I came across these amazing print photos of Nepal taken in 1894 and ordered them from someone in Australia who had the originals. I was shocked at how many of these locations that we had been to look essentially the same today as they did in 1894, which is a testament to the timeless nature of such an ancient culture. I am placing photos and screenshots from Art Is Love: Nepal alongside the originals so you can see how similar things look nearly 130 years later.

Elaborate wood carvings are synonymous with the Kathmandu Valley. Our guide Susan Manandhar took us through the narrow alleys of Bhaktapur to meet up with Krishna Maya, the matriarch of the Shilpakar family, who have been making traditional wood carvings for 14 generations.

What surprised me most was how intertwined spirituality is in every aspect of living in Nepal. In the West, if people go to church at all, its typically a Sunday thing, maybe major holidays at best. In Nepal, you are immersed.

I’ve done my share of wild camping, but sipping hot tea outside our tent in the foothills of the Annapurna range of the Himalayas is an experience I doubt I will ever beat.

Having spent my working life in the trade of sign painting, there was a lot of anticipation and curiosity about what kinds of hand painted signs I might be able to discover in Nepal.

When we arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal on March 2nd of 2020, we were met by our guide Susan Manandhar who ended up filling such an important role in our film exploration of traditional craftspeople still working in the Kathmandu Valley.