Shooting in Nepal with Leila Hafzi
I have been saying this for years and it is still true…
My living is made traveling to amazing places, meeting amazing people and have these extraordinary experiences while creating pictures…
Late May this year I traveled to Nepal with Norwegian clothing designer Leila Hafzi.
She had decided to become a designer at the top of the mountains in Nepal 15 years earlier and for this collection she brought myself and the crew back to Nepal with her to capture some of the spirit that made her commit to her path.
It all started in Kathmandu. Our first shoot day was met with a rainfall so heavy it made it onto the front page of the newspapers. Amazingly refreshing to work with a creative like Leila who with ease embraced the rain as a part of the image and it’s time and place.
This set the pace of the shoot and off we went…
We continued with magical moments among Buddhist monks at Bodhanath, and at Patan Durbar Square we drew a crowd of hundreds curious about what was going on. I guess it’s not every day a 6 foot tall blonde shows up wearing an evening gown…
We then travelled to Pokhara and the majestic mountains of the Himalayas.
The sense of place at the foot of these mountains are both overwhelming and awe inspiring. In a space like this things truly get put in perspective and one can’t help but question how insignificant one self is and wonder about how one belong.
How one truly belong in the larger sense of things…
The first day we shot in the village of our local guide and we got welcomed with open arms. We were hoping for a portrait with a few of the local women but ended up with a huge crowd, all wanting to be photographed. We spent the day there shooting through sunset having one unforgettable evening, which at sunset just had gotten started.
After wrapping up we were heading up the mountain to prepare for shooting sunrise the following am. This was an hour drive followed by a 45 minute hike to the top where we would stay at a farmhouse overnight. This would have been all good if it had not been for half the crew walking through an area full of water leeches making it one bloody and sleepless night. Do think I was the only one that caught a few hours of sleep that night…
After a crazy morning rainfall and some local Sage remedy for the leeches we again started taking images. Fog rolling in and out and mountains appearing just long enough out of the clouds…
We then headed down to Pokhara Lake for the last day of shooting….
In looking back at an assignment like this I have to say it’s the experiences that I take with me.
When home it’s not the pictures that are the most precious. The pictures serve as amazing reminders of a time and place I was allowed to immerse myself in, absorb and take with me.
They also remind me every day of how fortunate I am to be having my camera as my profession through which I get to explore and see this world.
In this I hope the ones seeing the images sense a bit of what we experienced while in Nepal…
To Leila, Stian Foss, Birger Løkeng, Tore P, Jocelyn Whipple and the beautiful Sarah Birkett and the Nepali crew; I’m forever grateful for one unforgettable experience.
And at the end. Please check out the Behind the Scenes Video…
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Wow, just wow:) Gorgeous photos:)
Hey Erik,
I am realy speachless. Your work its so great! There is so much feeling in your pictures. I’m looking forward to see more of your stunning work! Thanks for sharing with us!
best regards Jurek
This is plain awesome. All of them have magnificent composition and the pictures made me feel that I was in the frame itself. Simply stunning!
This is reall fashion photography!
Hi Erik, these images literally stopped me in my tracks. They are amazing. Truly inspiring, I look forward to seeing the latest work. Incredible!
WOW!
great photos. feeling great to see such creative work in my motherland NEPAL.
Awesome work!!! Pictures look amazing! 🙂
Awesome Photography…
stunning
Majestic pictures in magical land, my home country Nepal!
Really great work and Place for photography.
Great! enjoyed the photos very much!
Best wishes
Sujoy
http://www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.com
Our beautiful country and your beautiful pictures…Perfect combination!
Great job!!!
incredible
jusy awesome 🙂
Thanks a lot for shooting my country so beautifully well.All your images makes me believe in my belief more ” Heaven is here”
wow! my nepal love you….beautiful pictures
Perfect just perfect, never get tired of seeing all this pic. Naturally beautiful, fabulous.
Fantastic pictures! Want to go to Nepal again soon!!
Awesome photography and great choosing Nepal 🙂
good work really nice images with great light play and locations are really nice
– freelance photographer from Nepal
good work really nice images with great light play and locations are also good
– freelance photographer from Nepal
Amazing pictures! Thank you for capturing out beautiful country in an extraordinary way.
Just beautiful work, you captured the great ones, thanks Eric!
This is simply awesomeness!!
everything is just so perfect… !!
Love your work 🙂
Bravo..
Bravo.. Excellent work..
Truely…..FANTASTICALLY FASHIONASTIC NEPAL …..
speechless !! wat a creative photography !!!
The nature ‘n’ beauties itself speaks for my homeland country ‘ NEPAL ‘ !! LOVE IT !!!
This is really creative and classic. Well done!
… From Nepal
Such beautiful pictures.
Really, really amazing stuff.
they are just amazing…… (y)
beautiful photography… i like how you say that “when home its not the pictures that are the most important….”.. hope you had a wonderful time whilst u were here. And i thank Leila for bringing you here… thank you for visiting Nepal Erik…
wow to the pic snapped at patan durbar square. One of the lively place/museum of city, this place is always busy crowded and happening, it is never empty. And to portray such silent background with only beautiful lady .. The pic just hit my brain inside ..its just WOW..!!
her dresses are such an inspiration taken frm the nature…. seemd like, it has been placed to the right place to the right body
Just outstanding pictures. Lovely shots.
wonderfull picture of Nepal
Land where heaven and earth meets!!!
Nepal~~~
Perfect photography
Nepal is most meautiful country in the world, beauful!”
Great photos. Those brought back memories from my trip to Nepal last February. The people of Nepal are so great….I hope to go back soon.
great photography.
SUPER SUPER……..
Its really awsome and speechless, beautifully capture of Nepal’s landscape with dazzling model.. hats off sir
really hats off to all….:)
word is not enough to say… wow…. awsome ….
Never seen my country presented so beautifully every before.
THANKS ERIK. Your work is highly appreciated.
REGARDS,
JENISH
really . a . marvelous. work. ERIK.. you. are. surely. gonna . be. a. famous. photographer. one. day!!!
The one on the stairs with a goat and the old man was the best for me…you are dissolving into the wall…perfect
Awesome pictures !!
Simply awesome… Great work… What an awesome perspective you have… Simply awesome…
amazing..
No words to say totally speechless what a picture just so amazing.great job by photographer and model too m just feeling so proud to called myself NEPALI 😀
This is Gorgeous, Beautifully captured. and very much down to earth’ Cheers
Absolutely amazing !! Love your work x
Yep, truly brilliant! I love Nepal so much – just getting from point A to B can be an adventure in itself. Pokhara is such a magical setting for photography. India is great too and Bhutan is the most magical. Your creativity blows my mind Erik!
truly amazing piece of art. Enjoyed every bit of it. Thanks for sharing. Will be looking for more.
Great Shots:)