Our Photographers
I am a nomadic photographer, and am interested in taking pictures of many topics. People call me Nyima Tashi, but my parents call me Nyinyi. I prefer this shorter name, as it reminds me of my cheerful childhood. Back then you could often find me among the baby yaks on the vast pristine grassland. I hope to take pictures of the true reality of local Tibetan lifestyles, with no glossing over or polishing.
My Tibetan name is Mehla and my English name is Ingrid. I am twenty one years old. I grew up in a medium-sized nomadic family. My mom gave birth to me in a black tent. Now my family is living in Rega Village, which is in Hongyuan County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province. I enrolled in school when I was ten years old. I have been studying Tibetan for thirteen years and English for three-and-a-half years. I am interested in this photo project because I can learn lots of things about cameras, and can I learn how take good photos. Also I can study computer skills through this photo project, such photo editing, re-touching and exposure control. We can also preserve culture using photography. In Tibetan areas, some communities’ clothes and customs are changing. So with a camera we can show other people our traditional customs and costume. Also we can compare different areas' customs, clothes, lifestyles and landscapes from our photos. I have also gained great benefit from the project because I have been able to document my development projects using my project camera. If I didn’t have access to this camera, then it would be much more difficult, expensive and inconvenient for me to record my work in development.
My name is Lumo Tsering and I am from Xunhua County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province. I am 20 years old, and I come from a family of three people. I was born in a small village called Huadi where there are about thirty households. People there are mostly farmers, but they still have some livestock to milk or work with. The village life that I am used to is quite different from the place where I am now studying, which is the capital city of Qinghai Province. In 2007 I joined the first group of the photography project, and received training for about four months. I started to take pictures in my home area during the summer vacation. During that time I took pictures of different aspects of life in my village, for example: harvesting, a lazi festival and also some beautiful landscapes. There are two main reasons for why I chose these things. I have heard some stereotypes that Tibetan people are lazy, which is really not true at all. So I took pictures of people harvesting to show how hard Tibetans in my area work. My village is a very special place where daily life is imbued with religion, Buddhism. Religious activities held in my local area (such as the lazi festival I photographed) are important community events where people worship and celebrate together. There are many natural areas close to my village that are still not disturbed or polluted like other places nearby. The religious significance of the mountains and lakes I photographed has been passed down from previous generations to my generation. Hopefully the next generation will also see these remarkable aspects of my hometown with their own eyes, not just in these images.
My name is Drolmatso. I grew up in a beautiful Tibetan nomad community called Axi Village, which is in Ruo Er Gai (Zoige) County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province. All the residents are nomads and each family has a house in the village where most of elders and children stay all year round. These elders spend their time chanting scriptures and circling the old temples. On the pasture each family lives in a black yak hair tent and moves according to the season in order to get plenty grass for their sheep, yaks, and horses. These young nomads live on a diet of meat, butter, cheese, yogurt and tsampa, most of which is self-produced. I joined the photography project in March 2007, and it provides me with a great chance to learn more about cameras and discover the importance of photography that before I just ignored. Now I understand that even though it is just a simple machine, using a camera can make a great contribution to my culture for both its preservation and its presentation to the world. Here I took some pictures in my hometown. I think many people are unfamiliar with the area in which I live. Therefore, in the short term I hope that people might gain a better understanding of this place by seeing my images. In the long term I hope that I can contribute to the preservation of my culture. I am looking forward to taking more pictures and to sharing my culture with as many people as possible.
My name is Lhundrom. I am from Brag ‘go (Ch: Luhuo) County, Dkar mdzes (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. In March, 2007 I was lucky enough to join this photography project. We are not only provided with cameras, but we also acquire the skills to produce high quality images. During our holidays we document social phenomena and rituals that are traditionally practiced in Tibetan areas. I am also doing a cultural preservation project documenting oral histories, life stories of old people, folktales and cultural practices that are on their way to extinction.
My name is Tse Rang Tso. I was born in 1983. I come from a hard-working nomadic family and grew up surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains and a vast grassland. My village’s name is Oko Village, and it is situated in Xiaduo Township, Guinan County, Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai Province. I grew up in a single parent home. There are seven people in family: my grandma, mother, four siblings and me.
In high school I studied Science. After I graduated I changed my focus to humanities. I started to study English as my major, and have been studying it now for three-and-a-half years.
My hobbies are dancing, reading, traveling and listening to traditional Tibetan love songs. I feel that Tibetan love songs are really meaningful and emotional. During my studies in college, I have been involved in many projects, such as the Plateau Music Project, Plateau Photographers, and my own small-scale development projects. Now I’m a member of Shem Women’s Group, which is a non-for-profit organization training Tibetan women to manage projects aimed at reducing poverty and improving women’s lives. In 2006 I managed a solar cooker project, and a second-hand clothing project in Oko Village. Now I’m preparing proposals for two other projects: one for hand tractors to transport water and one for solar panels.
Through my photography I aim to show people what everyday life is like in my village. Conditions there are different compared with other Tibetan areas. I have begun using photography to document my development projects. I hope that the images you will see here will be useful in helping me to secure funding for my hand tractor project. If people had hand tractors in Oko village, then it would be possible to collect more water that is cleaner than the river water, in less time.
Tashi Delek! I am Dondrub Dorje, a monk college student. I come from a village called Sengze which is near Jyekundo Town, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Ways of life in Tibetan areas are changing rapidly, so the preservation of aspects of cultural heritage is every young Tibetan's duty. I chose to use photography to document what I could. I hope that you can see and learn about my area just as I hope that the next generation will remember the past.
I am Tibetan and my name is Renchen Tso. I am from Bailing Village, Huarei County (known as Tianzhu in Chinese), Gansu Province. My English name is Jenna. I have been studying English almost for three years. My hobbies are playing basketball, listening to music and going window shopping. As I grew up I had the chance to see areas outside my hometown. I discovered that there are a lot of differences throughout Tibetan areas, even when people are of the same ethnicity. When I photograph, my motivation is to let others know more about my hometown, so that they can see some of these differences for themselves. I love to take pictures. From my images, I hope that many people can visualize what life in Bailing is like.