The Manirung Pass, elevation 18,600 feet -1865

By the 1860s, commercial photography was becoming well-established in India and this growing market attracted the young Nottingham photographer Samuel Bourne to the subcontinent in 1863. During a residence of seven years, Bourne produced thousands of landscape and architectural views, but his fame and the success of his studio, rests primarily on the results of three arduous photographic expeditions to Kashmir and the Himalayas. Working in often difficult conditions he captured images of picturesque and dramatic landscapes rarely visited let alone photographed before. Technical expertise, coupled with an unerring eye for composition, have secured Bourne's place as one of the masters of 19th Century travel photography. This view from the summit of the Manirung Pass was, at the time, the highest point from which a photograph had been taken.

Source : British Library