Made it!

I have now been in Nepal for a little over 24 hours. The flight was smooth and uneventful expect for being able to see the peak of Everest above the clouds. Epic.

My initial impression of Kathmandu is that it is much like India. Motorcycles, bikes, cars, and people all fill the streets driving much too close to one another for comfort. Interestingly, I have not seen a single autorickshaw here which is pretty shocking. I'm staying in a tiny single room at a guesthouse/hostel. It's spartan but sufficient (haven't taken photos of it yet).

There are a bunch of volunteers here from a diverse set of backgrounds. There people from Canada, England, Scotland, Australia, and of course the US. I've found a fellow photographer buddy so at least someone here understands why I'm on the rooftop of the guesthouse at night taking photos or shooting pictures of people on the street.

It's really interesting to learn about other countries. Even though we all have English speaking backgrounds there's a lot of differences in education system, language, mannerisms, etc. I've already started picking up a mix of accents so I'll prbably come back with a mixed aussie, scottish, english accent. Perhaps I shouldn't have made fun of Laura so much...

Pictures as follows. They're small sized to 640x480 because of the slow internet. Have to use in camera processing (never thought I'd use in camera software) to resize them. Street photography is quite the challenge. Life on the streets is fast paced and you only have a fraction of a second to compose and shoot else you risk being run over by a car. I think the main part of my people photos that is lacking is closeness. Right now I'm about 5-8 ft away from people when I shoot. I need to get closer to establish more a connection with my subject. People here are generally receptive to being photographed. All it takes is a smile and a motion of the camera.


Mount Everest. The airplane window was a bit dirty so this image is probably blurry. It was epic to see the snow blowing off the peak.


Typical street in Nepal, Thamel district (main tourist area). Looks a lot like India.


Bangles at a street shop.


Kathmandu at night as shot from the roof of the guesthouse. 1 minute exposure @ f8. 200 iso. It's actually much darker in real life.


Another shot of Kathmandu. 2 min exposure @ f8 iso 100. Again it's really dark at night. Although it's a big city pretty much everything is shut down by 10 and only a few lights poke through the darkness.


Nepali schoolboy being carried home by his mom.


Shot of Darbaar square in Thamel.


One of the pagoda like temples in Darbaar square.


There are large sorta pagoda like temples rising up in the center of the squares here. Most of the locals rest in the shade under their large roofs.