Lopen (Lebbey) Sangay is a hermit. He’s taken vows to live life alone in his mountain hermitage, practicing meditation. So he was quite happy to see us when his niece, Thinley Choden arrived at the door of his hut with me and daughter Maile in tow. Thinley announced that we’d be visiting for a few days. We’d brought tea, sugar, rice, cooking oil, cookies, and chillies; he was delighted to have our company. Everyday, he took us on walking meditations into the highlands. We’d pack lunch and wouldn’t get back until sunset, seeing rare birds and blue sheep. At night we’d fall asleep to the sound of Lebbey’s chants coming from the altar room.
We saw big cat tracks pressed into the mud and snow on the trails – leopards and tigers. Bengal tigers have been moving into the Dragon Kingdom for decades, seeking shelter and adapting to an unfamiliar alpine environment. In India and Nepal, poachers hound the big cats to extinction while farmers and loggers destroy their habitat. These specialized apex predators from the tropical jungles of Bengal now hunt the high forests and alpine slopes of Bhutan. While often exterminated as “man eaters” in other countries, tigers never attack people in Bhutan. The Bhutanese believe that their neighboring countries’ war on nature forces the big cats to attack humans – the only prey left.
PHOTO PRINTS
Prints are on Hahnemuhle heavyweight (315 gsm) 100% archival cotton “Photo Rag Baryta” paper, using archival inks and archival spray coating. They have a 200-year life expectancy before any deterioration of the print will be observed when stored, handled, and displayed under archival conditions.
CANVAS PRINTS
What is often called “Gallery Wrap Canvas” is a fine art inkjet (Giclee) print on canvas, with printed edges to wrap around a wooden stretcher frame, like a painting. With canvas prints, your print image is still the same size, but given a "wrap effect" around the edges to account for the thickness of the stretcher. Canvas can be rolled and shipped with no effect to the print. Your local framing shop should be able to mount the canvas to stretchers at a fraction of the cost of traditional framing, making for an overall more economical way to get fine art on your wall. The canvas is printed to wrap around a 1-inch stretcher (1.5 inches on larger sizes). Specifications will be provided with your order. Feel free to contact us if you need guidance with your canvas order.
John prints, titles, dates, and signs all of his photos.
CUSTOM ORDERS: For custom orders of prints shipped flat, framed, or as stretched canvas, contact sales@wehrheim-productions.com.