Thomas Bethune's Photographic Journal

MY EUREKA PROJECT

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

This is another photograph that I took Sunday near downtown Eureka.

CONTINUING WORK ON MY EUREKA PROJECT

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

I took this last night.

The “Eureka Project” and the “Arcata Project” are both self-assigned projects to document the business districts of both cities. It is something that I started about five years ago. I am realizing that I need to complete one or both projects and that I commit to exhibit this body of work.

Posted in arcata, California, eureka, humboldt county history | Tagged arcata, arcata bars, arcata history, building, buildings, California, churchs, eureka | Leave a comment

CHEMREY GOMPA

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

Hilltop Chemrey Monastery, is situated in an classical setting.

Chemrey Monastery from the village.

Damaged drum skin, Chemrey.

Chemrey

Door to monastery.

Chemrey and Stupas.

I am nearing the final entry regarding my experiences in Ladakh. I have yet to share anything other than the visual elements of my visit there. I am enjoying this process of reviewing and reworking imagery from six years ago. I am now far more capable as a digital darkroom practitioner than I ever imagined I could be in 2008.

Sadly, I was a cheap-scape when I went to Ladakh, and I skimped on memory cards, so I shot in a jpg mode the entire time. The images I am sharing are at the limits of what I can squeeze out of the eight-bit files. Nonetheless, I am pleased with most of the images. Please note that the image quality that appears on these pages is inferior to how the image would appear in print.

There were many layers to my experiences, and I will summarize them in another post soon.

Posted in buddhism, chemrey, gompa, himalaya, india, monastery | Tagged buddhism, chemrey, gompa, himalaya, ladakh, monastery, northern india | Leave a comment

LAND OF THE NOMADS

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

A village near the limit of where crops of barley may be grown. The altitude is about 13,000′.
Lungser Kangri 21,000’+.

Lonely camp.

Evening puja at Karzok Gompa

Inside the gompa, Karzok.

Near the Gompa, Karzok.

Posted in buddhism, gompa, himalaya, karzok, Ladakh | Tagged buddhism, himalaya, karzok, nomad, tibet | Leave a comment

MY VENTURE TO KARZOK – ABOUT AS FAR AS ONE CAN GO VIA ROADWAYS

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

Hobbled, Karzok

Thupten and I took a drive to the village of Karzok which is located at what I call “the end of the civilization”. As of 2008 this was as far as one could travel via motorized vehicles. It is located near the large lake Tso moriri at 15,180′. Our main purpose for traveling there was to take some currency to some nomad friends of Thupten. They were to come over the mountains from the direction of Tibet and meet us there at Karzok. We never did connect, but I did get to see many nomads in the area and in the village.

Lonely rider near Karzok

Nomadic home, Karzok

Nomad boy

Nomad girl

Posted in buddhism, himalaya, karzok, Ladakh, landscape, nomad | Tagged himalaya, karzok, ladakh, nomad, tso moriri | Leave a comment

THIKSEY MONASTARY

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

Thiksey Gompa (Monastery) is the gompa where I spend the most time. Thupten made arrangements for me to spend the night there. I spent an evening walking about with my camera in what became a “walking meditation”. Early the following morning I sat in with the monks as they did their morning puja. These images are from those couple of days.

Posted in buddhism, gompa, himalaya, Ladakh, little tibet, monastery | Tagged buddha, buddhism, gompa, himalaya, india, indus river, ladakh, little tibet, monastery, monks, thiksey | 1 Comment

STUPA, LIKIR, LADAKH

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

This is one of my favorite photos of Ladakh.

The expression goes “it never rains in Ladakh”. On the day we drove to Alchi we took a side trip to Likir. I found the approach to the village and monastery to be a visual feast. Perhaps the fact that it had rained and was still overcast contributed to the overall aesthetic. The monastery houses a giant outdoor Buddha.

Posted in Ladakh | Tagged buddha, ladakh, monastery, stupa | Leave a comment

SUMUR GOMPA

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

Monks at Sumur Gompa in the Nubra Valley.

Sumur is in a very remote corner of the earth. It is not very far from Pakistan, and as I mentioned in earlier postings, this is a challenging place to visit. The Nubra region seemed to be a sort of Shangri-La in that some of the villages that I saw from high up on the road seemed lush and remote. It appeared to me that the people living here are very much on their own for most of the year.

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DISKIT GOMPA

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

I received a few inquiries about Thupten and his family. I wrote quite a bit about the flood in 2010 on my old blog. Here is a link (you may need to scroll down a bit) http://thomasbethune.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00&updated-max=2010-09-01T00:00:00-07:00&max-results=7

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HINDU SHRINE

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Thomas Bethune

A Hindu Shrine for the people working on the road.

Posted in himalaya, karakoram, NUBRA | Tagged boulders, HINDU, historic, nubra, shrine | Leave a comment