View of the Wanga Valley in the Himalayas, Samuel Bourne, 1863

albumen print, h 240mm × w 289mm More details

The Wanga Valley lies in the eastern part of Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous state in northern India. Bourne was overwhelmed by the Himalayan mountains. He described his experience: ‘Peak rose above peak, summit above summit, range above and beyond range, innumerable and boundless, until the mind refused to follow the eye in its attempt to comprehend the whole in one grand conception.’ He depicted that experience in this photograph.