The High Mountain People of the World
To photograph the high mountain people of the world, the ways in which they have adapted to living at high altitude, their culture, daily life, and to document the ways of life that are vanishing in the high mountains.
Living in high mountain regions presents difficult challenges. Indigenous people’s bodies have adapted to the physical challenges, but how do people make a living or provide for their families in such a harsh environment? Limited resources, little arable land, and fragile ecosystems make life difficult. Although mountain people represent about 12% of the world’s population, a disproportionately high number are continually hungry and malnourished. Globalization, modernization and tourism are also significantly affecting ways of life for indigenous high mountain people. Change can be a double-edged sword, sometimes bringing wealth and education but also taxing limited resources and resulting in loss of cultural identity.
I propose travel to 4 or 5 high mountain regions to document the people living there, their culture, daily life, and the ways in which they have adapted to living in extreme conditions. In those places where a traditional way of life is vanishing, my hope is to document this way of life to help preserve it for the future.
There are two great mountain ranges in the world, the Himalayas and the Andes. Countries within these regions I am considering visiting include Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Peru and Bolivia.
98 Comments
I like this one! I live at 8000 ft ASL and things are a little bit different here than in the rest of the US. It would be rather hard if we had to grow all of our own food, the growing season is very short. Very interesting idea. I voted for ya. Check out mine and vote if you like it. Best of luck!
This is a rad idea! Check mine out too and return the vote!
Very nice. My dream is to live in the high alps. my other dream is my own photo project concerning marriage~
Tibet Tibet!!!
i vote for you
please check mine too, there's something in common...
Very cool! Wonderful dream & Best of luck! You have my "PIC" - please take a second to read about my cause - furthering peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East and around the world! Thank you!
I think I voted for you - I hope I did it right!
Marcia
I choose you!
got you lucas. see mine!
It is a great idea to document people who live in the high altitude areas of the world. They have learned to live under very difficult conditions and have adapted to the food supply and scarcities that go with the type of territory they live in. Best of luck!
Good ideas like yours that are not in the Top 100 are nearly impossible to find. This is unfair as many great ideas are hidden. Those of us in the “Sub-100” should work together to promote the best projects of the Sub-100 so that they can be in the Top 100 and be seen. Please vote for best Sub-100s!
good luck! Great idea for a project.
Great idea!
AWESOME! This is obviously the best choice! Who really cares about children?
i voted for you as well. I hope you get it. Joey Beiss
Looks awesome. Got my vote!
Lucas,
You show a vast breadth of vision in your photos, and demonstrate that photography is truly an art form. Keep following your dream and sharing your visions with the world.
Good luck man. I just saw your post on RC and I love your idea. It's long due and if done well (which afte looking at some of your photos I believe you can do a good job) it could be truly GREAT! Good luck again and think about including video in the project if you win.
Good luck man. keep up the wonderful photos... : )
thankx 4 the vote!I returned the fav....great idea...good luck!
Good luck with this.
good luck! I believe it is a worthy project :-)
best of luck
I've met some while visiting my country: Poland. Great idea!
Nice idea, voted.
Check out my project on innovation and technology as change for the developing world and my portfolio here: http://maclellanimages.com/blog1/galleries/
Pushed you over 100!
What a great quest! Thanks so much for your support!
This is an amazing idea.... Good Luck! You got my support!
here's my vote... good luck mountain man
have a great adventure making this happen:)
Way to go Lucas! You got my vote... great idea.
Any recommendation by Adam Cole gets my vote!
An enlightening idea, with lofty aspirations, a great view and wonderful photographic opportunities! Lucas is a man with great vision and a strong soul! I command the powers that be to grant him this wish.
!!!! am praying for us to rise to the top twenty,, xxx
You got my vote...
I like this some friends of mine are doing something similar in the Andes! Please check mine out let me know what you think!
Interesting! You got it!
Wonderful idea. I voted for you.
We ALL need to win. I can't believe how many great ideas there are on here.
Wow!
This is such a great idea! I hope you can find a way do it, even if you don't win this... !
Sounds great! Would be a nice expedition as well! Good luck! U got my vote!@
I give my vote to you with a lot of enthusiasm. My graduation present to myself was three months with a mountain group outside of machu pichu villiage in Peru. That area is very close to my heart aswell
I did reciprocate. Good luck and thanks for your vote. Curt
Great stuff I voted for you
I voted for you. I don't know you but I hope you win.
good luck - kathya
Lucas, I think simple votes for votes has a way of being counterproductive in a contest like this (except for those at the very top) but I do think your project sounds worthy, so I voted for it. Best of luck with this!
Hi Lucas, I was an anthropology Major and I can vouch for the importance of documenting cultures, especially the ones that are most affected by globalization. Your project idea rocks, and even if you don't win, I still think you could find funding to carry it out. Good luck!
Love this idea! Thanks for the vote, you have mine. =)
A very well thought out concept. I appreciate the social justice component, as well as the artistic possibilities.
If you want to go to the Bhutan,be sure to read Shirley MacLaine's "Don't Fall Off The Mountain. Spiritual strenght is important for surviving the high elevations too.
Thanks Lucas for your encouragement. I like you idea as well and have put my vote in!
That sounds good;voted.
I like and strongly support the proposal.
good luck. we should collaborate.
Go get em Lucas
You have my vote, If you get the chance, check out my dream "From Australia With Love" and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for it!
Thanks.
-Adam
thanks for your vote. i love your idea and i'm returning the favor...pic'd!
Hope your project wins.I dont know you but have voted for this brilliant idea
Anita Paul
I also hope your project wins.
I voted for you. Good luck.
voted for you! consider photographing the people of the high atlas mountains surrounding Jebel Toubkal in Morocco. it's the highest mountain in North Africa. it's amazing!
lucasbarth.com = "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" We must be transformed on the inside by experiencing our place in the web of life through the hearts and sensibilities of indigenous peoples in high places. Your efforts can help us save ourselves and the earth. We share the journey.
God luck! I just voted for you.
Regards from the Himalayan Education Foundation (http://www.himalayaneducation.org)
GOOD luck, that is :-)
Och aye! guid project indeed... Good luck!
Thanks for the PIC. I wish you well with your project. I've been to Tibet before and it is killer with the altitude....But life moves at such a different place, and it is all worth documenting.
Good luck. I have voted you from Nepal. http://www.volunteer-nepal.org
I had read your idea when I first found this contest and I thought how original and thanks for voting for my dream also.
good luck!
Thanks for the vote for me and I voted for you.. good luck to you too
cool idea Lucas..ive voted for you...and answered your query on my page..so chekc it out and check out my other idea too! everoyne please vote!
Good luck!!
I like it! Mountain people are great, good luck
I work often with Tibetan monks and HHDL on different projects directly and indirectly both. Through my dealings, I have also become fascinated with high altitude survival and adaptation. And of course... enlightenment. Please go forth and go far.
Peace and Love,
J.Nothing
Interesting dream. I myself live in a very mountainous region (I live in WV, the mountain state actually...). This could give you many opportunities to branch out and meet so many different cultures of people.
Best of luck to you! You got my vote. :)
great idea... good luck voted for it
I píc'd you too--sounds like an adventurous idea! Boa sorte!
Thanks for your comment. We already have over 10,000 pictures uploaded and it won't happen if one doesn't try. You don't eat a cake all at once you eat it a piece at a time. Thanks for voting, I voted for you also.
Good luck Lucas! Chris
Good luck! Love the idea x
all the best i voted you. do come to my place to capture us.
nare
mjoshifamily@yahoo.com
Hi ! Thanx for the pic! I want to win, but if I don't I hope you do !
The Mountains are importnat and so are the lioves of the chidlren in teh mountains -- All the best . Mountain Children's Foundation
Good luck from Marlène, Editorial Assistant, Mountain Research and Development (MRD)
You have my support
You got my vote. Best of luck.
Great idea! I just read Three cups of Tea and the culture of the people was extremely interesting and their customs so touching.
I voted for you!
I voted for you! good luck..
as a climber/cs'er, had to hook it up with a vote. Take one from the capitan for me.
What an interesting project! I'll gladly cast my vote for this one! Comes from a similar heart.
Voted for you! All the best wishes!
K N Vajpai
Prakriti- a mountain environment group India
Here you go! Rooting for you, do it anyway :) x
Good luck, keep the photos coming.
Try to get in contact with the language institue in Oregon ( I think it's in eugene or salem) but they record and chronicle disappearing languages. if you don't win here, they may be interested in connecting with you as much of their work cross with yours.
Good luck and what an adventure!
Great project. You have my support.
Yeah, Number 424! goodluck Lucas.
I like your idea, check out mine and vote for me if you like it. Its about poverty and society in 3rd world countries and how they are controlled, devastated by their governments and western industrialized nations.
a vote from your neighbor at 1019.




I voted for you. Good luck. Don't forget to vote for your own dream.