We arrived at Swat, named after the Swat River and centre of the ancient Buddhist Gandharan civilization. A beautiful lush green valley, with snow peaks (dominated by Falak Sar 19,544 feet)and an Alpine air of being somewhere far far away from the Afghan Border. We were in Malam Jabba – a tourist resort which was once popular, with ski lifts and a piste. Most people are either Pashtuns (or Pathans) from various tribes, or Kohistani folk (an Indo Aryan people who live further north between Swat, Dir and Chitral)
This lad was hanging around at the ski slope, saw me and came trotting over. There were no tourists – all of whom had been scared off by stories of terrorists and civil war. So the locals usually working in the tourist trade flocked around me as the only obvious tourist there! He was trying his best to flog me some snacks – I think he ended up giving me a pack for free. I felt sorry for him as he was a nice and cheerful sort so bought a few packs of biscuits.
The light was diffused, and quite beautiful with the sun (occluded slightly) low in the sky – he was rabbiting on and on so I set the aperture to f2.8 (the best for this lens) lifted and shot – the meter and focus was nailed – after developing I really liked the slide.
Snack Seller – Swat Valley 2007
Contax G2 45mm Planar f2 @ f2.8
Fujichrome Sensia 100