Photo Essay - Ice Hockey in the Himalayas (image rich)

[Manfred M]

We stopped to watch a local ice hockey tournament in Leh, Ladakh, India. The rink was a pond with a few low boards and the players were mostly members of the Indian Army, who are posted in the areas near the Indian borders with China (Tibet) and Pakistan.

1. The rink - outdoors with a palace (Leh Palace) in the background.





2. Somehow, this is not intuitively obvious.





3. Cleaning the ice the old-fashioned way





4. Now this looks more familiar...





5. And so does this, although the boards are just a few feet / cm higher back home.





6. The ice surface was so small that the players tended to bunch up quite tightly.





7. We don't see too many Buddhist monks watching from the stands back home





8. A team photo at the end of the game!

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[bje07]

Superb photojournalism pictures, good DoF, very nice colors.

[NorthernFocus]

Whoda thunk it? This is an excellent example of photo journalism, Manfred. Though the technical quality of the imagery far suprasses that of the average photo journalist. And the images tell a great story with minimal supporting text required.

Of all the things to export I think you Canadians have one up on everyone with this.

[Donald]

This is an excellent example of photo journalism, Manfred. Though the technical quality of the imagery far suprasses that of the average photo journalist. And the images tell a great story with minimal supporting text required.

That about sums it up!

[Mike Buckley]

You were blessed with diffuse light and you took great advantage of it.

[Manfred M]

You were blessed with diffuse light and you took great advantage of it.

Yes, the giant softbox in the sky worked quite well. The downside was that we were primarily interested in landscape photography, so the textureless sky was generally not what we wanted.

[madcrow]

+1 for everyone's comments.

[John 2]

Great series and an education moment. As Dan said, "Whoda thunk it?". To the uninitiated, for a country thought of as being generally hot, it's as surprising as the Jamaica national bobsleigh team in the Calgary Olympics.

[Dave A]

I never would have guessed. Good to see our sport is played over there with such passion.

Dave

[Manfred M]

I never would have guessed. Good to see our sport is played over there with such passion.

Dave

I was interesting to watch. If you are not doing anything at this time next year, there is always this to look forward to:

[bobohex]

We stopped to watch a local ice hockey tournament in Leh, Ladakh, India. The rink was a pond with a few low boards and the players were mostly members of the Indian Army, who are posted in the areas near the Indian borders with China (Tibet) and Pakistan.

1. The rink - outdoors with a palace (Leh Palace) in the background.





2. Somehow, this is not intuitively obvious.





3. Cleaning the ice the old-fashioned way





4. Now this looks more familiar...





5. And so does this, although the boards are just a few feet / cm higher back home.





6. The ice surface was so small that the players tended to bunch up quite tightly.





7. We don't see too many Buddhist monks watching from the stands back home





8. A team photo at the end of the game!


I am a beginner photographer. Such photo essays are a great way to get a new experience and get closer to the dream of becoming a professional photographer. I go to college and because of this I have little time for my hobby. but I am buying college paper here to have more free time. I get tired of paperwork. I hope that someday I can devote all my time to photographing.

This is great. I’ve always been fascinated with that part of the our life.

[Antonio Correia]

Nice photographs indeed...

Were you in a photo safari with other people ?

[Manfred M]

Nice photographs indeed...

Were you in a photo safari with other people ?

It was a photo trip and we had about 7 photographers.

[Antonio Correia]

It was a photo trip and we had about 7 photographers.

That is great !
I would like to participate in a trip like that but it is generally too expensive... Did you have a tutor ?
Not long ago, I intended to organize a photo tour in Portugal for a couple of days but I gave up as I have not the necessary means of advertising.
I have even talked to my daughter about that as she has a 16 years old Lisbon based enterprise dedicated to organising events and knows not only many people but places... We talked about this last October and she even imagined to have the patronage of a car and a camera maker for the tour.

Huuuummm ? How about that Manfred ? Shall we talk privately about it ?

[Manfred M]

That is great !
I would like to participate in a trip like that but it is generally too expensive... Did you have a tutor ?
Not long ago, I intended to organize a photo tour in Portugal for a couple of days but I gave up as I have not the necessary means of advertising.
I have even talked to my daughter about that as she has a 16 years old Lisbon based enterprise dedicated to organising events and knows not only many people but places... We talked about this last October and she even imagined to have the patronage of a car and a camera maker for the tour.

Huuuummm ? How about that Manfred ? Shall we talk privately about it ?

The trip I was on was lead by an Indian photographer that I met through someone here at CiC. The trip is likely to be offered again next year. He was very knowledgeable, but had less experience than me, so I helped out a bit.

https://www.xploringlight.com/ladakh...rs-photo-tour/

If I remember right, the trip covered local accommodation, transport and most food and the 8 days cost around €900 in Ladakh. It was about an hour flight from New Delhi. We were there at the end of January and it was physically challenging; high altitude (3500m - 5360m), windy and bitterly cold (-25°C to -30°C in the mornings when we got going). Local transport was with late model Toyota vehicles that seated 3 plus driver. Accommodation was limited as there were very few tourists (and open hotels and restaurants). Definitely not first class travel; everything was quite basic...

[Jim A]

Great series/marvellous photography, which I enjoyed viewing, Manfred. I particularly like the man sweeping the ice, for its simplicity. The monk yawning at you took the photo is priceless.

[mugge]

Beautifully done. This is my kind of trip.
Cheers Ole

[Antonio Correia]

The trip I was on was lead by an Indian photographer... If I remember right, the trip covered local accommodation, transport and most food and the 8 days cost around €900 in Ladakh. It was about an hour flight from New Delhi. We were there at the end of January and it was physically challenging; high altitude (3500m - 5360m), windy and bitterly cold (-25°C to -30°C in the mornings when we got going). Local transport was with late model Toyota vehicles that seated 3 plus driver. Accommodation was limited as there were very few tourists (and open hotels and restaurants). Definitely not first class travel; everything was quite basic...

I have been to the site, thank you for the link. It's a bot more expensive these days what is perfectly normal.
To flight directly into high altitude is dangerous. When we were there in June 13 (how time passes...) we travelled by car all the way to Leh. I thought I had a map of the travel but can't find it...

What I would like to do would be something modest. Well, never mind !

[Manfred M]

I have been to the site, thank you for the link. It's a bot more expensive these days what is perfectly normal.
To flight directly into high altitude is dangerous. When we were there in June 13 (how time passes...) we travelled by car all the way to Leh. I thought I had a map of the travel but can't find it...

What I would like to do would be something modest. Well, never mind !

In the winter, there is no choice as the roads are closed due to winter conditions especially through some of the mountain passes. Driving in does give a bit more time to acclimatize, but we have consulted with both a travel medicine doctor and a friend (also a doctor) who has practiced altitude medicine in Nepal. Acclimatization is key, so we try to arrive on site a few days before we begin our activities.