Tibetan photojournalist Lobsang Wangyal

When Lobsang Wangyal walked into the guest house where I was to interview him for NPR, rain was coming down in unending sheets. Dirt paths around McLeod Ganj were flooded, and all was soggy.

But Lobsang arrived crisp, pressed, behind stylish white sunglasses -- looking like he'd be as much at home in Hollywood as in Himachal Pradesh. I joked that he looked like the playa of the Himalayas.

More importantly, however, he's a talented photojournalist and "cultural entrepreneur." He organizes events in the Tibetan refugee community there, including a Tibetan film festival and the Miss Tibet Pageant. "Why Miss Tibet?", I asked him -- "Miss Tibet? Because we miss Tibet," he replied.

Check out his work at lobsangwangyal.com, and you'll hear his voice in the NPR and Wired stories this week. Image: Lobsang Wangyal at Chonor House, McLeod Ganj, India. (c) 2006, Xeni Jardin.

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