Ladakh : The Culture and People of “Little Tibet”

150+ images reveal the rugged Himalayan region, seldom seen Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and Ladakhi nomads.

Over the course of five years, photographer David Vaala embedded himself in Ladakh, a mountainous corner of Northwestern India, to capture “Little Tibet”: its landscapes, culture, and people. More than 150 full-color, large-format images focus on the rare cham dances, masked dance-dramas, which are a unique aspect of Tibetan Buddhism. Using a make-shift studio, Vaala documented these brief annual ceremonies that narrate the story of Buddhism’s spread into Tibetan culture. The images immortalize the cham ceremonies with detailed portraits of individual cham characters from each of the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism as practiced in Ladakh. Further celebrating this isolated region are spectacular landscapes that feature Ladakh’s terrain, nestled between two great mountain ranges, the Himalayas and the Karakoram. Portraits reveal its nomadic people in intimate detail. This book is ideal for those interested in photography, anthropology, world travel, and Tibetan Buddhism and culture.