“There are and have been and will be an infinite number of things on Earth. Individuals all different, all wanting different things, all knowing different things, all loving different things, all looking different. . . . That is what I love: the differentness.” Diane Arbus


Many of the photographers I admire most photographed twins. These girls are the daughters of friends of mine. Every year I take their portrait

Horse Races

The famous Jyekundo horse race festival hasn't been held since the earthquake in 2010 but smaller ones have continued. Tibetan festivals are an opportunity for the traditionally nomadic people to come together, enjoy races, dancing, trade while of course looking their best

Ani Rinchen

My Aunt is raising her grandson as his mother left when he was a baby. She was married to my cousins but it didn't work out. 


Polyandry is still practiced here. It's more common in societies with scarce environmental resources, as it is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival. Traditionally one brother would stay at home with the family while the other would go trading. I asked a family once if it caused jealousy, I was met with a blank look 'why would we be jealous?'

Drogba, འབྲོག་པ།

Tibetan nomads, known as འབྲོག་པ།, Drogba, live in the remote, high altitude grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau. In this village close to the banks of the DriChu or Yangste the land is very fertile and they plant barley as well as herd lifestock. With each turn of the plough they recite the mantra །ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པ་དྨེ་ཧཱུྃ། Om Mani Padme Hum to bless the land

Lama Dance

One of the four skeleton dancers at the Tse Chu, ཙིས་བཅུ། Lama Dance Festival at Damkar Monastery, Jekundo.  

The festival is held on on the tenth day, of a chosen month, of the lunar Tibetan calendar and celebrates the life of the great teacher Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche. 

In 761, Emperor Tri Songdetsen, invited Guru Rinpoche from Swat (northwestern Pakistan), to drive out the demons who had caused a smallpox epidemic. Guru Rinpoche introduced the people of Tibet to the practice of Tantric Buddhism and is regarded as the founder of the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Their presence, among other things, reminds the audience of the transient nature of life, including states of mind and the body itself, the ephemeral nature of this world and of their own mortality.

Live at Last!

I'm so happy to have finished my website. It has been a long time in the works and it feels like a real accomplishment to finally have it done! Ticking off the to-dos suddenly feels less daunting and more of a joy so, head down and on with the next...