fatuusmorgana

I wanted a challenge, i wanted a hit over the head! and man did i give myself one.

I felt the need for an overseas adventure and the last time i traveled it was in 2001-02 throughout the Middle East and India and i could never get enough of the culture shock. So while i’ll was researching where i wanted to go next i purchased Lonley Planet’s Blue List. The first page that grabbed my attention was Tough Travel Destinations and coming in at number one was Pakistan. In another LP book i saw a picture of two trekkers on a landscape that looked like from another world, it reminded me of scences from Lord of The Rings, it was ice, black ice surrounded by incredibly massive sharp peaks that looked like over used teeth from a sharks mouth, it was the famous Baltoro Glacier in Nortern Pakistan, the pathway to K2 the second highest moutain in the world.

I felt as though this adventure had a mix of what i wanted and more! so it didn’t take long to say book it in.

To sum the adventure up, it was nothing short of incredible. It tested my mental and physical strength more than i could of imagine. You must remember i have never trekked in my life and i haven’t spent too much time in a sleeping bag. So ahead of me was having over 10kg on my back for 7-8 hours in 30 degree heat on rough terrian, while gaining altitude (high five for altitude sickness). The things i will remember most are the views whilst walking on the glacier. No photo can ever represent the incredible intimadating nature of the mounatins. Altitude sickness, The flight from Islamabad to Skardu, what a landing! flying in between mountains while doing close to a 90 degree turn. and last but not least… THE DRIVE from
Skardu to Askole. I could never look out side the jeep after i looked down to see the tyres within centerimetres of the cliff, and let me tell you it wasn’t a drop of a metre or two, it was straight into the rapid river some 100 metres below. Doing a three point turn on a 180 degree bend whilst the hood of the jeep is pointing straight down into the river is etched into my memory forever. And i’m proud to say so.

From the photography point of view, i was very excited to see what i could produce as this was the first time i was overseas with my digital SLR. The main challenge being landscape photography as this is an area of photography that just doesn’t interest me…yet. The people (i should say men) of Northern Pakistan are great to photograph, they do it tough in Pakistan as they have a very simple way of living in such harsh conditions and the old men show that in their faces. It can be a challenge however
to photograph men. I had my big 200mm canon lens around my neck which attracted many stares, so it was up to me to always smile first, introduce myself and 9 times out of 10 the men and children would allow you to take photos.Which leads me onto the women. It is next to impossible
to take a photo of a women in Pakistan. Driving down the famous Karakoram highway we drove through a number of “fundamentalist” towns where there was not a women to be seen at all. Yet in saying this one of my favourite photos by far is the woman by the lake. The fact she has her back to the camera tells the story for me.