Portraits of Nar Phu

For those of you who have seen the photos inside my new book A Story of Karma, you’ll be familiar with the brilliant photography of the talented Dr. Arek Saczuk. Arek now shares a bit about his own journey from the other side of the lens, and (unbeknownst to him at the time) the deep and lasting connection that emerged for him with each click.

Portrait of local woman and child of Phu village by Arek Saczuk

In Arek’s words:

I think it’s every adventure photographer’s dream to be invited to join an expedition to Nepal. This dream came true for me in March, 2012 when our team set off to explore the Lost Valley of Phu, high in the northern Himalaya bordering Tibet.

But before we even left the capital of Kathmandu, I began to sense a conflict within me. Wandering through the narrow, bustling streets, I was busy taking hundreds of photos of the locals (as I had done on many previous trips). But this time, something didn’t feel quite right. I explored these unfamiliar feelings in my journal to help distill what was brewing inside me.

I began to realize that I was constantly “taking” photos. Taking…taking…taking. But what was I giving back in return? Was this really what I came here to do? To take from these people and then disappear with my loot of photos never to be seen or heard from again? Was this in any way an equitable exchange of energy? Of course not!

The challenge was that I knew I couldn’t take another candid photo without first deciding how I was going to give back. By now, I’ve learned that the Universe is there to help you overcome your challenges if you’re still enough to listen and hear the message. And that message came from a certain super sassy lass named Sanghita. She absolutely called me out on this issue without even knowing that it was an issue for me! You see, I really wanted to take studio-quality photos of as many of the villagers of Phu as possible. They were all just so beautiful. Sanghita blatantly pointed out; “Why would we allow you to take our pictures?! You will only take them back home and profit from them and we get nothing in return!” Precisely my dilemma in a nutshell. And from this, an incredible opportunity emerged.

I vowed, right then and there, to print out every single portrait, laminate them all, and send them back to Phu village via Sherpa courier. And that’s exactly what I did…and then some. Through a serendipitous meeting with another traveler in a café in Kathmandu on our way back, I was told of a very rare book (The Cloud Dwellers) written about the villagers of Nar and Phu and their remarkable traditions and landscape. With only seven hours before our flight back to Canada, I went on a frantic hunt for this elusive book, from one bookstore to another…until I found it. I paid the exorbitant price ($500USD) without hesitation because in that book were portraits of those same people in Phu village taken 30 years ago!

Once back in Canada, I contacted the photographer from that expedition and he graciously sent me 30 printed and laminated portraits which I included with mine (over 120 in total). I then arranged for a Sherpa to hand deliver those portraits to all the people I photographed along the route of our trek. Six years later (in 2018), as a final gesture of gratitude to those beautiful people of the Nar and Phu Valleys, I put together and printed a dozen copies of a book with all the portraits which was also hand delivered to each village by the family of a fellow member of the Explorers Club.

Through this whole experience, a very important question emerged for me; "What's your Phu?". Meaning, what do YOU have to offer this world? What's that special gift that you want to give to the world without expecting anything in return? For me, it's photography.

View more of Arek Saczuk’s photography