How I got the shot: Dikpal Thapa on risking it all for one image

Tell us about this image. 

This shot was taken near the remote village of Bhujung in central Nepal’s Lamjung district. The Indigenous Gurung community have been harvesting honey for centuries, trekking deep into the forest to collect the sticky delicacy from wild Himalayan bees. The practice was first captured by French photographer Eric Valli in 1988, and those shots have stayed with me ever since I first laid eyes on them as a child. The bold and gripping images, which encapsulated a corner of my country, fascinated me entirely, stirring a desire to witness the event myself. In this shot, a honey hunter is coming down from the top of a cliff, bare footed and without any protective gear; every tool the Gurung use during the harvest is hand crafted with local resources.

How did you achieve the shot?

I captured this moment using my Nikon D810 and Sigma 50mm Art F1.4 lens. I always travel with three lenses, which I rely on equally and switch depending on the situation: 24-70 and 70-200 f2.8 for their versatility, and 50 mm f1.4 for portraits. Most of the time, I end up using the 24-70 or 70-200 in situations such as this image. But here, to capture the details of the bees buzzing around and the motion of the hunter, I opted for the fast and crisp Sigma 50 mm.

What were the challenges at play? 

I had to trek for a day into the Nepalese wilderness with the party of hunters. The harvest site is hard to get to, at the edge of a cliff. To get a clear shot, I had to reach it without any proper protective gear myself, risking my life. A fire is lit to smoke the bees out of their hives, and while the insects aren’t harmed, they turn on whoever is nearby in retaliation. I got stung multiple times and ended up with a swollen eye. Due to the smoke and swarm of aggressive bees, I could only take my camera out occasionally, but I made the best of it.

On location, what elements do you seek out for a successful shot?

As a travel photographer, my aim is to show my audience the emotions and environment of the places or people I’m visiting as they are, without distorting their reality. I want to create a shot that invokes curiosity, that encourages people to travel themselves.

Was this assignment typical of your career as a photographer?

I dreamt of witnessing this event and covering this story ever since I got my hands on my first camera. But when everything finally fell into place, the decision to travel was very spontaneous, which meant that all preparation went out of the window. The honey hunting expedition happens twice a year, mainly around the month of April, but the date is never set in stone. The hunters make a very quick decision depending on their scouting reports, religious beliefs and the weather. One day they decide, the next they leave. When I travelled to Bhujung, I took a chance. Luckily, after spending a few days at the village, I got to make the journey to the largest honeybees in the world.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in travel photography?

Travel for yourself, even when you’re on assignment. Travel photography is all about presenting what you see and what you experience. So, go above and beyond an assignment’s needs and take as much as you can from that place. You might visit it again, but you can’t go back to that particular moment.