Documentary and Street Photography in Kathmandu, Nepal – March 2025

This post of images is long overdue!!

In March 2025 I travelled to Nepal for three weeks for a bit of street photography. Although I’m primarily a documentary wedding photographer, capturing photos of my travels, people having a good time, and the street has always been where my love for photography began. Long before I starting shooting street style fashion and weddings, I was fascinated by observing people, watching everyday life unfold.

Traveling is one of my favourite things to do, so combining the two felt like the perfect way to challenge myself creatively. My aim is to do something like this every year — placing myself in completely new environments, learning from different cultures, and bringing fresh inspiration back into my wedding work.

Nepal seemed like the perfect place to start.

Learning the streets of Kathmandu

The first week of the trip was spent shooting alongside four other photographers ( Gaetano, Anja, Carla and Rodger) under the guidance of the brilliant Matt Badenoch from Street With Matt. If you have yet to try one of his London or overseas street workshops, you are missing out! Highly recommend.

The majority of the 150 + images in this post were captured during that week.

We had six incredible, full days wandering the streets of Kathmandu from early morning through to late at night. Most of that time was spent exploring the maze of back streets and alleyways that make the city so amazing to photograph.

Kathmandu is pure sensory overload in the best possible way — motorbikes weaving through tight streets, incense drifting from temples, the abundance of colour everywhere, shopkeepers chatting in doorways and kids playing all over. Its a buzzing city to say the least.

And the Nepalese people are unbelievably friendly. Everywhere we went we were welcomed with smiles and people wanting to talk to us.

Holi Festival – Colourful Chaos

Day five of the workshop was the Holi Festival. One of the main reasons I really wanted to go on this trip.

I had been to a Holi festival in London but experiencing it in Kathmandu is something else entirely. I’ve never seen a celebration take over a city quite like it. Everyone gets involved !!

Thousands of people fill the streets throwing coloured powder and water at anyone within reach. Music, dancing, shouting, laughter — absolute chaos in the best way possible.

Naturally, because I enjoy a bit of chaos, I got straight into the middle of it.

Trying to compose photographs in the middle of thousands of people pelting bags of coloured dye at you is… challenging. My usual 35mm lens worked, but I definitely found myself wishing I had something a bit wider like a 24mm or 28mm to really capture the scale of it all. One to remember for next time.

A quick word of warning if you’re ever thinking of photographing Holi: wrap your camera gear as best you can. That dye gets absolutely everywhere. My highly sophisticated sandwich-bag-and-elastic-band method actually worked surprisingly well, but I’m sure there are more professional solutions out there.

My favourite photo I’ve taken

At one point, right in the middle of the chaos at Durbar Square, I turned around briefly and captured what might be my favourite photograph I’ve ever taken ( see below ) — around 200 cameras lined from the bottom to the top of the temple steps, all pointing straight back into the crowd.

While Holi is traditionally about celebration, in that instant it felt slightly overwhelmed by tourists with cameras… myself included.

The image has since picked up a couple of photography awards and is also part of a National Geographic blog post.

Beyond Kathmandu

After the workshop ended, I spent the following weeks exploring Nepal solo.

I headed out on several treks around the Annapurna region and around Mount Everest. With limited time available, I wasn’t able to complete a multi day Everest trek, but I did manage to sneak in a boujee helicopter trip that provided some incredible views of the mountain. We were dropped off in the morning giving us the full day to trek up towards the Everest hotel which sits at 13,000ft (4000m). The highest hotel in the world. I packed light for this one so only carried my mobile phone for pictures. I didnt take many though to be honest as I just wanted to to take it all in. That and my fingers were blue as it was bloody freezing.

After Kathmandu, I travelled south for a week for a safari in Chitwan National Park where I was lucky enough to spot rhinos, elephants and a variety of other animals in the wild — a completely different side of Nepal compared to the energy of Kathmandu but a really nice place to relax and unwind after the hustle of the city.

The final part of the trip was spent in the lovely lakeside city of Pokhara. Pokhara is one of those places where it’s very easy to slow down and just relax. I spent my time exploring, trekking, and enjoying the awesome views of the mountains reflecting across the lake.

Although one of those treks didn’t quite go to plan when I managed to do my knee in on the way down. Faced with the choice of another seven hours limping down the mountain, I decided on a slightly more exciting option: paragliding! Instead of walking, my guide and I launched from around 2,000 feet and glided all the way down into Pokhara in about 30 minutes.

Not a bad way to finish a two day hike.

Why Trips Like This Matter

Trips like this remind me why I fell in love with photography in the first place.

No timelines. No expectations. Just observation, curiosity, and reacting to whatever unfolds in front of me.

This trip to Nepal was the first of what I plan on becoming an annual tradition — travelling somewhere new with a camera, immersing myself in a completely different environment and capturing some amazing moments.

Time to book a new trip…..