PORTRAITS OF BHUTAN

Original PU Story By: Andrew Studer

The Story

In November of 2017, I had the opportunity to travel to the country of Bhutan in partnership with my friend Tom Anderson and the My Bhutan tourism group. My Bhutan enlisted our help because they wanted to promote more tourism to their small country (which is a landlocked, 14.8 thousand square mile area north of Bangladesh at the southern edge of the Himalayas) through the mediums of photo and video. Bhutan is a pretty underrated area that does not receive much international attention for tourism, mostly because it’s a bit complicated to visit. The logistics of visiting are not easy, you have to travel with a guide (and driver) at all times and they limit how many people come in to the country. They do this because they want to preserve their culture and natural resources, but they also understand that sharing their country and the hospitality of their people is important as well. It’s a delicate balance that they are trying to tread here, and it is understandably complicated.

The original concept was a pure portrait series, but it sort of morphed into a more experiential environmental set of images and video that we aimed to hopefully paint an accurate picture of what the life and people of Bhutan are all about.

The thing was, I had never really done this kind of portraiture before. Spontaneous, environmental photos are not what I am known for, and I personally have had a hard time becoming comfortable with the style.

In fact, I had never done street photography before this trip.

What’s more, I was thrust into the thick of things much more quickly than my brain could adjust. I remember the first day we got to Paro, a town west of the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. It’s the only international airport in all of Bhutan, and is also known as a good central location to visit several sacred sites and monasteries in the surrounding valley. Prior to landing in Paro, I had spent just two days in Thailand headed there, and this was my first time being in Asia at all.

It was a whirlwind of sensory overload. I was seeing an entirely different people and culture very quickly. I was both excited and anxious, overwhelmed and almost dizzy with energy. I remember standing in the streets of Paro and feeling the truest feeling of being alive that I can recall.

It felt so authentic. So real.

In November of 2017, I had the opportunity to travel to the country of Bhutan in partnership with my friend Tom Anderson and the My Bhutan tourism group. My Bhutan enlisted our help because they wanted to promote more tourism to their small country (which is a landlocked, 14.8 thousand square mile area north of Bangladesh at the southern edge of the Himalayas) through the mediums of photo and video. Bhutan is a pretty underrated area that does not receive much international attention for tourism, mostly because it’s a bit complicated to visit. The logistics of visiting are not easy, you have to travel with a guide (and driver) at all times and they limit how many people come in to the country. They do this because they want to preserve their culture and natural resources, but they also understand that sharing their country and the hospitality of their people is important as well. It’s a delicate balance that they are trying to tread here, and it is understandably complicated.

The original concept was a pure portrait series, but it sort of morphed into a more experiential environmental set of images and video that we aimed to hopefully paint an accurate picture of what the life and people of Bhutan are all about.

The thing was, I had never really done this kind of portraiture before. Spontaneous, environmental photos are not what I am known for, and I personally have had a hard time becoming comfortable with the style.

In fact, I had never done street photography before this trip.

What’s more, I was thrust into the thick of things much more quickly than my brain could adjust. I remember the first day we got to Paro, a town west of the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. It’s the only international airport in all of Bhutan, and is also known as a good central location to visit several sacred sites and monasteries in the surrounding valley. Prior to landing in Paro, I had spent just two days in Thailand headed there, and this was my first time being in Asia at all.

It was a whirlwind of sensory overload. I was seeing an entirely different people and culture very quickly. I was both excited and anxious, overwhelmed and almost dizzy with energy. I remember standing in the streets of Paro and feeling the truest feeling of being alive that I can recall.

It felt so authentic. So real.

The thing was, I had never really done this kind of portraiture before. Spontaneous, environmental photos are not what I am known for, and I personally have had a hard time becoming comfortable with the style.

In fact, I had never done street photography before this trip.

What’s more, I was thrust into the thick of things much more quickly than my brain could adjust. I remember the first day we got to Paro, a town west of the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. It’s the only international airport in all of Bhutan, and is also known as a good central location to visit several sacred sites and monasteries in the surrounding valley. Prior to landing in Paro, I had spent just two days in Thailand headed there, and this was my first time being in Asia at all.

It was a whirlwind of sensory overload. I was seeing an entirely different people and culture very quickly. I was both excited and anxious, overwhelmed and almost dizzy with energy. I remember standing in the streets of Paro and feeling the truest feeling of being alive that I can recall.

It felt so authentic. So real.

TRAVEL BHUTAN FILM

LIMITED EDITION FINE ART

Collect Limited Edition prints from the story above!

In November of 2017, I had the opportunity to travel to the country of Bhutan in partnership with my friend Tom Anderson and the My Bhutan tourism group. My Bhutan enlisted our help because they wanted to promote more tourism to their small country (which is a landlocked, 14.8 thousand square mile area north of Bangladesh at the southern edge of the Himalayas) through the mediums of photo and video. Bhutan is a pretty underrated area that does not receive much international attention for tourism, mostly because it’s a bit complicated to visit. The logistics of visiting are not easy, you have to travel with a guide (and driver) at all times and they limit how many people come in to the country. They do this because they want to preserve their culture and natural resources, but they also understand that sharing their country and the hospitality of their people is important as well. It’s a delicate balance that they are trying to tread here, and it is understandably complicated.

The original concept was a pure portrait series, but it sort of morphed into a more experiential environmental set of images and video that we aimed to hopefully paint an accurate picture of what the life and people of Bhutan are all about.

The thing was, I had never really done this kind of portraiture before. Spontaneous, environmental photos are not what I am known for, and I personally have had a hard time becoming comfortable with the style.

In fact, I had never done street photography before this trip.

What’s more, I was thrust into the thick of things much more quickly than my brain could adjust. I remember the first day we got to Paro, a town west of the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. It’s the only international airport in all of Bhutan, and is also known as a good central location to visit several sacred sites and monasteries in the surrounding valley. Prior to landing in Paro, I had spent just two days in Thailand headed there, and this was my first time being in Asia at all.

It was a whirlwind of sensory overload. I was seeing an entirely different people and culture very quickly. I was both excited and anxious, overwhelmed and almost dizzy with energy. I remember standing in the streets of Paro and feeling the truest feeling of being alive that I can recall.

It felt so authentic. So real.

When we were walking around, we didn’t see a single other tall, white tourist. Each other person we saw was being true to themselves, and not putting on an appearance or show for tourists in the way you get in other places, even countries close to bordering Bhutan. I looked around and remembered thinking to myself, “This is who they are.” Just about everyone was smiling, happy, and kind to us. Even not knowing the language, we could tell. Plus we had our guide and translator, Gimbo (He didn’t have a last name) to help us.

With a camera in my hand and these positive feelings coming at me from all directions, the normal stress and anxiety I have when photographing people seemed to melt away. I became even more excited as I realized that street photography wasn’t something I needed to worry about, or even think too much about. Gimbo was extremely encouraging with us, urging us to photography anything and everything. He insisted that it was something the Bhutanese people would be into, and he was right.

I remember the first photo I captured vividly. I was walking along the street when a green truck drove slowly by, and hanging out the window was this little girl with a big smile on her face. She looked right at me, and as I raised my camera to my eye, I could see her father who was driving the truck look over his shoulder and grin as well. It was in that moment that I felt at ease with what I was doing, and could look forward to capturing more moments just like it.

People walking by would see our cameras and almost want to be in the photos, to be photographed. Like it was an honor.

When I thought about what I was going to do in Bhutan before I left, I thought that it was going to be hard because I would feel as though I was invading their privacy, like an obnoxious tourist. I felt like that was what it was going to be like the whole time, and part of me was dreading that. But once I was there, the experience was far different than my fears. Once the vibe of the Bhutanese people became apparent, I enjoyed the quick-to-act aspect of street photography, and found myself feeding on the spontaneous nature of it. It was like a game for me, almost. A really fun challenge to capture these moments that were just happening so fast while also trying to photograph them in a compositionally beautiful way. It was a challenge that I fully embraced and that changed my views on photography altogether.

I have the people of Bhutan to thank for that.

This atmosphere was both a blessing and a curse for photographing these people. Yes, they loved to be photographed, but part of what we wanted to do was capture them in their element, candidly. Being one of just a couple white people there, much taller than the native population as well, we stuck out. I had to try and blend in the background of a country where the background was actively trying to keep me from blending. It was challenging, but in the end, rewarding.

Our government mandated guide, Gimbo, was somewhat strict on where we could go and when, but he was also very encouraging and let me know that the Bhutanese people were welcome to be photographed, and there was nothing I couldn’t shoot aside from a few Buddhist prayer rooms. I found myself able to just walk anywhere, even into people’s homes, and photograph them and their daily lives. Everyone was so welcoming and kind and wanted to be part of the experience. It’s hard to imagine getting this anywhere else.

In one particular instance, I remember an experience I had in the Laya. It’s this small village, located in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is also the highest settlement in the country, at over 12,000 feet above sea level. This village is very remote and disconnected. I think when typically tourists go there, they do this couple day trek to get to this village but we were fortunate enough fly in on a helicopter. The local people there collect the cordyceps fungus and sell it. It is a highly rare parasitic fungus that grows on worms in that region. The fungus is used for kidney disorders and other heath purposes. But in order to harvest the fungus, they have to stay during the winters which are very cold. There are some children there with rosey cheeks which are scars from the frostbite. So the life is hard, but it seems they are nonetheless happy.

I was wandering around Laya one evening when I noticed this old woman sitting down in the dirt near this little shed, getting ready to eat. She was sitting on the ground next to this pile of firewood. There was a little fire next to her as well. I caught her eye and waved at her, and she smiled and waved back and beckoned me to sit with her. She had this smile on her face, knowing we could not talk because of the language barrier, but she was so friendly despite this. I sat with her for a moment, then raised my camera to show that I wanted to photograph her. She smiled in affirmation and then continued doing whatever it was that she was doing. She acted naturally, sort of doing her thing while I captured her in photos and videos. Every so often I would pause and show her what I was getting, like the slow motion video you can see above. These little moments really stuck out to me, and continued to highlight the kindness and welcoming nature of the Bhutanese.

I’ve done trips with Tom in the past, but on one of the days we were in this tiny, poor village. It was Tom’s birthday and it occurred to me that Tom could be doing whatever for his birthday, and he chose to be lying on the ground, cold, eating rice with a cheese curry sauce that he was having for what seemed like the 1000th time in a row, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

Maybe this is why the people of Bhutan are so happy. Simple, pleasant, and genuine experiences they share with people they care about.

The last day we went back to one of the main towns and relaxed and decompressed from what we had done. There were so many people we met, experiences we witnessed, and a way of life I had never seen before. I hope I captured the essences of the Bhutanese people, because they deserve it. They were unbelievably kind, generous and wonderful to be around.

I would without hesitation recommend visiting Bhutan. It’s a country that will present you with a wholly special experience, and you’ll go in not feeling like a tourist but like a guest.

In my case, this was one of the most authentic experiences of my life.

 

LIMITED GUARANTEE

HAND SIGNED & NUMBERED CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY

AUTHENTIC FINE ART

OUR PROCESS

Portraits of Bhutan

| Photography, Travel, Video |
About The Author
-

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>