Reel
Ruby
The Last Dance
Countdown : Inspiration 4
Dream On
A Mountain to Climb
TrueSouth
Arthur
The DOC
The Move
Not Invisible
Who Says I Cant
Next Level
Dear Kobe
The Playoff
Silent Night Lights
Thom
McCallum
︎Director of Photography
A Mountain to Climb
2019
ESPN Director of Photography, Editor
ESPN Director of Photography, Editor
Pratima Sherpa was raised in a maintenance shed behind the third hole of the Royal Nepal Golf Course. Her first club, at age 11, was a wooden stick that her father made from a branch. Today she is Nepal's first ranked amateur female golfer.
02 // The Film
The far corner of Royal Nepal Golf Club is where everything comes together.
The road rumbles ever on behind the fifth tee; a dirt track emerges from the jungle behind the green, sand billowing behind freight trucks and tractors. Food sizzles on stoves set up by street vendors; tourists, mourners and holy men (smeared with ash and paint) head through the entrance to the Hindu cremation site of Pashupatinath, smoke from it twisting into the sky far beyond the sixth green.
Behind the fourth green, in a dip behind the tee box of the fifth is a greenkeeping shed. In the shed is a small room. And in the room is a girl.
A girl with a dream.
A girl called Pratima Sherpa.
The road rumbles ever on behind the fifth tee; a dirt track emerges from the jungle behind the green, sand billowing behind freight trucks and tractors. Food sizzles on stoves set up by street vendors; tourists, mourners and holy men (smeared with ash and paint) head through the entrance to the Hindu cremation site of Pashupatinath, smoke from it twisting into the sky far beyond the sixth green.
Behind the fourth green, in a dip behind the tee box of the fifth is a greenkeeping shed. In the shed is a small room. And in the room is a girl.
A girl with a dream.
A girl called Pratima Sherpa.
03 // The Film
Nepal has approximately 700 registered golfers, about 90 of them are professionals (in reality, this means caddies), yet there is no tradition of them competing beyond the Himalayas, and none has yet played on the Asian Tour.
This situation is common to the sporting landscape. The country is yet to win an Olympic medal. Soccer is popular but mostly as a spectator sport of teams in far-off Europe. And while cricket is gaining popularity, the national team remains a minnow on the worldwide stage.
The society is mostly traditional. Women take conventional roles and are rarely seen behind the wheel of any vehicle. In these circumstances, it's not too surprising that not one of Nepal's golf professionals is female.
Pratima knows all of this. She understands that to fulfill her dream she must overcome historical, sporting and gender expectations.
Yet ask if she wants to play on tour and her response is beautifully simple, as a wide, instinctive smile lights up her face and she says one word: "Yes."
This situation is common to the sporting landscape. The country is yet to win an Olympic medal. Soccer is popular but mostly as a spectator sport of teams in far-off Europe. And while cricket is gaining popularity, the national team remains a minnow on the worldwide stage.
The society is mostly traditional. Women take conventional roles and are rarely seen behind the wheel of any vehicle. In these circumstances, it's not too surprising that not one of Nepal's golf professionals is female.
Pratima knows all of this. She understands that to fulfill her dream she must overcome historical, sporting and gender expectations.
Yet ask if she wants to play on tour and her response is beautifully simple, as a wide, instinctive smile lights up her face and she says one word: "Yes."
