THE RIVER
The road to making this TV series has been like a river. When you try to trace everything back to the beginning, you discover there are many smaller rivers that feed into it, and hence many beginnings.
Roughly four years before I had sat down with Cameron Barnett and talked through my idea for a TV series about photography. A pandemic had tipped everything upside in both our lives, and we had time on our hands like never before. No employment, but plenty of time. My travel schedule was grounded by national borders, and Cam wasn't sure if he'd ever get another chance to shoot another Netflix special. So we came up with a plan.
We had worked out most of the pieces of the puzzle, but not all of them. We didn't have money and didn't have Tashi. At that moment in time Tashi didn't exist in our lives. That special moment was yet to happen.
We knew the Himalayas was the right place to unfold our photographic story. Of all the places I have travelled, there is nowhere quite like Nepal for photographers. It's a humbling nation rich in diversity, tolerance and kindness. It's a paradise for photographers and a challenge for the soul. You never go home from Nepal the same person.
Four years ago this story began, for the first time. And then it went silent. Myself and Cam found ourselves with paid work once again, and I was back in the Himalayas once again leading photo tours.
The river still flowed, but only with a trickle. And then we met Tashi.
THE GOMPA
I had heard about this monk on previous journeys to Nepal, and met some of his companions in the Lower Mustang. He was the monk who took photos. I would visit his gompa on my tours but he was never at home when I called. He was always taking photos somewhere I wasn't, until October 2024 when our two rivers met.
Meeting Tashi for the first time was like catching up with an old friend. He made it easy to enjoy his company, and we shared our joy of photography from the very first moment. Tashi spent a whole day with my tour group, bringing us into his world and illuminating moments we might otherwise have missed. It was a new beginning for me.
On that visit I got to know Tashi enough to understand how much he loves photography. He only had one lens, and no means with which to edit RAW files. What he did have was an abundance of joy for his art and for the life of a monk. The gompa and the camera were his two great loves.
THE NUDGE
Even at this moment I hadn't realised that many rivers were destined to meet. I knew I could help Tashi on his journey, but didn't realise that he could help me on mine. Not until I sat down with Lee Herbet a month later. I told him about Tashi and what an amazing story was waiting to be told. I told him about my idea for a TV series, and how I never imagined a better star for the production. And Lee told me I should stop talking about the series I never made and just go make it.
There are moments in life that will never exist again. You have a choice to dive into the river and float with the current, and just see where it takes you. Or you can head home and wonder what might have been. You never regret the things you did, only the things you didn't.
Pulling together enough money to start production was the first hurdle. Calling in favours only gets you so far. But waiting for the perfect conditions gets you nowhere. We committed ourselves to head to Nepal in March and April, and make the best of whatever resources we could bring together. I already had the right team on the ground, plus 15 years of experience on location, plus a dusty old plan for a series I had written four years earlier.
Once you commit to starting the challenge feels very different. Everything feels like it might be within reach. It's a very different head space to work in. So much of my freelance career, over 25 years, has been about solving problems. This production was just more of the same, but with the benefit of my local knowledge and a team of people a trust.
THE DEAL
The only piece missing from our project really is how we're going to screen it. Neither Lee nor myself have a proven record of delivering long form content. We've both done a tonne of broadcast quality video production in recent years, but nothing quite like ten 30 minute episodes. We knew nobody would take a chance on commissioning two unknowns, and that we need to produce the story first and then try to sell it.
Cam Barnett was waiting in the wings once again. Four years since our first steps towards the Tashi project, Cam was back again to help us look for paths forward when we pull the production together. There are no guarantees that we will find an audience, let alone that we'll get paid for our work. Some rivers flow wide and gentle, while others tumble over rapids.
All we do know is that between myself, Lee and Cam we have an inspired team to head over to Nepal in March and join Tashi on his journey. We have some idea where that might take us, but sometimes the real joy is in finding out for ourselves. We will try to update this blog as often as possible for those who want to follow our journey, or maybe even help us along the way.
If you've read all the way down to the bottom, then thank you for starting this journey with us today!
– Ewen
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