Photography Adventure in Spiti Valley - Himachal Pradesh
Being a city kid, I always wondered how amazing life would be in small villages on mountains where you will be living above clouds & watching the world down in heavenly light, just like Gods in Indian mythology ! This amazing 7 days expedition of 1500+ kms glamping road trip into unexplored Himachal was going to be dream come true moment for me. A great Sanskrit scholar, Acharya Diwakar Datta Sharma was the first person who called this land as “Himachal - which literally means in the arms of Snow” ! And I was about to witness it by myself.
When I visited this place, I started feeling very small under magnifying vistas of this land. I was completely zapped with diversity of this place. With every step in this magic land, I have realised that nature is the only God & all we can do is to bow down in front of it.
If you just imagine forest landscapes from Europe or deserted colourful mountain scapes like Utah national park in US and if you wondered to visit them once in your life - you better visit Himachal Pradesh instead ! Himachal Pradesh is way beyond your imagination when it comes to diversity of nature. Hence, if you are one of those who loves to travel & looking to explore distinctiveness in arms of nature in India, Himachal Pradesh is one of the first places to count upon !
What to explore in Himachal Pradesh ?
Opportunities of exploration in Himachal Pradesh are countless. However, our main focus was countryside roads towards epic Spiti Valley & back to Delhi. The expedition was focused to be tribal & we were intentionally out from touristy chaos from day one. We have stayed at some offbeat locations along the journey & travelled through some beautiful known-unknown locations like Shimla, Shoghi, Narkanda, Rakchham, Shichling, Kaza, Hikkim, Langza, Losar, Kunzum pass, Chandrataal lake, Chhatru, Rohtang pass & Manali. Each of these places of Himachal Pradesh has something amazing associated with it, be it in the form of history or be it in the form of archeology. While places like Shimla & Manali are well known locations, rest of the journey was truly unique experience. I bet you will enjoy some amazing facts from these places which were unknown to me as well.
Facts about Himachal Pradesh
Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh is consider to be best accessible place for stargazing & astrophotography in India. We have been lucky to observe stars throughout our tour except night at Narkanda which was really moody & cloudy through day & night. If you are interested in astrophotography or even at star gazing, Himachal Pradesh is your go to place.
Roads in Himachal Pradesh are always curvy. As you move up the Himalayan terrain in Himachal Pradesh, roads of Himachal Pradesh become quite narrow, dusty & very risky. Rather, few of the roads of Himachal Pradesh comes under deadliest roads in the world when it comes to driving challenges. While lowlands of Himachal Pradesh are thick green forests of pine, oak & deodar trees, highlands like Spiti valley area is considered to be cold deserted moonland with barely any vegetation. Whatever you see in between, is the shift of nature all along the places.
Bhojpatra (Himalayan birch,Betula utilis) , white paper like bark of the tree can still be found in Himalaya which was used in ancient India for writing scriptures.
Did you know that, American missionary named Satyanand Stokes was the first to cultivate apples in a place called Kotgarh in Himachal Pradesh. Now a days, Himachal Pradesh is second largest state to cultivate high quality apples in India. During month of October one can see multiple apple trucks moving towards cities from Himalayan villages.
Hikkim - small village in Lahaul & Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh has the world’s highest post office at height of 14,400 ft which is still in working condition. In fact it also acts as saving bank for villagers around. This place is famous in Travellers which allows them to send letter/souvenirs to their homes from world’s highest post office in Himachal Pradesh.
Langza village in Himachal Pradesh is famous for giant buddha statue looking over Himalayan valley, however this village is also known as fossils village in Himachal Pradesh. It is believed that Spiti was once submerged under the Tethys sea and thus lot of marine fossils can be found here. Amazing isn’t it ?
Himachal Pradesh is home of Shyam Saran Negi who believed to be first voter in India in 1951 in general elections & doing so till date. He is 102 years old currently.
The famous Himachal cap is of cultural significance & identity of people residing here. The cap is mainly wore during marriages & religious festivities by men. However women can been seen wearing them in Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh.
Kye (Kee, key) Monastery in Himachal Pradesh is biggest monastery in Spiti region sitting on top of volcanic shaped hill-rock at height of almost 13,500 feet. Said to be built in 11th century, attacked multiple times later in historical instances yet surviving till today while offering religious training & stay for many lamas & their families. Kye Gompa belongs to the Gelugpa school these days.
Chandrataal lake is considered to be absolute serenity of Himachal Pradesh. It’s a sacred lake of beautiful crescent moon shape hence named as “Chandra” - Moon, “Taal” - Lake. The crystal clear water of this lake tends to change its colour throughout the day magically.
The famous Chacha - Chachi dhaba - Dorje Bodh and his wife Hishe Chhomo, both are running Chandra dhaba in Batal valley, Himachal Pradesh since last 45 years in a place which had barely any human existence for 100kms. The area is still remote from any network coverage or fuel stations. This couple still today fondly feeds travellers, adventurers passing through the road in Batal valley. In worst condition, this dhaba(food court) can accommodate 10 people for 2months with food service. For their such humanity efforts & rescue operations in past, they have been recognised with many awards, including Godfrey Philips bravery award. This couple is truly an inspiration to look upto how to live your life !
Many peaks & mountain lakes of Himalaya are considered to be sacred & worshiped by Indians. Indians are passionate hikers however still unaware of handling situations on such mighty mountains. Our tent owner Pradyuman Singh Negi with rescue operation background at Rakccham Himachal Pradesh said that he wants to build a strong community of explorers with proper training camps in heart of Himalaya in near future.
While entering Spiti region many villages can be seen on cliffs with no natural vegetation. Such villages are always at risk of landslides due to extreme weather conditions in mountain ranges. Hence, villagers put heavy efforts in cultivating apple trees around town to protect it from natural calamities & also to generate a source of income. Truly a great example of human harmonising with nature for equal benifits !
The following image is of our camp site in middle of nowhere in Spiti Valley between Shichling & Kaza - built by Aamod Nomads on the day of arrival. Warm beds, secured tents, hygienic lavatories, moving food van with kitchen & surprise set up of gazebo at nights with campfire ! Time spent perfectly in arms of Himalaya, Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh
How are the people of Himachal Pradesh?
I have travelled to many places in India & outside as well to create unique travel stories as Indian Travel Photographer. Photographing people is always challenging task specially when you are shooting in remote travel destinations with different cultures & lifestyles. However, shooting people in Himachal Pradesh was indeed a great experience. People here are really warm & welcoming. With every eye contact, the glow on their skin always brings out shining smile through their faces. Himachal Pradesh is book to explore for extroverts & place to consider as home for introverts ! People here are always ready to share their life stories with you.
Buddhism is one of the main religion here across Tibetan border villages. You will definitely not resist to explore the culture of monks & their life in historical monasteries of spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh. Given a time, I will request to explore as many monasteries as you can. Attires of people changes from place to place in Himachal which goes in harmony with nature & lifestyle of that particular village. People here understands life very well & value it for every individual around them. Hence, helping hands are always available & though you will be traveling in remote places in such expedition, you will never feel lonely while you are around any locals.
His name is Dorje. He runs a small homestay in Langza. He mentions that Barley is one of the important agricultural crop in a village now a days. Some people of village do protect their ancient art form of Zama pottery. The population is just around 150 people at height of 14500 feet here at Langza in Himachal Pradesh. Life here in winter is pretty challenging yet the godly presence of Giant Buddha is always there. More talk & research says that the place is enrich with medicinal plants & fossils from marine life from our past when this land was covered with the ocean, before the birth of Himalaya !
Road to Chandrataal lake from Kaza side is really challenging & asks to go through highest peak of expedition - Kunzum pass. Pass is basically a highest point of mountain in Himalayan region. You will always find a temple at any Pass in India. Goddess Durga resides here at Kunzum pass in Spiti Valley , Himachal Pradesh. As per the belief of locals, there are prayer flags all over the area which purifies the wind flowing through & protects the surrounding & people around. Hence these flags are always hung up.
Serene beauty of Chandrataal lake is absolutely breathtaking. However, drive to this place is not so easy. Camps are 5-7 km away from the actual lake & nearest parking is 2 kms away. Considering low oxygen availability here, even 2kms hike to lake becomes absolutely challenging and asks for your will before witnessing such serene beauty. The water of this lake is considered to be sacred & changes its colour according to nature’s will. You can notice word of caution during the start of trail for wild animals including Snow Leopards - the state animal of Himachal. But you will have to be very lucky/unlucky to face one of these around here considering the current number of snow leopards in Himachal as fourteen : says Mr. Negi who was guiding us the along the tour with Aamod Nomads.
Astrophotography in Spiti Valley
One of the most challenging part of my expedition was to photograph sky at night. It is not only about your technical photography skills but it is also about your mental strength for harsh challenges like low oxygen levels & sudden temperature drop at night inside Himalayan valleys. You have to ensure to not to get carried away with things as high altitude sickness is very likely which may lead to loss of life in worst case !
Preparations for night sky photography :
Find out a location just around camp site but still away from strong presence of any lights.
Always carry head torch & put on layers of cloths.
Carry any wide angle lens with as much lower aperture number as possible (I had 16-35 mm f2.8 with me)
Good solid tripod & external trigger or timer mode in cameras.
You should have good knowledge of manual & bulb modes in your cameras specially in DSLRs.
How to shoot night sky photos :
I have written detailed blog on shooting night sky images. You can know more about it here. Alternatively, here is my video on YouTube where I explained everything about shooting night sky images with Any DSLR.
Keep your lens on manual & focus at infinity. You can also sharpen it further by focusing on one of the brightest stars.
Keep your aperture number as as low as it can go. I went with f2.8
ISO can be between 1600-6400 according to ambient light of the surrounding.
To get sharp stars you have to apply rule of 500. Divide 500 by the focal length of your lens & that becomes your ideal shutter speed before your image shows blur or star moment to be exact. If the purpose is to have a star in motion then longer the shutter speed , more the motion you see in stars.
Final Thought
There is no doubt that Himachal Pradesh and Spiti valley is very pristine & adventurous land. Options of exploration, adventure, road trips are plenty here. It is very interesting to know that still in 20th century one can spend entire life here away from hustle of any city vibe. With the emergence of Internet, the land is calling people all around globe to visit this side of heaven. However, it is our responsibility to protect such limited existing heavens & angels on earth. Personally, we have been proud travellers with zero garbage in our 7 days of expedition through 1500+ km journey & all the waste we have created was brought back inside the city. All we can do while being on such magic lands is to travel without any footprints of humans. Let nature play its own game of creativity here & let just be the witnesser of such divine moments to conclude our life with smiles like villagers from Himachal and spiti valley !
Distances travelled
Shoghi - 330km from Delhi via NH 44 & NH5
Narkanda - 75 km from Shoghi
Rakchham - 174km from Narkanda
Shichling - 215km from Rachham
Kaza - 23 km from Shichling
Langza - 16 kms from Kaza
Kye (Kee, Key) Monastery - 15 km from Kaza
Chandrataal Lake - Around 100 km from Kaza
Rohtang Pass - 165 km from Kunzum Pass
Manali - 53 km from Rohtang Pass
Delhi from Manali - 532 km via NH44
Altitudes of locations in Expedition
Delhi - 709 feet
Shimla - 7,467 feet
Shoghi - 5,700 feet
Hatu Peak Narkanda - 11,240 feet
Rakccham - 9,500 feet
Kaza -12,450 feet
Key Monastery - 13,500 feet
Langza Village - 14,500 feet
Kunzum pass - 15,060 feet
Chandrataal Lake - 14,107 feet
Rohtang Pass - 13,050 feet
Manali - 6,725 feet
Editing images in adobe lightroom is skill of art. One can master it only when technical side of it is well understood. In this blog we will try to understand the power of photo editing using adobe lightroom, with an example of one of my holi images.