The Lost World of Ladakh – Early Photographic Journeys in Indian Himalaya
Posted: August 1st, 2014 | 1 Comment »A lovely looking book of lost photos of Ladakh just published and worthy of mention….
A superb collection of 150 black-and-white photographs of 1930s Ladakh, capturing its final days as a hub of trade routes between Tibet and Kashmir, India and Yarkand. These portraits of people, landscapes and Buddhist ceremonies taken by amateur photographer Rupert Wilmot, are notable for their careful composition, fine detail and engaging informality. They have been meticulously researched and captioned by Nicky Harman and Roger Bates, respectively, niece and nephew of Rupert Wilmot, and include maps, an introduction and a bibliography. Of considerable historical and ethnographic interest. Claude Rupert Trench Wilmot (1897-1961) was a British army officer stationed in India during the 1930s, and a talented amateur photographer. Nicky Harman translates Chinese literature, and was formerly a lecturer at Imperial College London. Roger Bates digitized the photographs. A retired engineer, he has many years of experience working in digital photography.
The publishers provide a free download in PDF format, here: http://plateauculture.org/asian-highlands-perspectives. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page to the last publication, AHP 31. Under the main book link, there’s the Appendix, also downloadable, which consists of interviews with elderly Ladakhis, carried out on our behalf in June 2014.