In this series of "Photographer's Quick Guide", I offer my learnings from shooting a place from a travel photographer's perspective.
In here I brief about planning, photo hot spots (and unique ones too), timings and tips about shooting at these destinations in a bid to help the travel photography community.
This one feature Spiti Valley.
NOTE : Click on the images to open them completely and in full screen.
1. Chandrataal Lake
No trip to Spiti is complete without the customary night stay at the camps in the lake's proximity.
Photo tips :
‑ Clear skies for amazing nightscapes (those camps lit up against the stars)
‑ Early mornings (just combat the chill and get going) are the still most to render perfect reflections
2. Nako Village
Gateway to Spiti, First pitstop
Best Time : Spend an evening and a night, for sure
Photo Tips :
‑ Plan to arrive before sundown
‑ May to October best times to catch Milkyway
‑ Don't miss the helipad under the stars !
3. Gue Village
Reason to visit : Perhaps the most unsung village of the valley, this cute village houses a beautiful Monastery and a 500 years old mummy as well.
Best Time : Spend a whole day
Photo Tips :
‑ The serpentine road leading to the village and the Brook running beside it
‑ View of the village from hill top
‑ The colorful Monastery of course
4. Dhankar Lake
A secluded gem in the high hills of Dhankar. Takes a challenging hike of an hour to reach.
Photo Tips :
‑ Try to make it in the first half of the day (gets foggy /cloudy in a jiffy)
‑ The solo chorten against the huge mountains
‑ Lake in it's entirety !
5. Dhankar Fort
The magnificent Monastery and Fort complex by the confluence of Pin and Spiti rivers.
Photo Tips :
‑ View of the confluence itself
‑ Distant views of the fort, the sense of scale
6. Tabo Monastery
The oldest monastery in Spiti (more than a 1000 years old) offers amazing murals, mud cast structures and insight into the monk life in general.
Photo Tips :
‑ Catch the monks at their evening break playing
7. Mudh Village ‑ Pin Valley
The starting point for the Pin Parvati Trek, Mudh is a must visit. Tucked deep into Pin valley, Mudh is a perfect peaceful getaway (without any network!). Colorful hills and perfectly dark skies to catch the milkyway is a bonus !
Photo Tips :
‑ Night sky, night sky, night sky
‑ Best view of the valley is from that cafe's balcony
(smack in the middle of the village)
8. Key Monastery ‑ Road View
Key, hands down, is the most iconic landmark of the place. Archaic, pristine and charming !
Photo Tips :
‑ The pathway by the monastery, that leads to villages above, offers amazing High vantage point
‑ Sunset from the Monastery, overlooking the Spiti river
‑ And those fields by the river below, specially in golden light of the setting sun
‑ And the road by the river (from Kaza) offers a very unique bottom up view as well
9. Key Monastery ‑ Hill View
You can hike up the narrow and slightly slippery* trail behind the monastery school, and get this unique view too.
10. Langza Village
The "Buddha" village !
Langza has so much more to offer by the way apart from the iconic Buddha statue.
Consisting of 2 separate small villages ‑ Upper and Lower Langza, it definitely demands a night's stay (even more). Oh, did I mention the fossil hunting trips that locals can take you to.
Photo Tips :
‑ The Buddha statue, under all kinds of day and night skies and light. Milkyway core aligned with him is one exciting sight (that I'm yet to capture)
‑ View of the village from far, offers amazing scale shots
‑ Visit during monsoons is perfect to get the barley fields in full bloom
11. Kibber Village
The most beautiful village of the entire valley.
Especially when its bathing in golden light. Pure bliss !
Want to join me on my upcoming photo workshops to Munnar this October ?
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