hips, cycle came first as it was easy and cheap to buy without worrying much to convince parents for it. He loved cameras back way from his childhood days of medium frame, but in a different way; his dad had a camera and used to get chance to play with camera roll paper (used to make sword to fight with bothers) and later on started borrowing camera from friend to shoot films and finally into digital after he started earning enough.

Manish is traveler, a cyclist and a photographer

Manish is a travel photographer & adventure chaser with one foot in the highland cold desert of Himalaya and one on pedals of his cycle to chase dreams. He loves to travel with his camera on bicycle to remote areas. A photographer, adventurer & traveler from western part of India, who is eager to see new worlds and strongly believes what is said by great friend, late Joel – “not a geographical location, more a place in the heart”. Manish was born with a love for mountains, which has carried him back to Ladakh and other highlands of Himalayas many times over.

Not a geographical location but a place in the heart

He has captained many incredible expeditions and photography workshops in the high mountain regions, including the venerated Chadar Trek, which he has led more than half-a-dozen times during the winter months in Ladakh. And Ladakh is a winter home for him since last decade, much before it became the ‘go to’ place and a buzz word in traveling circuits.

After many years of working as computer network engineer, he decided to follow his dream and moved on road for almost 6 moths. He is an avid cyclist, who made memorable cycling expeditions in Changthang regions of Ladakh multiple times and made an incredible solo bicycling trip of 14,000 kilometers in India, visiting 22 states along the way. This ride took him five & half months on the road in year 2013.

Camera and cycle both have important role in his life. Manish cycled among some wildest and remote places in India from sea level to some of the highest roads in Himalayas. Being on a bicycle gave him opportunity to interact with people very closely and understand their life better, as when you are on a cycle you are never in a hurry and it is always easy to stop for a chat, a hot cup of tea and share a warm smile with waving kids returning from school.

When it comes to photography, he loves to shoot landscapes, street-life and live portraits, but as such he is happy to shot every single things except wildlife where he loves to watch more rather than click.

He has spent a lot of time in high land of Himalayas and is currently working on a personal project on photographing remote life in Changthang plateau during winter months to understand winter life of nomads and transformation from winter to summer in highland of Himalayas.

Manish mentors our high altitude Himalaya photography trips to Ladakh in winter and loves to share his insight about the warmth of people of these frozen landscapes.

You can follow Manish’s work on his website