Decided that there must be some way to pay some tribute to the faces, spaces, and leaves that have inspired either by wonderful force, or by gentle ways in the past year. It is also a way of saying thank you.
The best way, I think, is simply to post a series of images and brief posts in the final days of this, 2015. People who mentor, inspire, and those who simply go about doing what they do so well; or landscapes and tea leaves that conjure and stimulate, this is a series of tributes to those (and those things) who’ve moved and inspired in this last year.
So, this is the first of a series of posts that celebrate inspiration in whatever form it came in the past year…with the very necessary captions.
Inspiration in whatever form it comes, is still inspiration.
One of the year’s inspirational moments took place amidst bristling winds (where so much inspiration seems to come from for me) at close to 5,000 metres. Nothing dramatic…simply a nomadic elder laying her yak cheese atop her roof to dry. Sustained by gritty DNA and their sacred pashmina goats these people are the quintessential nomads. The Karnak people have continued to defy much of the modern world’s attentions…and they do it well. They understand the land, the elements and pay tribute to the very simple aspects of the world in which they inhabit.
Though perhaps lacking some of the intense spectacle of the nomadic woman, this photo represents an equivalent value to me. Karma, who seems to defy every title, is quite simply one of the Himalayas’ great mentors. Horse whisperer, cook without equal, tea-maker-at-all-times-of-day-and-night, healer, and reader of the mountains’ every breath, he is one of my essentials on every expedition that I can manage. Gentle soul and good friend as well I’m proud to say.
