Three cups of Deceit - Byliner.com goes live with a story from Jon Krakauer

I was lucky enough to exchange e-mails with writer Jon Krakauer yesterday.
Then today his story (an ebook to be exact) we were discussing went live on Byliner website: "Three cups of deceit - How humanitarian Greg Mortenson lost his way". My image of a Central Asia Institute (Greg's foundation) school in Afghanistan is on the cover. You can download it for free for the next 3 days on the Byliner website - so read it if you get a chance and make up your own opinion.

Greg Mortenson on 60 Minutes - CBS news

I have been following Greg's Mortenson work with the Central Asia Institute (CAI) since my year-long stay in Skardu, Pakistan,  back in 1999. I started getting e-mails from various people over the last few days, requesting images from CAI schools in Afghanistan. I didn't know why until a friend sent me that link (aired tonight). Over the years, I have heard few negative stories from various people about Mr Mortenson - it's always hard to know if they are simply jealous of his success or plainly telling the truth. I hope Greg gets on CBS's 60 minutes (or any TV interview program for that matter), to clear the air...

In 2002, Outside got in touch with me to shoot a story on the Siachen glacier, in the disputed Kashmir region - I was put in touch with Greg to get access - the initial story proposal was to cross the Siachen glacier from Pakistan to India, walking over 7000m, with missiles being fired over your head. There was talk about me coming to the US  to "train" for glacier crossing etc. I thought it was crazy and declined - a tough choice for a photographer who was just starting up.
I must have been right since the story's angle was later considerably changed: photographer and writer first had a look at Siachen's glacier and its army presence on the Pakistan side, then they went down to Islamabad to legally cross into India, make there way up to the Indian army camps opposite Siachen and complete their story. This seemed much more reasonable. Teru Kuwayama, a photographer friend met in New York in the late 90's, shot the story (great B+W work) with writer Kevin Fedarko. I was later sent to Tuvalu to shoot an interesting story on global warming for Outside, my "compensation" price. I was far from my beloved Karakoram, but that story certainly opened my horizon...

Greg's right hand man is also an old Wakhi friend of mine, Sarfraz - the older brother of my Wakhi "teacher", Alam Jan Daryo. Sarfraz is from Zood Khun, a tiny village at the end of the Chapursan valley, on the border with Afghanistan and a stone throw away (to be exact 4 days walk over a 5000m pass) from the Afghan Pamir, the home of the Afghan Kyrgyz - a story that has "obsessed" me for 10 years now. Anyway, CAI's growing involvement in Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, building schools, with the help of Sarfraz, has been of great interest to me.
The CAI recently built a school in the Afghan Pamir, at a place called Bozai Gumbaz - a 4 or 5 days walk from the nearest village of Sarhad. It's hard to imagine the remoteness of the Little Pamir - and it's cultural complexity - but all these factors made it hard for me to imagine a foundation would consider building a school there - in fact, the Aga Khan Foundation didn't consider doing it, and they are the most involved in the region.

I went back to the Afghan Pamir in January-February 2011 for my second winter expedition (first was in Jan/Feb 2008, where I collaborated with anthropologist and now friend Ted Callahan, who appears in 60 minutes). During the expedition, via our only satellite phone (who worked erratically as we were close to the China/Tajikistan border), we were asked to shoot images (video + stills) of the CAI school, by an American producer, working for CBS. Strange request to get in such a lonesome place.
The school looked like it was never-ever used. The 2 only Kyrgyz teachers in the Afghan Pamir leave too far off from the school . In fact, by the time the CAI finished building the school, the government had already started sending teachers up to the Afghan Pamir and classes were being held at 8 locations. They didn't have schools, they just used the Aga Khan Foundation tourist yurts or regular guestrooms or tents. But it worked. For these reasons, the school, so far, has never been used - at least not to the degree CAI claims...

Here is the CAI school in Bozai Gumbaz (February 2011), with UrunBai, one of the Kyrgyz leader standing proud in front.
I also attached a picture from a Aga Khan Foundation's school in Zood Khun, North Pakistan - not a CAI school. When the weather is good, students often go outside of the classroom...
And finally, a telling note "Instructions for Life", posted on the wall in that AKF school. Don't forget we are in North Pakistan, immersed in Ismaili communities, a very tolerant form of Islam whose spiritual leader is the Aga Khan.

All images © Matthieu Paley

 

Tajikistan, Passage to Pamir - article in Destinasian magazine, December 2010

Soon I will be off for 1 month in the Afghan Pamir, only eventually linked by a satellite phone. So I am trying to catch up... This is blog madness.
While we lived in Tajikistan, we also pitched Destinasian for a daring story on Tajikistan. I mean "daring", as it is a bit out of the way for the type of article they usually do (they are in the lines of Travel and Leisure, which will also feature some of my Tajikistan images this month). Destinasian usually does really beautiful layout, as they did for our Hunza story which won a price last year, see it here.

Here is the Tajikistan article, with Mareile's text...

 

 

 

Voila un artcile paru récemment dans Destinasian et écrit par Mareile, avec mes images, sur le Pamir, au Tajikistan!

Nepal, Annapurna trek, Geo publication, "Die Strasse", the road...

Last July I went for 10 days to walk some of the Annapurna trek for Geo magazine, as part of a special issue on the Himalayas. It's one of the legendary trek of the Himalayan world. I had done part of it over 10 years ago but since then, a jeep road has been built in the western side of the circuit, reaching to the holy shrine of Muktinath - mostly bringing Indians believers, who flew into Jomson village, then took the jeep to the base of the shrine, then horses to the shrine itself... minimal walking involved (question: does that defy the idea of a "pilgrimage"?). They are building a similar road on the eastern side of the Annapurna circuit.
I went with writer Tom Dauer, who when not on assignment, lives in a beautiful farm house at the feet of the Alps, 40Km south of Munich - great place to read, write and chop wood!
Here we are, after a quick dip in the holy spring of Muktinath (which washes from all sins! thanks goodness...) this ended up at the beginning of the magazine, an interesting contributor picture.

Voici quelques images ainsi que l'article publié dans Géo allemagne, suite à mon reportage sur la route qui se construit le long du célèbre trek autour des Annapurnas. Ci-dessous, me voila avec Tom Dauer, l'auteur de l'article... Ici aussi, un diaporama fait par Geo.

Geo did a small sideshow piece, and ask me to lay some words over it. Here it is in English or German, it summarizes the story quite well.

This is the resulting article from that story, came out in December 2010:

 

 

 

And these are some of the images that didn't make it into the story, life along the road...

It does happen... ca arrive - erratum + en route to Nauru

French:
Le week end dernier, j'ai une double de ma série sur la Sibérie qui est sortie dans le Figaro magazine, la section "Arrêt sur image". Le problème, c'est qu'un certain Laurent Masurel, spécialiste de photo de surf,  a eu le crédit de cette photo. Donc, une erreur a la rédaction du Figaro et hop, personne ne sait plus que c'est ma photo. Cela m'était déja arrivé, une photo dans Time il y a queqlues années, mon nom avait été écorché. Dans ce cas-la, en général, la prix de double est multiplié par 2 et idéalement, le magazine publie un erratum. Il devrait apparaitre dans le Figaro Magazine de ce week end. Mais je suis bien loin, a Brisbane, dans une chambre d'hotel, en transit vers Nauru. Ce soir, je m'envole pour 6 heures au dessus du Pacifique.

Et voila Nauru: here it is, an aerial image of Nauru in 2002 from the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program.

Personally, I think Nauru is a spectacular case of middle of nowhere yet middle of everything. Nowhere to hide on this planet? I think so... Been wanting to go there for years, it's going to be 10 busy days on the world's smallest independent republic.

English:
Last week end, I had a spread from my Siberia series published in the Figaro magazine. Only problem is that my image was wrongly credited, to a photographer called Laurent Masurel, who specializes on Surf photography... A mistake from the editorial room, and there you go, no one knows it's my image. It does happen though. I remember a few years ago in Time magazine, my name had been completely misspell. In this case, what does usually happen is that you get paid double and they publish an erratum in the upcoming magazine. This should get published in this week end's Figaro magazine. But I am far from all this, in a hotel room in Brisbane, en route to Nauru. Tonight, I fly 6 hours above the Pacific...

Geo germany, my feature on Djibouti, East Africa

Last June I spent 3 exciting and burning hot weeks (= 45 degrees and 90% humidity... nice!) in Djibouti, on assignment for Geo Germany.
The article came out this week, I was very happy with the result - the whole assignment made me love my job. I felt really lucky.
In fact, I have always been really fascinated by all the intrigues of the Great Game = the strategic rivalry between Russian and British Empire that took place 100 years ago in Central Asia - basically spies dressing up like locals trying to gather information and risking their lives on the way. And much more. Peter Hopkirk has written a few books on this, and they are so extremely well written and documented, I encourage everyone to read them.
Anyway, as it turned out, shooting a story in Djibouti was like diving into the Great Game, but the African version, and its taking place now...
Djibouti, Dschibuti, Yibuti, Djiboeti... however you call it, is right on the Horn of Africa, opposite Yemen, north of Somalia, east of Ethiopia and South of Eritrea! Strategically and geopolitically, it is of extreme importance. It's an island of relative peace in the middle of a relative big mess. So, as it turns out, these days everybody wants a piece of Djibouti: US, China, lots of Europeans countries, Japanese - they all have an army presence in this dried up place. Title of the story sums it up "Alle Welt will nach Dschibuti" which translates more or less as "Everyone wants a piece of Djibouti".

At work at the US army Camp Lemonier ©Ines Possemeyer

During anti-piracy reconnaissance flight, above the Gulf of Aden. German army detachment.

I went with Geo staff writer Ines Possemeyer, a great and passionate journalist. She had worked for a couple of months ahead to secure us access to the various military bases, anti-piracy planes, the president, the foreign legion, refugee centers etc.
They are a million things to say about Djibouti - this is a bless and a curse when it comes to stories. What was a real challenge for me was to get an opening image for the article - one that would summarize the whole complexity of the geopolitical importance of Djibouti. I knew it would be impossible, unless I would find something like an army guy in a slum hanging out with prostitutes while looking for pirates all the while having a chat with the president and a few Somalian refugees... tough one indeed.

Here is the article. I will post more images on Djibouti in the coming days as well as explanations. There are many outtakes - a full story will end up on my website...

En Francais:
En Juin dernier je suis parti 3 semaines, en reportage pour Géo Allemagne.   L'article vient de sortir, je suis content du résultat. L'expérience m'a fait adoré mon boulot - toujours un bon signe.
J'ai toujours été fasciné par les intrigues du "Grand Jeu" - cette rivalité qui a eu lieu il y a + - 100 ans, entre l'Empire Britannique et l'Empire Russe, en Asie Centrale. En gros des espions qui s'habillent en pélerin pour aller récolter des informations dans les contrées reculée de l'empire. Peter Hopkirk a écrit de superbes bouquin a ce sujet, à lire absolument.
En fait, faire ce reportage à Djibouti, c'etait comme rentrer dans le Grand Jeu, version Afrique.
Djibouti, Dschibuti, Yibuti, Djiboeti... peux importe comment vous l'épeler, est sur la Corne d'Afrique (entouré de l'Ethiopie, Somalie et Erithrée, en face du Yemen), c'est stratégiquement et géopolitiquement très important: un lieu assez paisible au milieu d'une zone dangereuse. US, Chine, beaucoup d'Européens, Japonais etc: ils ont tous une présence armée. Le titre du reportage résume bien l'histoire "Alle Welt will nach Dschibuti" : "Tout le monde veut un bout de Djibouti".

Je suis parti avec Ines Possemeyer, journaliste très passionnée, ce fut un vrai plaisir de travaillé avec elle. Elle avait commencé a organiser les accés divers (Armée, président, camp de réfugié etc) quelques mois auparavant - chose essentielle pour ce type de reportage.
Il y a tellement de choses a dire a propos de Djibouti - c'est une bonne et mauvaise chose à la fois. Cela devient sur place très dificile de trouver une image qui symbolise toute la complexité du lieu. Je savais que cela serait difficile, a moins de trouver une mec de l'armée dans un bidonville avec des prostitués tout en cherchant des pirates et en taillant une bavette avec le préseident et quelques réfugiés somalien... bien difficile en effet.

L'article est ci-dessus (ainsi que qq images, en "action"). Je mettrais d'autres images de Djibouti dans les jours qui suivent avec des explications. En fait, le reportage terminera sur mon site dès que je trouverais le temps de le faire.

Taste of Mongolia (that would be mutton...) in this month's Travel & Leisure

Travel & Leisure features a portfolio of some of my Mongolia images in this month's edition. See it below. Voila!

A Portfolio of horses

Equestrio magazine just featured me in their portfolio section and on their covers, with an interview from yours truly. Click on the first image to read the flattering text...

Horses are probably my favorite in the animal realm, and I have indeed shot lots of them over the years. My first horse story was on the Polo Shandur festival, in Pakistan. More soon followed. Last summer I shot a Kyrgyz horse game on the Pamir plateau, in Tajikistan. I jumped in the  scrum (this means "mêlée" for the french speaking... I just found that one out!) ate some dust and here it is, some more horses...