Stephen Lioy: "Kyrgyzstan is an enthralling destination to travel"

February 20, 2016

Stephen Lioy is a travel photographer, journalist, and the previous Editor-in-Chief of AUCA Magazine. In this interview Stephen tells us about himself, his adventures, and his special love towards Kyrgyzstan’s nature and culture.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm a writer and photographer from the US state of Louisiana, way down in the south with not a mountain in sight, born with a love of nature and hiking that would later morph into a life focused on travel and photography. I've lived outside the US since I moved to China in 2008, and have been in and out of Kyrgyzstan for months at a time since around 2012. 

 

Tell us about your work as a travel photographer. What do you like most in your profession? And what difficulties do you see in that kind of life?

I work in several arenas within both travel and photography, combining the two into a lot of time shooting advertising for travel and tour companies as well as private shoots for clients who are traveling and want to capture the experience. I really enjoy the freedom, or perhaps compulsion is the better word, to move constantly around the world experiencing different cultures and countries and trying to make sense of all the strange customs and wonderful peculiarities that manifest themselves. This is the greatest difficulty as well, of course, trying to maintain friendships and relationships and family connections at a natural level when the norm is to be away for weeks or months at a time.

 

Where do you publish your photos? What popular news agencies have published your works?

Most of my photos end up published primarily on the channels of the clients who commission them, but I also do some freelance publishing online with travel-focused agencies like BBC Travel and Lonely Planet and in small regional print publications in the US. My current goal in this realm is to spend more time pitching to airline in-flight magazines but, like any project, it takes time to prepare and that always seems to feel in short supply. 

You travel a lot inside Kyrgyzstan and you take very beautiful photos of the Kyrgyz nature. What makes you like our country? Where have already you already visited and what were your impressions of those places?

Kyrgyzstan is just such an enthralling destination to travel, both in terms of landscapes and culture. Even just moving from Bishkek to to Karakol, for example, you pass several different climate zones and more beautiful valleys than I could hope to hike in a given year. Where else can you visit that puts you at an ulak-tartysh match in the morning, nature midday, and a jazz concert in the evening? And with mountains and hiking always just at hand! I've traveled a bit in Chuy region and a bit less in Issyk-Kol region, but very very little in the rest of the country aside from a quick trip through Osh. I'm very interested in the rest of the country too, but with Bishkek always being my base when I'm visiting these two are obviously the easiest to explore. 

I really enjoy the southern fringes of the Chuy valley for quick hikes, a few days strung together to get up into the mountains and quickly back to Bishkek. Issyk-Kol area, on the other hand, feels like a destination for longer trips. Walking for a week, crossing over steep and snowy passes, carrying everything on your back the whole way. (In fact, this summer I hope to combine the two, crossing from Chon-Kemin over into Grigorievka). I realize I'm a bit of an anomaly, but I'm not much for beaches, so after a day or two on the shores of The Lake I'm always ready to get back onto a trail somewhere. 

 

Which countries would you compare to Kyrgyzstan?

I'm actually in Chile right now, in Patagonia, and it feels in many ways very like Kyrgyzstan. Big open spaces fringed by sharp mountain peaks, caballeros out herding horses and sheep and cows, and aside from the main tourist sites you can go days at a time in nature and see just a handful of other people. 

 

How do you reflect the Kyrgyz national spirit in your photos?

The whole 'nomad' concept really holds my attention, in terms of both photography and travel. The World Nomad Games in 2014 were by far one of my favorite experiences in Central Asia, and I'm really excited to hear that they're being held again this year. The idea of people living out in immediate commune with nature, though, is something I've really enjoyed exploring in Kyrgyzstan and I think is something I'll try to dig more deeply into once I'm back to the region. 

What are your plans for the future?

Regarding Kyrgyzstan, exploring more into Batken and Naryn and all the rest of the regions, especially because I've seen so many great photos of places I've not yet been to! In terms of work, I'm trying to focus on taking on fewer but longer projects rather than jumping quickly form one to the next so often. Photography benefits so much from having more time in one place, and yet so often I seem to be rushed in getting from one country to the next because I've promised too many things to too many people. On that note, I've managed so far to keep two months this summer totally clear for Central Asia, for a bit of hiking and a bit of photography and a bit of trying to catch up on a small personal project on snow leopard conservation that I've invested some time in but not yet quite gotten to explore in the depth that I would prefer.

 

You can view Stephen’s works through the following links: photo portfolio (http://www.stephenlioy.com) and travel blog (http://www.monkboughtlunch.com).

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