Everest Not Everest: A Dramatic Photo Essay and Plea for Honoring the Indigenous Naming Traditions of the World’s Tallest Mountain by Jeff Botz
This book is a classical photo essay about the Himalayas but even more than that it is a love letter to those mountains, the people and culture of the land surrounding the world’s tallest mountain. This is not another collection of travel, documentary or adventure photos but a personal, poetic visual response to one of ther world’s most dramatic landscapes.
The photos in the collection were made with the same large format film technology that was used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to illustrate the untamed American west and other remote lands around the world. Unfortunately that Era of Exploration photography could not access the Himalayas because the borders of Nepal and Tibet were closed to all foreigners so the classic photos were never made. I started this photo mission using the 35mm color format but found it too reductionistic to capture and express the majesty and grandeur of the mountains or the aura of spirituality which has characterized the area since time immemorial.
Working particularly in the style of Ansel Adams using black and white film and the clunky 8×10” film camera, I have strived to create landscape photographs that transcend documentation and travelogue. Like the great masters of the two dimensional mountain imagery, Caspar David Friederich, Albert Bierstadt, Frederich E. Church and Ansel Adams, it is my intention to invoke associations and metaphors of inspiration, personal challenge, struggle, achievement and self realization as well as suggest these mountains as forget-me-nots of the Creator/Universal Life Force.
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Author Bio:
Jeff Botz is a renowned photographer celebrated for his evocative photo essay on the Himalayas, a tribute to the region’s grandeur and cultural richness. Using large format black and white film, he channels the spirit of 19th and early 20th-century exploration photography, drawing inspiration from masters like Ansel Adams and Caspar David Friedrich.
His work transcends traditional travel photography, aiming to evoke deep personal reflection and spiritual connection with the mountains. Praised for moving beyond the “informative sublime” of conventional nature photography, Jeff Botz also offers a critical perspective on historical narratives, advocating for the use of indigenous names Sagarmatha and Qomolungma over the colonial name Everest.
Through his compelling images and thoughtful essays, Jeff Botz challenges viewers to engage with the Himalayas in a more profound and respectful manner.