Newar Cities Photography Workshop

Overview

Three medieval cities inside forty minutes of each other, all still lived in rather than preserved: Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. Woodcarving, metal casting, pottery and thangka painting are working trades here, not heritage displays.

Six days, small group, a working editorial photographer, and — the part that makes it a workshop rather than a photo tour — an edit and critique session every single evening.

The shape of the week

Mornings are early, because the squares belong to the people who live in them until about nine. Bhaktapur at 06:15 is a different place from Bhaktapur at eleven.

Afternoons are for edits. You shoot in the morning, you cut it down in the afternoon, and you defend the cut in front of seven other people. Most participants say this is where the week actually happens.

Portraits

Sessions are arranged in advance with a woodcarving family in Bhaktapur, and with metalworkers and thangka painters in Patan. These are paid, consented sittings in working studios — dark interiors, one window, and a good lesson in what available light can do.

Kit

One body, two lenses. A 35mm and an 85mm equivalent will cover the week. Bring a laptop; the edit sessions are half the point. Leave the tripod unless you particularly want it for the Boudhanath dusk session.

Ethics

Consent is asked, in Nepali, by a Nepali guide. Some places are closed to cameras — cremation ghats at Pashupatinath, certain temple sanctums — and that is stated plainly rather than left to your judgment.

Best season

November to January for the clearest air and the most useful low sun of the year, October and February close behind. From March the pre-monsoon haze flattens everything.