Alchi in ladakh, no photography?

zoossh

decided to get some targeted advice.

We are a group of photographers who are visiting india for two weeks, of which about 6 full days are reserved for ladakh, excluding travel to and fro (acclimatization are done on land transport from manali-keylong-sarchu-leh over 3 days 2 night).

We have plans for visiting 2 to 3 main excursion from leh, namely in the direction of hemis to the east, to nubra valley in the north and to the direction of alchi in the west.

My main concern is that alchi (3hrs from leh), despite of being very beautiful, does not allow photography within the gompa. we do not use flash but i think it is still not allowed. is there only one gompa, and if more than one, does all gompa inhibit photography? is alchi a big enough place to explore for photography if we can't get to shoot within the gompa?

i'm thinking if better times can thus be spent at phyang, rizong or lamayuru (nearest to furthest). any advices here?

vistet

whooah ! Sarchu is twelve hundred meters higher than Keylong , nearly eight hundred meters higher than Leh and Manali is barely high enough to start acclimatization. Safe ascent guide lines says max five hundred meters per night , and even locals may run into problems in Sarchu : last time I noticed a young Lahauli vomiting outside one of the tents.You would be a lot better off taking the night after Keylong in Darcha , or just going directly to to Leh .


Alchi is beautiful , but not imposing as an exterior. You have three distinct types of gompas , and Alchi like Tabo is a choskor , religious enclave : small chapels , sometime surrounded by a low wall. The tsuglhakhang is the largest structure , housing a three storey Buddha : 8 x 8 meters , if I remember it right.

Another types are the monasteries that have expanded from hermits caves , like in Hemis. At Saspol you can see where the rock face has collapsed , exposing these caves , and a prayer wall on top.

Last you have the obvious power symbols , perched on the mountain : Spituk etc.

Photography has become an increasingly sensitive subject in the gompas , esp. during ceremonies, I noticed in Spiti last year that they´ve simply had enough , and posted a more or less blanket ban on photography within.

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zoossh

yes, we will cover hemis as there is going to be tsechu there if my friend got it right. thanks for the advices for saspol and spituk.

spiti (himachal) or spituk? anyway is it becos of flash being applied or too near a working distance?

larsomat

Although being a passionate photographer myself, I really understand the ban. I've been in the alchi gompa during a puja in 1998. We tourists were given the great privilige to come inside and watch. I really felt honored and didn't make any photos because I thought it would be disrespectful. Others, sadly, didn't follow my example. I felt ashamed for their lack of manners.

Edit: Having said this, Alchi is a great place for photographers. The scenery is stunning!
And I guess if there's no ceremony, and you ask nicely there can be something done. Not sure though, Ladakh had 10 years of Tourism since i've been there. And many tourists can be quite annoying, maybe they really have enough of this.

nayan

we went to ladakh in august 2007. we are not professional(or even skillfull)photographers.
we visited alchi and likir on the way back from lamayuru.
Definitely go to Alchi..... the frescos/interior of the buildings cannot be photographed (with or without flash).... but the whole setting is very beautiful...... the complex is full of trees and the view of the river and mountains is very nice.

vistet

Highlight : David Snellgrove with a fellow researcher spent more than a week in Alchi , making a detailed description of it with photographs in The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh . After a long , loving description of the unique characteristics of the Kashmiri painters work , he commented that lifting the ceremonial clothes on the Buddha statue would have resolved a lot of historical issues :

"the thought never entered our minds ".

Beautiful.

zoossh

we have limited time to go from delhi to leh, and overall protected numbers of days for ladakh is about 6 days, of which 2 days will be taken for nubra valley. despite of understanding that good time should be taken for photography, i have to allocate time carefully to optimise the output.

our tentative itinerary in that area may be

day 0 reach leh in evening
day 1 acclimitize in leh without excursion
day 2 buffer and local excursion, KIV phyang, stok and spituk, or less.
day 3 thiksey - hemis - tangste
day 4 pangong tso and return to leh
day 5 to hunder in nubra valley
day 6 return to leh
day 7 fly off leh to delhi.

well, we last heard that hemis festival will be on 12th july, although when i checked the tibetan calender, it seems to fall on 13 and 14th june (10th of May in tibetan calender), and if that is the case, we may forego pangong tso.

it does appear tight in schedule and i have been wondering if time is better spent in locations within an hour drive from leh as compared to that 3hrs x 2 to alchi. it is a tough decision not having a luxury of time.

zoossh

i normally move near my subject in a stepwise manner slowly and observe the response to my approach till a comfortable working distance is achieved. guess i'm still in the learning process of this interaction.

larsomat

Or you could just ask, maybe in sign language. Most of the times it really is no problem at all if you communicate before in one or another way.

But I've seen people who approached very fast, nearly punched the lens into the face of the "desired subject" and then retreated as fast again. Disgusting!

It prevented me from taking any photos of people at all, when I was in Ladakh 10 years ago, because I just didn't want to be part of that. Of course this reaction was a bit drastic. When I return this year, I want to take lots of photos of the people, because they are indeed very beautiful. But in a respectful manner.

larsomat

that is really sad. i would consider a less packed schedule. of course you won't be able to photograph as many places, but when you take your time, you will be able to get more into the spirit of the place (which is overwhelming). and I'm sure this will produce better (as in "catching the spirit") photos as well.

zoossh

oh yah, that is done as part of the observation, usually with a gesture and a smile. but of cos, when i first started, it isn't that way, but i learnt with time.

as for the duration, leave isn't really a luxury for our society. that two weeks is the most we can afford, of which some time is spent in an ardous travel from delhi - manali (2nights) - keylong - sarchu - leh, taking up 5 days already but yet i do not wish to rush the ascent. as for that 6 days in ladakh, we are primarily targeting for nubra valley, and spending more time in nubra valley would mean foregoing pangong tso. also that may also mean truncating off the local excursions to have more time spent for nubra valley and pangong tso (reserving only a northward and eastward direction and excluding a westward direction towards alchi), hence this thread. actually my initial interest in alchi is the murals rather than ceremonies in alchi so to speak. i never use flash in travel, so that is a pity of the ban in the case of the murals, nevertheless i look forward to alternatives, especially for good walk around locations.

well, it is like a fixed mathematical equation to me, trying ways of minimising transport and locations. i'm even trying to find a possible break btween leh and hunder, but information of that seems scanty.

larsomat

i think your 2 days nubra are a little optimistic. it takes some time to get there, and some time to get back. there won't be much time for photos once you're there.
especially as the drive is *very* beautiful, and i'm sure you'll want to stop sometimes to make photos during that, after all it's the highest pass on earth and the view on both sides is stunning.

same goes for your day 3, i guess. thiksey is very beautiful, if you have to cut this day short, don't leave thiksey out.

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larsomat

by the way, when exactly are you there? Maybe I'll join you for a day or so... ;-)

zoossh

11-16th june. arriving 10th, leaving 17th. have to discuss with my friends, becos it is a give and take situation, some are landscapers while some goes for streets and portraits.

larsomat

yeah, no hassle, I'll be in India from 21st May to 31st July, but I guess I won't make it up to Ladakh that soon. Not sure, though.
Your day 4 looks very interesting to me ;-)
I haven't been to pangong tso, yet. Maybe I could join, if there's room. But just thinking...