This is my adventure and travel photo web site. The photos are not currently available for download but I am happy to permit downloads upon request. Email: paulallenphotography@mac.com
- Japan
- India, Shanghai 2011
- Colorado Autumn 2011
- Black&White
As of the beginning of 2011 I am shooting more black and white, mainly on 35 mm and medium format film.
All photos copyright 2011 Paul Allen
- Collections: Favorites
Some of my favorite photos from the last few years.
- Collections: Landscapes
As with the Collections:Favorites, this album contains some my favorite landscapes, mostly from Alaska, Patagonia, and the southwest USA but some from the Himalayas.
- China, 1982
Photos from a one month trip to China, now so many years ago. Kodak black and white film scanned.
- Annapura Sanctuary
These photos were taken during a November 2007 trip to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) and Machapuchare Base Camp (MBC) in the Annapurna Sanctuary, Nepal. Trekking started from Lumle, then up the Modi Khola to the villages of Birethanti, Ghandrung, Chomrong, Doban, and finally MBC and ABC. Roundtrip, the distance was 80 km, per local maps. Highest elevation reached was ABC, somewhat less than 14,000 feet. This is a splendid and huge bowl, with marvelous views of Annapurna South (which towers over ABC), Annapurna I (remarkably, the first 8000 meter peak to be climbed), the Fang, other named Annapurnas, and Machapuchare. Annapurna I is generally considered one of the most difficult, dangerous, and treacherous of all the 8000 meter peaks. Because there are no routes north into Tibet from the Annapurna Region, one sees far less evidence of Tibetan or Buddhist influence, certainly as compared to the Khumb Sulu area of Everest.
- Colorado & SW USA
Most of these photos were taken in Colorado, but some in New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.
- Death Valley, CA
Photos from December 2010, a nice time of the year to visit. Most photos here were shot on Fuji Velvia 50.
- Gokyo Valley, Nepal
In November 2008 a friend, Gene Smith, and I spent three weeks trekking in the Khumbu. Starting from Lukla at 2850 meters we went up the Gokyo Valley, trekked to the top of Gokyo Ri (5357 meters), then went down the valley and back up the standard route toward Everest Base Camp. At the end of the trip, we spent three days at Tengboche Monastery observing the very famous Mani Rimdu Festival.
- Images of SE Asia
These photos were taken throughout SE Asia: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Bali.
- Kilimanjaro
These are photos from a February 2006 climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340 feet) in Tanzania. Kili is a large, mostly dormant volcano in the middle of the Serengeti plain. The multi day trip ascends from around 5000 feet, in the jungle.
- Nepal Spring Trek
My April 2006 Nepal trek was scheduled to go up the Gokyo Valley, which roughly parallels the route to Everest Base Camp in the SoluKhumbu, with a planned summit of Gokyo Peak. Unfortunately, an unusual late Spring snowstorm caused us to retreat before the summit attempt and otherwise altered our plans and route considerably. More sadly, the storm caused numerous deaths and injuries on Everest and Mera Peak, and elsewhere in the area. This is difficult trekking amid mountains and valleys of stunning vertical relief, height, and beauty. Trekking in the SoluKhumbu (as named by the Nepalis) is one of the great trekking experiences one can have; certainly, that I have had. The combination of the great 8000 meter peaks of the world (Everest and Lhotse), famous lower peaks (Ama Dablam), visiting famous sherpa villages (Namche) and monasteries (Tengbuche), and the sherpa people and sherpa/Tibetan culture and Buddhism makes this trip unforgettable. I have read about these peaks since I was a teenager; to see them in person and close up was, to quote a trip leader friend of mine, mind bending. It was the trip of a lifetime.
- People of SE Asia
As with my "Images" album, these photos were taken in several different countries in the region, including Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bali, Singapore, and Malaysia.
- Safari
February and early March 2006, all in Tanzania: The Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Mynara national park.
- SF and CA
- Sikkim
These are photos from a spring, 2010 trek in Sikkim, which is in northeast India. The trek was led by Jamling Norgay, one of the sons of Tenzing who was the first person, along with Ed Hillary, to summit Mt. Everest. The trip began in Darjeeling, India. The highlight of the trip was the chance to trek with Jamling, hear about his many adventures as well as his father, and to see the many artifacts from Tenzing’s epic ascent. We got close to the base of Kanchenjunga, third highest mountain in the world.
- Thailand
- Tibet
The Lonely Planet guidebook summarized well what awaits the casual tourist: “For anyone who travels with their eyes open, a visit to Tibet will be a memorable, fascinating, but sobering and at times even saddening experience.” Our autumn 2006 trip was led by Gary Wintz; it’s hard to imagine a better Western guide to Tibet. Our trip began in Kathmandu, Nepal. We flew to Tsedang near Lhasa, spent more than week in Lhasa, then worked our way south and west to Gyantse, Shigatse, Shegar, and then across the passes to Kathmandu. There have been many changes since my visit. Most notably, the Chinese have cracked down even harder on the ethnic Tibetans. Cultural genocide? Probably.
- Western Himalayas
These photos are from a three week trip in September 2009 to India’s Western Himalaya region: Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh (“HP”), beginning with a short visit to Delhi. (Except for Ladakh, much of HP is in the Punjab, which saw terrible fighting following the partition of India in 1949.) The photos are in that order.
We began by flying to Leh, Ladakh. Ladakh is geographically on the Tibetan plateau, north of the Great Himalaya Range, but within the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. We drove halfway to Srinigar, Kashmir, and were less than 100 km from the Pakistan Line of Control and the China border. Ladakhis are of Tibeto-Burman stock, although they are many Indians from the south who live there. Physically, the area looks much like Tibet, and most indigenous peoples are Tibetan Buddhist.
From there we made our way to Dharamsala and McLeon Ganj, the Indian Himalayan foothill towns to which the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan “family” fled in 1960. This was the highlight of the trip for me, notwithstanding the physical beauty of Ladakh. The Tibetan community, culture, language and history survive and thrive in this Himachal Pradesh town as well as in southern India (which I did not visit) where the great Lhasa monasteries have been reestablished. What was most inspiring was to see how the Tibetans have rebuilt their culture in the Indian Himalaya foothills, and how that culture is being passed down to the present generation of young people, most of whom have never seen Tibet. (Others are more recent arrivals. In prior years as many as 3000 Tibetans crossed the border but this year the number is a fraction of that, largely because the Chinese have clamped down on those who seek to escape including by shooting escaping Tibetans at the border crossings.)
We also traveled overland to Shimla, the summer capital of the British Raj from 1885 until its demise in 1949. Shimla, and in particular the Viceregal residence pictured here, was the site of numerous historic meetings such as between the British on the one hand, and Indian nationalists and Gandhi on the other hand. We also visited smaller HP towns en route.
There is a large body of literature, of course, on India, the Dalai Lama, and the Tibetan community in exile. On this trip, I read Arthur Herman’s excellent “Gandhi and Churchill.” Some books on Tibet are referenced on my Tibet page.
Norbulinka Institute: http://www.norbulingka.org/
Tibetan Children’s Village: http://www.tcv.org.in/
- Wildlife (not Africa)
Photos taken in Antarctica (including South Georgia Island), Alaska, Patagonia, and the USA.