A photographic document of a Gurkha career from recruitment to retirement, shot in Nepal, Afghanistan, Brunei, Australia and the UK.
The Gurkhas are Nepalese elite soldiers who have been fighting for the British Army for almost 200 years.
Tens of thousands of hopeful young men compete each year in Nepal for fewer than 200 places in the British Gurkha Battalions. The Gurkhas' reputation as fearless, tough gentlemen warriors is the stuff of legends, but despite having made very significant contributions in war zones such as Borneo, the Falklands, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan in the past 50 years alone, gathering Victoria Crosses and military gallantry medals along the way, their achievements are fading in the minds of today's society.
The first time I encountered the Gurkhas was in 2011 in Helmand Province/Afghanistan. I had been embedded with the US Marine Corps, photographing an entirely different project. The Gurkhas I met at my base kindly allowed me to accompany them for a little while. I jumped at the opportunity as I was aware of their legendary reputation.
Spending time with them in their camps and on patrols, I got a glimpse of who the men behind the myth actually are.
I was very much in awe of their kindness, generosity and dignity and the more they told me about their individual lives and impressive history, the more I wanted to capture and share what I saw.
I want to create a book documenting an entire Gurkha career in pictures - young boys going through the incredibly tough recruit selection process and arduous training, battalions on exercises around the world, soldiers deployed to war zones, battle-hardened Gurkha veterans. There are plenty of myths and stories around the Gurkhas, mostly about their bravery in combat, but my idea was to discover what being a Gurkha is like for a Gurkha.
The Brigade of the Gurkhas have very generously given me unprecedented access to every aspect of a soldier's career covering all UK and foreign units. I've already spent a few weeks with one of their infantry battalions on a jungle exercise in Brunei. The next destinations for my project are trips to Nepal - in order to accompany the Gurkha recruiters - and to Australia for another exercise. Then on to the UK and probably back to Afghanistan.
So far, I've been financing this project on my own, but as it has grown into something a lot bigger than I anticipated, I now need to look for outside funding to cover flights, equipment service, insurance, material and other necessities.
There are two ways you can help this project:
1) With money. Each donation will get you a personal reward from a photo postcard to an original print, a signed copy of the book to an invitation to the book launch or even a personal photo shoot. You can have a look at what you get for your donations on the right of your screen.
2) By sharing the project with your friends, family and colleagues on Twitter, Facebook, via email or just by talking about it.
If you're a publisher interested in getting this project on board, please write to soris7@yahoo.com - I very much want to talk to you.
If you're new to Kickstarter, this is how it works: you can donate any amount of money to this project with your credit card, and the more people know about it the better - because if we don't reach the entire amount by the deadline date, everyone gets their money back and the project doesn't get anything.
So please: Send it on to as many people as you know and help create a unique and amazing photographic record of the last knights left in this world.
Archive images with kind permission from The Gurkha Museum Winchester, http://www.thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
178
Backers
$16,067
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Funding period
Jul 16, 2012 -
Aug 30, 2012
(45 days)
- First created · 3 backed
- Has not connected Facebook
- Website: alexschlacher.com
Pledge $5 or more
28 backers
You will get a personal email with a photo from the project. Also, your name will appear under THANK YOUs on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $25 or more
36 backers
You will get a postcard (yes, those still exist) in your mailbox with an original photo from the project on it. Also, your name will appear under THANK YOUs on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $50 or more
48 backers
You will receive 3 high res pictures of your choice to download from a selection emailed to you. Also, you will get email updates from Nepal with little snapshots. And of course your name will appear under THANK YOUs on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012Pledge $100 or more
26 backers
You will get an original photo print of your choice on photo paper from a selection, personal email updates from the next two trip stages (Nepal - October and December - and Australia - January to March) with snapshots and a shout out on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $200 or more
14 backers
You will receive an original signed limited edition print of your choice from a selection, personal email updates from the next two trip stages (Nepal - October and December - and Australia - January to March) with snapshots and a shout out on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $500 or more
2 backers
You will get an original signed limited edition print of your choice from a selection, personal email updates from the next trip stages (Nepal - October and December - and Australia - January to March) with snapshots, a shout out on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT and a signed copy of the finished book (which is estimated to be published in 2014).
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $1,000 or more
2 backers
You will get an original signed limited edition print of your choice from a selection, personal email updates from the next trip stages (Nepal - October and December - and Australia - January to March) with snapshots, a shout out on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT, a signed copy of the finished book (which is estimated to be published in 2014) - also, your name/logo will appear in the book.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $2,000 or more
0 backers
You will get an original signed limited edition print of your choice from a selection, personal email updates from the next trip stages (Nepal - October and December - and Australia - January to March) with snapshots, a shout out on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT, a signed copy of the book - also, your name/logo will appear in the book. And last but not least - you (plus one guest) will receive a personal invitation to the book launch. Estimated publishing date is 2014.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2013Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers
For this amount you'll get all of it. The original signed limited edition print of your choice, personal email updates from all the trip stages (Nepal, Australia, the UK, possibly one more trip to Afghanistan) with snapshots and a shout out on the website www.alexschlacher.com, click GURKHA PROJECT. A signed copy of the book, your name/logo in the book. A personal invitation to the book launch. And here's the best part: If you live anywhere in Europe or the US, I will travel to where you are for a portrait photo shoot of you or your parents/partners/pets/neighbors/ friends. If you live somewhere so remote, it'll take me all of the project money and half a lifetime to get to you, we'll meet somewhere we both can get to and make it work.
Estimated delivery: May 2013Pledge $10,000 or more
0 backers Limited (3 of 3 left)
If you would like to donate this much or more, or if you find yourself so smitten with this project that you'll want to fund the second part as well (this Kickstarter project being the first leg), please write to soris7@yahoo.com and we'll talk about main sponsorship.
Estimated delivery: Nov 2012
