This image documents the encroachment of light pollution within the Suru Valley, a region once defined by the pristine darkness of Ladakh. While scouting this location, I intended to capture the dramatic landscape and celestial clarity, but I found the Milky Way directly overwhelmed by a powerful artificial glow on the horizon. By including a skull in the foreground, the composition serves as a stark metaphor for the loss of our natural night. This photograph emphasizes the alarming rate at which rogue tourism is eroding one of India’s last truly dark frontiers, threatening both the ecosystem and our astronomical heritage.
