Travel Photography by Eric Valli

What fascinates me about the world we inhabit today is an alternative way of living, a way of life that isn’t considered by the majority as the norm. We can visit distant areas of the world and not feel like we have left our city, the same shops, restaurants, and brands surround us, culturally you could say we are slowly becoming one. So when I stumble upon the portfolio of a photographer like Eric Valli who has made it his life’s work to document the diversity that human kind does behold, it’s a refreshing reminder of how remarkable the world can be, highlighting societies that view living at its simplest form, survival.

Eric, seen above, is a French photographer and film director passionate about showcasing the most remote and inaccessible locations in the world, creating work for the likes of National Geographic and the Sunday Times. Today I’ve curated a small cross section of work he’s undertaken with photographs from the high Himalaya’s where he spent 20 years trekking with the Dolpo-pa people, in India with the children of the dust who spend their days lugging heavy bricks, and in Nepal documenting the fearless Gurung men who harvest nests from the world’s largest honeybee.

This isn’t the type of photography collection that you come across everyday so when I discovered a handful of images over on the Old Chum blog I really couldn’t resist sharing further imagery with you all here. The skills that continue to keep these people alive in the most unforgiving areas of the globe must have been handed down for an unforeseen amount of generations, everyone of them is continuing on a tradition of those that went before them, which is a really awe inspiring concept to me.

Naturally with what we do here I’m curious to any craft/handmade objects that these communities create, I couldn’t see a great amount of this type of thing aside from the hand-carved boats from the Raji Nomads seen in the tenth image below. However I’m sure these items exist, I’d love to see the souvenirs that Eric has been able to bring back from his travels, the fact that these items will only be influenced by that particular area and culture these communities live in is really special. I wish I had the words to eloquently convey the beauty of these photos, but sometimes words are just not enough. Go see these for yourself, not only here but on the photographers website also – Enjoy!

www.ericvalli.com

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