Nepal

For these images, I journeyed across the world to a completely different culture and way of life in stark contrast to my cushy life in America. As a part of this trip, I committed to leaving my phone behind in the capitol city of Kathmandu (in a lockbox of course), While on this 3 week trip, I struggled on mountain passes, I laughed in many tea houses, drank large amounts of tea, and of course, saw the worlds most amazing, and massive mountains. I had the opportunity to meet some of the most friendly and hard working people I have ever met.

The Porters carrying the duffel bags of the group, the owners of the Tea Houses, the cooks, our guides, even the pilots who fly small planes in and out of the Lukla airport. All of these people, strangers to our group of 13 Americans, instead of treating us as paychecks or as tourists, they pulled us in to dance with them, they were up before the sun to cook us food. They always had a smile, no matter how cold the morning was, or how early they were awake, they still treated us as if we were friends. These people are the backbone of any trip to Nepal, and are the only reason our group of 11 high schoolers and 2 adults were able to have the success we did.

On this trip, I shot almost entirely film, save a few phone snaps. Coinciding with the lack of a phone, I decided that I was going to take a step back from my typical view of photographer first, nature enjoyer second, and challenged myself to live in the moment and to focus on enjoying my time in the worlds most amazing mountains. There was times I missed having my big full frame camera and tripod, but that also gives me motivation to return to this amazing country and spend more then a mere 3 weeks in the mountains.