When Refly approached me to document the restoration of the ancient Thimi pottery village, I knew this would be different from a standard editorial assignment. We weren't just covering a story about history; we were capturing a living, breathing tradition that is slowly fading into the digital age.
The logistics were brutal. We arrived at the village at 4:00 AM to catch the kiln firing, but the road was washed out by monsoon rains. We spent three hours trekking through mud and rice paddies with 40 pounds of camera gear on our backs. By the time we reached the kiln master, Rajesh, the light was already harsh and flat.
The kilns of Thimi, photographed from the ridge at first light.
But that flat light was exactly what we needed. It allowed the colors of the terracotta and the smoke to saturate without blowing out. I spent the next six hours shooting with a 100mm macro lens, capturing the texture of the clay and the sweat on Rajesh’s brow. It’s easy to romanticize these stories from a desk in New York, but the reality is physical, exhausting, and incredibly rewarding.
What struck me most was the silence. In a world of constant noise, the rhythmic thud of the pottery wheels and the crackle of the fire provided a grounding rhythm that I’ve been trying to capture in my work ever since.