SANDPOINT — Tina Friedman’s first book of photographs, titled “Sandpoint: A Small Town With a Big Heart,” was published in 2008 as a gift to the community. Her next series of books could rightly be considered a gift to the world at large.

Well-traveled and always with camera at the ready, this artist has made extended journeys to 34 countries, gathering images along the way. Her next photo collection chronicles a solo backpack trip through India. Once published, Friedman plans to follow the book with photographic explorations of Africa — where she has traveled and lived on two separate occasions — and the tiny village of Yelapa, Mexico.

The photos from India gravitate toward the faces of people she encountered there, with about 300 of them to be included in the new collection.

“My photos are very intimate to me,” the photographer said.

“When I take them, I feel a connection to the person being photographed. They become a part of me.”

After being counseled for years not to take her usual course of traveling alone, Friedman set fear aside after recovering from serious heart-related health issues and began to plan the trip. On the cusp of her 70th birthday, she spent October and November in 2017 roaming far and wide across India.

“I got my life back and I felt strong and willing and eager — I had to go,” she said. “There was no game plan, I just knew I was flying into Delhi, because I found a plane ticket there for $500.”

Crowded and intensely polluted, Delhi was simply a place to land — and leave. After sleeping off her jet lag, Friedman shouldered her backpack and made off for the foothills of the Himalayas.

She found accommodations in a remote monastery, where she took meals with the monks and spent her days taking pictures.

“My balcony overlooked the mountains,” she said. “At night, I would sit and listen to the chanting.”

Idyllic in many ways, demanding in others, Friedman described India as “not for the faint of heart.”

“Travel is a journey of self-discovery,” Friedman said. “It allows us to see what we’re made of. And for some of these countries — especially India — you have to be tough.”

The photographer’s second stop was in Varanasi, a sacred city and place of pilgrimage on the Ganges River. From there, she hired a guide and his two camels for a 3-day sojourn into the desert. The prospect of traveling alone with an absolute stranger didn’t bother her one whit.

“We had an instant rapport,” Friedman said of the man who would lead her through the desert on camelback. “Having an open heart is what really helps you find those moments that make a journey memorable. They’re special, because you connect with strangers.”

Nothing could better describe her approach to photographing faces — an art she has developed over many travels on several continents. She watches for defining moments and pulls them in through the lens.

“Every photo I take is different, in that I have to make a snap decision to take it instantly or wait for permission,” Friedman said. “In India, there’s a new photo to take every second.”

Back in the day — including the earliest stages of the Sandpoint photo book — she shot with a film camera and processed the work in her own darkroom. Today, Friedman has gone digital and uses PhotoShop to, in her words, “bring it to another level.”

Comparing her first collection to this upcoming work is a study in contrast. The Sandpoint album is all bucolic bliss, showing off the photographer’s hometown in all its mountain splendor. The Indian excursion, on the other hand, required a very different mindset, not to mention enormous stamina. The payoff? Glorious, exotic images.

“India is extreme in every way,” she said. “It’s exciting and different and colorful. For a photographer, it’s eye candy.”

For those interested in seeing examples of Friedman’s photographic exploration of India before the book comes out, she will be presenting a series of slide shows in the new meeting room of the East Bonner County Library Sandpoint Branch over the course of four days in late June.

Part I is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20, from 4-6:30 p.m., and again on Saturday, June 23, from 2-4:30 p.m.

Part II will be shown on Tuesday, June 26, from 4-6:30 p.m., and again on Saturday, June 30 from 2-4:30 p.m. The showings are free and open to the public.