Silhouette of a flower
Lens-Artists,  Mid-week Monochrome,  Nepal,  Photographic techniques,  Travel galleries

Gallery: textures of Nepal in monochrome

In photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary

David Bailey

It cannot be said that I found anything in Nepal β€˜ordinary’. But at the same time I know what David Bailey means, and it’s something that fascinates me about travel photography. I always want not just to capture the big β€˜sights’ but also the tiny details. I often photograph something that perhaps could be found anywhere: a leaf, a stone wall, a ripple on the water. But I found it here in this place so I want to capture it.

This week Jude asks us to look for texture for our Lens Artists challenge posts. So I hunted through the photos I took on our recent Nepal trip to find some that hit the brief. Many of these things could be anywhere but they weren’t, they were in Nepal. And each therefore is as much part of my memories from that holiday as any temple or mountain view.

Some of these photos may appear again, in posts about specific destinations in Nepal, for which I apologise in advance! I’ve edited them in Nik Silver Efex Pro for this post, as I like the way that monochrome throws all the emphasis on shape and texture rather than colour. So I’ll also share these, belatedly, with Bren for her Mid-week Monochrome challenge.

Edge of a tiled roof

Detail of a tiled temple roof in Durbar Square, Kathmandu


Carved wood panel with cart and lion hunt

An ancient wood carving in a house in Bhaktapur


Flat discs of dried noodles in a bowl

Dried noodles in a shop in the ancient mountain town of Bandipur


Brick wall with windows

A typical house in Bandipur


Banana tree leaves at Temple Tree Resort, our hotel in Pokhara

Large deep-veined leaves

Detail of tree trunk shapes

Tree trunk at Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge, Chitwan National Park


Detail of elephant's eye

Retired riding elephant at Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge, Chitwan National Park

(the lodge stopped offering elephant-back safaris some years ago and retired their elephants; one reason why we chose to stay there)


Footprint in mud

Tiger footprint, Chitwan National Park

(no, we didn’t see any tigers, unfortunately)


Spray of pompom shaped flowers

Marigolds in the temple town of Manakamana


Abstract ripples

Leaf reflections on Fewa Lake in Pokhara

I visited Nepal in October/November 2022

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