“I think the joy of photographing in India is that you never quite know what’s waiting for you around the next corner. There’s always the unexpected, there’s always something which could be delightful, something which could be horrifying, something which you have never seen before, something wonderful, something ancient, something profound.”

The show runs from 16 January – 9 February 2013 at Chris Beetles Fine Photographs,
3-5 Swallow Street London W1B 4DE. Image copyright Steve McCurry.

For further information visit www.chrisbeetlesfinephotographs.com

View Twilight London in high-definition on Vimeo.

Some rough test shots with the Opteka GLD-slider. Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with a Manfrotto 804RC2 head and a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod whilst on a photo trip to Tunisia. View Opteka GLD-200 slider in high-definition on Vimeo.

Introduction

I bought the Opteka GLD-200 slider to take on a short trip to Tunisia. I’d just got a Canon 5D Mark II, and was keen to try out the HD video function. I ordered the slider from Amazon UK and paid just under £100.00 for it. The GLD-200 is 60cm long and about 4cm wide. The sliding plate has a small spirit level and you can mount a camera directly to it using the supplied 1/4″ bolt or add a tripod head with the 3/8″ adaptor. It’s small enough to fit in a backpack, and light enough to carry around with you when you go out shooting (862g).

Performance

First impressions were good, I was impressed with the quality of the build and assembly was easy. In the field, the slider performed fairly well – which was as well as I expected. It’s not really designed for a heavy DSLR and tripod head like mine and does judder under a heavy load (I was using a Canon 5D Mark II, a Manfrotto 804RC2 head and a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod). I managed to reduce this by spraying the rail with furniture polish – but you have to reapply it quite often. The slider is long enough to get good results but you need foreground objects close to the camera to get nice looking parallax. You really need two people to get any acceptable results – one to hold the tripod steady, the other to do the slide.

Conclusion

If you have a light camera and lens, you should be able to get some good results with the GLD-200. Otherwise, you’ll have to invest in something more heavyweight, like the products made by Glidetrack. Photographers who are travelling or have to carry their gear around all day should still consider the GLD-200 – the low weight and small size could be a real advantage.

Rustical Travel thoughtfully provided airport-to-door directions and a guide to local amenities, restaurants, walks and excursions. They were on hand throughout our trip for advice and help, though everything was so well set up that we didn’t need to contact them. Rustical Travel is a fully bonded Travel Agency with Ministry of Tourism in Spain, so your financial security is guaranteed.

If you’re interested, visit their website.

Holi celebrates the beginning of spring, Krishna and the triumph of good over evil in the legend of Holika and Prahalad. The story tells how King Hiranyakashyap became invincible as a reward for his devotion to Brahma. Thinking himself all-powerful, he demanded his people worship him as a god. Everyone in the kingdom obeyed apart from his young son Prahalad, who worshiped Vishnu instead. Incensed by this, Hiranyakashyap commanded his sister, the demon Holika, to carry the infant into a fire. Holika perished but miraculously Prahalad survived, protected by chanting Vishnu’s name. On Holika Danan, the night before Holi, people light bonfires topped with effigies of Holika and Prahalad to celebrate the tale. Holi takes its name from Holika.

The festival is best known for the coloured powder (gulal) and water people throw at each other, a tribute to a prank played by the young Krishna. It’s one of the few times caste and wealth is forgotten. By the time everyone is covered in dye it’s impossible to tell who is rich or poor.

Nowadays, despite Holi’s religious origins, it’s mainly a time to have fun with family and friends. Families celebrate near the safety of their homes, whilst raucous groups of young men roam the streets looking for as much trouble as they can find.

I travelled to Braj with Toby Deveson at the end of a short photography trip to India. We spent the first week motorcycling in Ladakh, high beyond the Himalayas, then flew back to Delhi where we picked up a hire car and drove to Mathura, in the centre of Braj.

I’m happy to report the new model is as sweet as everyone hoped. Whilst the new AF system gives you plenty to chew over, the reworked sensor is the real icing on the cake.

Many thanks to my family and the highly talented people at www.cakeology.net for making this review possible. Probably about as close as I’ll get to the real thing!

Hope to see you there!

If you are ever thinking of giving up or taking the easy option – ask yourself this question and reconsider.

www.stevemccurry.com

I entered the Your EOS Adventure Essentials of Photography competition in November, and I’ve just heard back from Canon, the organisers. I was really pleased to hear that I’m one of the winners in the Moments in Motion category.

‘We are pleased to inform you that the judges were extremely impressed with your photo and it has been selected as a Category Winner! We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you for your creativity and your effort to take on the challenge and be one of the stand out photos within this competition.’ Canon Europe

The prize is a EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens – and there’s still a chance of winning the overall grand prize of a trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya.

View my entry and the other category winners.

‘What is a community without heroes? And we don’t mean fictitious ones; we’re talking about real people doing incredible things. Introducing our Myoozes, MYOO’s elite task force of contributing editors, adventurers, explorers, and planet problem solvers. While they hail from industries as diverse as business, art, technology, and professional sports, our Myoozes share one trait in common: they inspire us by pushing the limits and thinking big.’

MYOO grew from David de Rothschild’s Adventure Ecology project and has already well established itself with a fantastic line-up of contributors including Bruce Parry, Alastair Humphreys, Kelly Slater, Helena Christensen and Scott Burns.

I’ve just heard I’ve been shortlisted for Stylist magazine’s first travel photography competition. The prize is a trip to Paris. The shortlist was created by the Contemporary Art Society who whittled down all the entries to 20 finalists who really “captured the unique character of a place or experience”. The final decision is based on a public vote combined with the votes cast by the Contemporary Art Society. Fingers crossed!

Chris Beetles gallery, has just announced that it’ll be holding a major exhibition of work by Steve McCurry, one of the most influential travel and documentary photographers working today.

McCurry was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from abroad requiring exception courage and enterprise in the early 1970s. He has been a member of Magnum since 1986.

The exhibition which runs from 06/09/2011 until the 24/09/2011, will feature images from Holi Festival and Calcutta in India as well as photos from Cambodia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Kuwait and Cuba.

‘I think John is a bit of an unsung hero. He should have got a BAFTA nomination. When you’re trying to depict heaven and hell on five and three quarters million quid it runs out quite quickly and I think we couldn’t have done it without John.’ Rowan Joffe

Rowan Joffe’s directorial debut Brighton Rock (2010) was a big gamble — it follows another, acclaimed version of Graham Greene’s classic 1938 novel made by the Boulting brothers in 1947, currently number 15 in the BFI 100.

Brighton Rock charts the rise of a young gangster, Pinkie, in the criminal underworld of England’s south coast. Joffe transplants the story (originally set in 1930s) to the 1960s – a backdrop of mods, rockers, crime wars and the threat of capital punishment.

Despite a relatively low-budget, cinematographer John Mathieson achieved an extraordinary piece of work and one well-worth seeking out. Best known for his work on big-budget projects for directors like Ridley Scott (including Gladiator and Hannibal), he’s still closely linked with independent British film making.

Angry black seas, dense mist, yellowing decay and superb film-noir style lighting create Pinkie’s world and help add the tension that increases all the way to the thrilling conclusion. Mathieson shot the movie on lenses made in 1947 to create an authentic feel without the need for post-production — something he was keen to avoid.

If you are interested in cinematography or just watching great films, try and track down the DVD or better still, go and see the it at the cinema.

The growth of budget airline routes has made it easy to photograph some really exotic locations without parting with too much money. Here are a few suggestions (using the United Kingdom as a starting point):

• Amman, Jordan (EasyJet). Jordan has some amazing sights – the stunning desert at the Wadi Rum, the castle at Karak, Dana Nature Reserve, marine life at Aqaba and the incomparable ancient city of Petra
• Fez, Morocco (Ryanair). Fez is a great place to photograph for a couple of days – and there are plenty of other sights nearby. If you have time, it won’t take you that long to drive to the desert at Merzouga in a hire car
• Istanbul, Turkey (EasyJet). A stunning city that has inspired many photographers including Magnum alumni, Alex Webb. Turkey has has very resonable internal flights too for those wanting to see more of the country
• Marrakech, Morocco (EasyJet). A great starting point for adventures in Morocco including the High and Middle Atlas and the deserts in the south and east. If you don’t have enough time to make it this far out, Essaouira is beautiful
• Paphos (EasyJet). OK, Paphos isn’t that exotic, but once in Cyprus, cheap flights are available to Egypt and Lebanon. Have a beach holiday in Cyprus with trip to the Middle East thrown in
• Luxor, Egypt (EasyJet). The ancient city of Thebes is right on the Nile and near The Valley of the Kings
• Sharm el Sheikh (EasyJet). As well as the sights of eastern Egypt, it’s only a two hour ferry trip to Aqab in Jordan
• Tel Aviv (EasyJet). A mix of western and Arab cultures and of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions. All in a small, modern country that’s easy to travel around.

www.riadalidrisi.com

Overview

You can photograph Holi Festival at many places in India but I stayed in the region around Mathura, three hours south of Delhi and just north of Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

Mathura is the birth place of Krishna and the celebrations in the area are particularly important. They also last over a week, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to capture both the religious and social aspects of the festival. Holi is often limited to just a couple of days elsewhere.

Holi isn’t just celebrated in India — you’ll also find it in many other countries with Hindu populations. I was only in the area for a few days, but wish I’d had longer, to get a more representative set of images. I didn’t get a chance to visit Nandagaon, or Barsana – both of which are, from what I’ve seen, really good places for photography.

Inspiration

There are some really great images from Holi out there, including the following:

• Jitendra Singh was kind enough to take the time to advise me on shooting Holi. His images of the festival are amongst the best I’ve seen
• Boston Big Picture (2009, 2010 and 2011)
• Steve McCurry

Dates and timings for Holi Festival

Holi is celebrated on the Phalgun Purnima or Pooranmashi (full moon) in the month of Phalgun according to the Hindu calendar.

• 2012: March 8th
• 2013: March 27th
• 2014: March 17th
• 2015: March 6th

Locations

• Holika Dahan (the eve of Holi) before Holi sees bonfires built everywhere, then later lit around 8–10pm. Colourful effigies of Holika (who the festival is named after) holding the infant Prahlad are placed on top
• The main celebrations in Mathura happen around Holi Gate, on Holi itself. There’s a long procession up from the temples lining the river to the gate, with plenty of colour and music. People tried to prevent us entering the street that joins the temples and the gate, telling us it was too dangerous to be there and we ran the risk of being blinded. I’m sure this was well-intentioned, but we chose to ignore the warnings
• Shri Banke Bihari Mandir (Banke Bihari temple) in Vrindavan is busy throughout the festival. You have to be careful not to photograph the religiously deity itself though — this might cause offense

Protecting your equipment

Unless you can pass for a local, you’ll be a key target for powder and paint throwing, so you’ll need to protect your equipment carefully. I used OP/TECH rain sleeves, which, despite looking thin, worked well. Once inside the cover, I sealed all the gaps with Gorilla Tape. OP/TECH covers have a small hole that allows you to see through your viewfinder. You put the cover on minus your eye-piece, which you slide on afterwards to hold the hole in place.

I changed the cover and tape at least twice a day which also gave me a chance to remove any liquid or powder that had got inside. When putting a cover on your camera, remember to turn off any air conditioning, to help prevent condensation forming inside.

It probably isn’t a good idea to change lenses, batteries or memory cards within throwing distance of anyone, so having two cameras really helps if you have access to them. I used two Canon 5D MKIs, one with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens, the other with a 70-200mm f4.

Protecting yourself

I covered my face and arms with thick sunblock, which did seem to ease washing the dye off. That said, some of the pigments are pretty much industrial strength, so will remain on your skin for a few days afterwards.

Many Indians wear headscarves and sunglasses to add an extra layer of cover. I wore Caspian safety googles to protect my eyes — not only did they make me look a little OCD, but also made me even more of a target (they were torn off and powder rubbed in my eyes a couple of times). I’d still wear them if I went again!

Risks

The celebrations do get pretty boisterous, but most of what I experienced was fairly good natured. When things did get out of hand, I was kindly assisted by older Indians, who led me away so I could get all the powder out of my eyes. We often had powder or ink thrown right in our faces, mouths and ears, and saw quite a few people drawing water from the gutter to throw, so keep your mouth shut and eyes protected as much as possible.

My friend Alastair Humphreys has organised another of his Night of Adventure events, which will take place on the evening of March 15th, 2011 at the Vue cinema in London’s Leicester Square.

The last two Nights of Adventure have been really fantastic, and I’d certainly recommend them to anyone looking for some inspiration and excitement. 100% of the ticket price will go to Hope and Homes for Children.

Night of Adventure III features Ed Stafford (who walked the length of the Amazon), Rosie Swale-Pope (who ran around the world), and Jo Royle (who has sailed more than 75,000 miles in some of world’s most inhospitable waters).

The talks use the challenging Pecha Kucha format, where each speaker is limited to 20 slides that scroll forward automatically after just 20 seconds. Once the talk begins there is no stopping or going back — it’s fast and furious, and best of all you get to see loads of really fantastic people talk in one evening.

Buy tickets and find out more.

In July, I was thrilled to win the STA Travel Photography competition with a shot from Iran. The prize was two return tickets to Delhi with British Airways. STA were kind enough to book the flights to coincide with Holi festival in March 2011, my first proper photographic trip of 2011.

In summer I headed to Malaysia, stopping momentarily in Oman — a place I’m quite keen to photograph. It was a bit hard to properly scope it out from the runway or airport lounge, but I got the impression there was a lot of potential. I tried my hand at underwater photography in Pulau Perhentian — most of the results were a disaster, but I’m keen to have another crack at it soon.

September saw a long-term ambition fulfilled — a picture published by the National Geographic Society, in their Traveller magazine.

In November I went to Morocco with adventurer, writer and filmmaker Joe Sheffer. We followed a big loop around all the major sites starting with the old imperial city of Fes, then onto Marrakesh, Essaouira, Ait Benhaddou, Ouarzazate, the Dades and Torda gorges, then right down south to visit the Sahara at Merzouga. Finally we stopped off at Sefrou before heading back to Fes. Joe made a really great film during the trip which you can see on Vimeo.

Shortly after returned from Morocco I managed joint fourth place in the Conde Nast Traveller and Sony Visit London photography competition.

I spent most of December dreaming up new photo-ventures for 2011. So far these include the trip to India I mentioned earlier, plus a short trip back to Morocco in April. I’ll post updates here as soon as other adventures get booked in.

I bought the TC-80N3b as a cheaper alternative to Canon’s TC-80N3 Timer Remote Controller — mainly so I could try my hand at time-lapse photography. I bought mine from ebay for about £20.00, plus postage and packing.

Performance

The TC-80 comes with full instructions, but the device is easy to understand so it won’t take you long before you can use it confidently. It offers five separate functions, some of which you can use together. The device can be used as a self-timer, an interval timer, a long exposure timer, an exposure count controller and a remote switch.

If you are only planning on using it as a remote switch, you don’t need the battery (a lithium CR2032). The device includes a light that illuminates the display for working at night.

Conclusion

I haven’t not used my TC-80 for long so can’t comment on how hardy or reliable it is in the long-term. However, so far I’ve had no problems at all. Overall, if you can’t run to the Canon TC-80N3, the TC-80 is great value and comes highly recommended.

Overview

Jordan is one of the safest, most easily accessible and attraction-packed countries in the Arabian Peninsula. People are friendly and distances between destinations are small — you can pack in a lot into a short visit. If you are interested in photographing on the Peninsula, but don’t know where to start, Jordan is probably the best place. It’s also an ideal base for onward travel to places like Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.

I didn’t have any problems taking pictures, in fact I was often encouraged to do so — especially away from the major tourist sites like Petra and The Wadi Rum.

Practical advice

Replacement equipment shouldn’t be too hard to find in the capital — but you might have difficulties getting anything more than memory cards and batteries elsewhere.

Hotels all have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked fine. Younger people and those working in tourism speak good English. Transport is cheap, plentiful and fast. Particularly fast if you use shared taxis — after a few journeys in these you maybe left wondering why they don’t exist in your country!

Risks

I felt safe and wasn’t aware of any risks during my visit.

The results of the Conde Nast Traveller, Sony and Visit London photography competition were announced last night at a private view at the Sofitel St James Hotel in central London. Howell Wong won the competition with a black and white interior shot of the Tate Modern. My image of Ron and his dog Betsy in Portobello Road Market was awarded Highly Commended.

Many thanks to Alex and the team at Conde Nast Traveller for putting on such a great evening — and framing all the prints so beautifully.

The World Press Photo 2010 exhibition recently arrived in London. Once again it’s a strong show, with work reflecting all aspects of photojournalism.

Pieto Masturzo’s image from Iran won the top prize. It’s a subtle piece of journalism — an image of women shouting their dissent from a rooftop in Tehran following the disputed presidential election in June 2009.

Another image from the same wave of protest was awarded a rare special mention (for an image recorded by an onlooker rather than a professional journalist). The image is a still from the now iconic video of Neda Agha Soltan’s death at the hands of the Basij militia — the Iranian paramilitary. Will the competition’s rules change in the future as more images by bystanders are published in the media?

It was interesting to see the mysteriously named JR’s shot of his images plastered on the roof of a train passing through Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. The close-up shots of eyes of African women are part of the activist and photographer’s ‘Women are Heroes’ project, aimed at highlighting women’s pivotal role in society. JR’s team have also produced a short trailer introducing the project. In addition to the World Press Photo award, JR received a TED prize for the same work.

The travelling exhibition runs from the 12th November to the 5th December 2010 in the Southbank Centre, London. Afterwards it moves on to Brussels, Belgium then nine other international destinations.

The film features many of Morocco’s most interesting locations — the tanneries in Fes, the Sahara Desert at Merzouga, the harbour at Essaouira and the famous kasbah at Ait Benhaddou (as seen in many other movies like Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun).

Thanks to the new generation of DSLRs, high definition film-making has been an open field for some time — democratic, lightweight, relatively inexpensive and technically not too great a leap from regular photography. Overall, ideal for those
making travel, news and documentary films.

I found the process fascinating, and for the first time saw its huge potential first-hand. In it’s simplest form, you really don’t need any more gear than you’d take out to shoot still images.

Morocco Postcard is filmed on a Canon 5D MK II (at 24fps), with a homemade slider (from Igus parts), a simple video head, some ND filters and a single tripod.

Find out more about Joe’s adventures at his website: www.joesheffer.com

Morocco Postcard from Joe Sheffer on Vimeo.

Overview

For those living in western Europe, Morocco is the easiest and cheapest way to get into Africa. Both Ryanair and EasyJet fly there, with very low fares as long as you book well in advance.

I travelled with adventurer and filmmaker Joe Sheffer, spending eight days in Morocco. We flew into Fes, later taking a train to Marrakesh, then a bus to Essaouira. We then took another bus to Ouarzazate, where we hired a car to tour the Middle Atlas before driving on to Merzouga to see the Sahara Desert. Finally we drove to Sefrou, then back to Fes (having arranged with Hertz to leave the car at the airport).

This was a rushed schedule, but it did give us a great overview of the country.

Practical advice

Thanks to easy links from Europe, Morocco is highly touristed. This means plentiful accomodation (we didn’t book anything in advance) and transport. Sadly though, it also means that the main areas of interest (Marrakesh, Fes and Merzouga etc) have been somewhat spoilt. It’s very hard not to get over-charged or receive unwanted attention from faux-guides in these places. Of course, this has been brought on by tourists — the vast majority of Moroccans are absolutely charming, helpful and hospitable. I’d advise you to seek out the lesser visited places, something which will be highly rewarding and will mean you see Morocco and it’s wonderful people at their best.

We were free to photograph (and film) where ever we wanted and were only stopped once — the police at Essaouira stopped us from filming some fishing boats as we didn’t have a permit (to be fair, we did have a ton of gear with us). Photographing people isn’t easy, so street photographers may be left frustrated. Most people were fine as long as we asked in advance, though some asked for payment.

Replacement equipment shouldn’t be too hard to find in the main cities. Hotels have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked fine. Younger people and those working in tourism speak basic English and good French.

Public transport is cheap and plentiful, though limited in some areas. Car hire is a great idea — outside the main cities, driving was easy and there are plenty of western and local hire companies. The speed limits are low and people seem to stick to them. Just remember to crawl into and out of the numerous police checkpoints.

Risks

We felt safe throughout our journey and felt no real risks — apart from my appalling driving. Remember to ask for costs for anything in advance to make sure you are not overcharged.

I’ve just heard I’m one of the finalists for the Conde Naste Traveller Visit London and Sony photography competition.

My image will be part of a week long exhibition at the Sofitel St James Hotel in Piccadilly, starting on the 22nd November 2010. The image was taken in Portobello Road in London.

As you’d expect from the BBC, the blog is a real cut above the rest: amazing photos, interesting reports and some detailed tutorials.

The series travels to eighty of the most remote locations on Earth to find stories about man’s remarkable relationship with the natural world.

Visit the blog

Maciej Dakowicz, best known for his street photography in late night Cardiff is now offering a number of photographic workshops in India and Bangladesh. I’ve shot with him a couple of times, he’s a brilliant photographer and a great teacher – I think anyone joining one of these trips would learn a great deal.

Find out more at his website

Professional underwater DSLR housings aren’t cheap — costing considerably more than even the most expensive cameras. So I was interested to see if you could achieve any decent results with ewa-marine’s U-BF 100. Basically it’s a large, clear and flexible plastic bag with a port for your lens and two metal bars that screw together across the opening to keep everything watertight. The housing retails for around £330 in the UK. I used a Canon 5D and a 17-40 f4 L lens (the housing doesn’t allow you to use a lens that extends when you zoom).

Performance

I was a little concerned when I first lowered my camera into the water, but all was well. I only snorkeled with the housing in a few metres of water (though you can use it down to 10 metres). For those interested in going deeper, where there is less light, ewa-marine also sell a version with enough room for your flash (which you can use to 50 metres).

Immediately a few things become apparent — before sealing the housing you need to expel as much air as possible, otherwise you’ll find it difficult to dive down. After a short while I also removed the carrying strap (which always seemed to find its way in front of the lens).

The U-BF 100 has an internal glove that allows you to focus and zoom and also a small finger pocket to operate the shutter. Whilst the glove allows a degree of control over the zoom and focusing rings, don’t expect to be able to operate either with a great deal of accuracy. To make matters more difficult there’s a logo stuck to the case right over the focal length indicators marked on the lens, making them difficult to read. The finger pocket works fairly well, though its sometimes a little difficult to locate the shutter release. The pocket also allows you to dial your camera’s finger wheel.

You can see through the viewfinder, but it’s not easy to do when you are swimming. It’d be a lot easier to use your cameras live-view feature if it has one. With the camera and lens combination above my images were vignetted at anything less than 24mm. You need a really wide angle for underwater landscape images and above-and-below-water shots — so this may prove a restriction for some.

The housing performed well for a couple of days, but by day three the plastic had stretched — meaning my camera moved around inside the housing and the lens wouldn’t stay snuggly in the port (the lens adapter doesn’t clip into the port). The only solution was to slide a small block of dense foam behind the camera to fill the gap. This extended the gap between the back of the housing and the camera, pretty much rendering the viewfinder useless.

Conclusion

The ewa-marine U-BF 100 isn’t cheap, but is well made and does everything its designed to. It’s not particularly easy to use at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it (you might benefit from a practice session in a swimming pool before you head out to the wilds). I’d recommend it to anyone interested in photographing in or around water.

To manage expectations I should mention that underwater photography is really difficult! I shot hundreds of images and only ended up with a few acceptable ones. Nothing to do with the housing! I imagine it’d be easier if you were diving properly, where you can more easily control your position in the water.

I’m off to Malaysia on holiday for a couple of weeks, so decided to splurge out on a ewa-marine housing for my camera. I don’t have any diving experience, so will just be using for snorkeling in fairly shallow water.

First impressions are good. It’s well made and my camera fits (a Canon 5D with a 17-40 f4 lens). Phew! The housing includes an internal mitten that allows you to operate the zoom and focus ring on your lens. With the above combination, you can just about zoom (with one finger) but you’d struggle to use the focus ring really accurately. I was amused that the instructions warn that your hand will get stuck inside the mitten if you go too deep!

So, have I just bought the world’s most expensive plastic bag or will it prove a useful tool for underwater photography? I’ll post a full review when I get back in early September 2010.

It was particularly nice to win as there were so many strong entries (they filled two large rooms at the exhibition venue — The Mosaic Rooms in Earl’s Court).

I spoke to a couple of the judges after the awards and discovered that over 2,000 images had been entered into the competition. These were then shortlisted down to 50 images for the exhibition. I managed to get three pictures in the top ten, one of which was understandably disqualified as it included a man holding a gun.

Many thanks to STA for organising an excellent event and to Robert Harding (Founder and CEO of Robert Harding World Imagery), Zoe Whishaw (former head of photography for Getty Images in Europe) and Alex Hibbert (wildlife photographer and polar explorer) for judging. The competition was part of the Earl’s Court Festival and was generously sponsored by British Airways, Olympus Cameras and The Mosaic Rooms.

Angus Walker of ITN News did an excellent job of chairing the event, impressively distilling down some rambling questions, keeping the discourse relevant and even reminding one gentleman of his manners. The panel consisted of Abdirahman Omar Osman (Minister of Information of the TFG), Babatunde Taiwo (Senior Analyst of the African Union Mission for Somalia or AMISOM), and Simon Haselock (AU/UN Information Support Team Project Director via Albany Associates).

The Frontline runs some outstanding events, a great way to hear about world issues from those with first-hand experience.

I’d been up to the Brecon Beacons as a teenager on a mountain biking trip. It’s funny how they seemed very big then, but not so big now! There are some really great locations for photography and plenty of good transport links from Cardiff and some of the towns on the border with England.

I was very pleased to see this article when I opened my copy of National Geographic this month. One of my favourite photographers in one of my favourite magazines!

The piece, written by Brett Forrest charts the building of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the “Iron Silk Road”, that will connect the oil-rich Caspian Sea region to Turkey, and beyond to Europe. The railway starts a new chapter in the history of the Caucasus, bringing an influx of European goods to the east and trade in petroleum to the west.

The geopolitics of the $600 million project are fascinating. The railway could mean a better chance of prosperity and stability for Azerbaijan and Georgia, areas so threatened by Russia in the past. Turkey’s involvement is interesting too. With diminishing oil reserves elsewhere could this link speed up their entry to the EU?

Webb captures the people and places affected well. His photographs don’t use the type of daring composition he employed to such incredible effect in Istanbul, instead he concentrates on reinforcing the themes and illustrating the complexities of issues related in the text. It’s a great collaboration in another great issue of the magazine.

I rarely use a flash, but when you need evenly lit images (for say, events or PR stunts) it can be really useful.

Normal flash settings work great in low-light, but your camera may refuse trigger the flash in bright conditions (whenever the required shutter speed is greater than you maximum sync speed). This is where HSS comes in. All you need to is turn it on and shoot away. On my 550ex flash you do this by simultaneously pressing the + and – buttons) . The flash then gives out enough light to fill any harsh shadows.

You’ll obviously need to wait for the HSS icon to appear in the viewfinder before shooting. Even in good light the flash won’t recycle that fast, because HSS has to fire the flash in a series of bursts to compensate for the fast shutter speed. I find HSS becomes unreliable when my batteries are low, so get a new set before heading off.

Lightweight off-camera flash has become very popular recently, due in no small part to the excellent Strobist website and associated Flickr group. The method is close to that which you’d use with regular studio lighting, the advantage with this variant is portability and low-cost. Indeed, the equipment is so minimal that there’s real potential for travel and documentary photographers. I’ve added links to the equipment I use.

Equipment

• A digital camera
• A flash (strobe). One that allows you to manually control the power. I use a Canon 550ex (now discontinued)
• A light stand (a tripod also works as does a friendly passer-by)
• Either a long sync-lead or a set of wireless flash triggers (I’m currently using the Seculine TwinLink T2D wireless flash trigger)
• A hot-shoe adaptor if using a sync-lead (one that’ll screw into the top of your light stand or tripod)
• Finally, a shoot-through umbrella is useful for softening the light (you’ll need an umbrella adaptor to hold it).

Method

• Find a willing subject, and get them to stand somewhere interesting
• Mount your flash onto the receiver part of your wireless trigger or attach it to the top of the hot-shoe adaptor if using a sync-lead. Screw the whole lot onto your light-stand. Attach the umbrella if you are using one
• Point the flash towards your subject and set it to 1/4 power
• Attach the wireless trigger transmitter or sync-lead to your camera
• Set your camera to manual
• Set the shutter speed to equal or lower than your camera’s sync speed (usually < ISO 200)
• Point your camera at your subject and half-press the shutter to give a meter reading
• Change the aperture and ISO until your meter indicates that your camera will underexpose by a stop or two. You’ll be illuminating your subject with the flash and under exposing the background helps to make the subject stand out
• Take a picture and check the histogram. If your subject is underexposed, turn up the flash power or move it closer to your subject. If its overexposed, do the opposite
• Experiment until you get the image you want.

Yesterday I was at the London Marathon. I was there to photograph comedian Lee Evans and screenwriter Tony Grounds who were running to raise funds for Save the Children. After a few quick shots, it was time for them to head off to the start line, so rather than head home (it was still only 8am) I decided to spend a few hours watching and photographing the event. It was a lot more difficult than I imagined! Here’s a few thoughts:

• High ISO (800 or above) and shutter speeds (1/1000th/sec or above) will help freeze the action
• Its very hard to photograph people as they run past you. I got a few lucky panning shots, but only through trial-and-error. You’ll have far more luck positioning yourself at the end of a long straight, and shoot the runners as they come towards you. A long lens really helps – especially as you can use it to isolate individuals by limiting the depth of field
• A flash/strobe can help fill-in unfortunate shadows. You’ll probably have to use high-speed-sync if its a bright day
• Focusing is really tough. I tried AI servo, without a great deal of luck (things changed too fast). Instead, manual focus seemed to give the best results
• If you are intending to sell the images afterwards, do your research. Princess Beatrice (the first royal to run the event) was featured in a number of the big newspapers the next day. I have one blurred shot of her running past. Opps
• It get pretty hypnotising watching thousands of people running past hour after hour. This makes it all the more difficult if you have to photograph someone in particular. Make sure they know where you’ll be waiting so they can run past nearby you.

After the success of A Night of Adventure earlier this year, my friend Alastair Humphreys has organised a second similar event. It takes place on the evening of May 17th at the Vue cinema in London’s Leicester Square. The event is in support of Hope and Homes for Children and 100% of the ticket price will go to the charity.

The Pecha Kucha format remains — those taking part talk over a slideshow of 20 slides that change automatically every 20 seconds. Speakers include those who have rowed oceans, treked to the South Pole, skateboarded across Australia, rafted the length of the Amazon, climbed big walls and flown a microlight from London to Sydney.

Tickets cost £20 and the doors open 6.30pm. The first talk is at 7pm. For more information, or to book tickets, email David.James@hopeandhomes.org or telephone 01722 790111.

Sadly, I didn’t win the raffle (first prize was an all expenses paid safari in Namibia), but the night did persuade me to save up my pennies to visit sometime!

Overview

I’ve visited Egypt twice, first travelling from Cairo, though to Luxor then on to Hurghada and Dhahab. More recently I spent a week in Cairo with short trips out to Bawiti (to visit the White Desert) and Alexandria. The people are great, and like their neighbours in the Arabian Peninsula, take hospitality to foreigners very seriously.

Architecture fans are in for a treat; both Alexandria and Cairo hold a huge number of interesting Art Deco and Nouveau buildings. Start at Cario’s Chaar-Hachamaim Synagogue and take it from there.

Practical advice

Egypt is very highly touristed, but this shouldn’t put you off. Most visitors are on tightly scheduled tours from which they can’t stray far, so you only need walk for a few minutes from the big attractions to experience the real Egypt.

I didn’t notice a great deal of photographic equipment on sale, so finding anything other than batteries or memory cards might be difficult. Hotels all have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The Internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked fine. English is widely spoken.

Tourist touting around the big sites is quite intense, but learning a few words of Arabic easily transforms an annoyance into your new best friend.

Risks

I wasn’t aware of any risks — Egypt felt very safe, whenever and wherever I wandered.

Those on show, collectively outsiders — but individually unique, are from all over the world. They share little, only the compulsion to be creative and the will to produce their work. Among them are obsessives, loners, those with mental illnesses, the secretive and the persecuted.

Founder James Brett describes the venue as a ‘public museum showing extraordinary works of privacy’ – you certainly get the sense of being a voyeur. Ironically, the venue is in London’s affluent Primrose Hill. Perhaps more fittingly, its laid out in a confusing labyrinth of small corridors, niches and rooms in a building that was once a dairy and more recently a recording studio.

For once, the captions (provided by David Byrne, Ed Ruscha, Peter Blake, Jarvis Cocker and others), inform rather than confuse.

The Museum of Everything is sad, delightful, uncomfortable, scary and over quite soon, so you’ll need to visit quickly.

Continue reading »]]> One of the most useful features of a Pro account on Flickr is the statistics it offers. These cover view counts, most viewed photos, referrers and a breakdown of your images (geotagged and not geotagged etc).

I don’t take pictures for any other reasons than a desire to improve and for my own enjoyment. However, its very interesting to keep an eye on the statistics, especially which of your images people view (like) the most.

It’s always a struggle to produce work that people like (or predict what they’ll like in the first place). Fortunately, I don’t need to to worry about this within my photographic work, but in my day job as a art director you do have to consider it. You’ll always try and rationalise why your response to any brief is appropriate (and why it’ll be effective), but in the end the paying client will always want something they like. Its very usual for them to fully put logic before liking.

I tried an experiment. The Telegraph newspaper (UK) run a weekly travel photo competition. Rather than enter an image I thought was good, I entered my most viewed image on Flickr.

I won that week’s competition (and a Nikon camera).

There were many highlights; Alastair’s A-Z of adventure, Andy Ward’s tale of walking from London to Istanbul, Martin Hartley’s amazing images from the poles and James Hooper’s talk on the beauty of risk.

The night ended with a really nice surprise — Sarah Outen, who I recently photographed, received two Guinness World Records for her solo rowing trip across the Indian Ocean.

A bigger event is being planned soon — if you are interested get your tickets well in advance as this one sold out very quickly.

* Japanese for chit-chat.

Stewart’s film examines the history of western intervention in the Middle East and the relevance of lessons learnt by Lawrence in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

Stewart is perfectly qualified to lead the investigation. He’s a Harvard professor, adventurer and acclaimed author as well as a former soldier, diplomat and governor of two Iraqi provinces. He draws a balanced picture of Lawrence, avoiding the myths created by the media and the man himself.

Importantly, Stewart reminds us of the events were to haunt Lawrence and tarnish British–Arab relations ever after. The United Kingdom agreed in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence that it would support Arab independence if they revolted against the Ottoman Empire. The British Government didn’t honour their promise. They betrayed the Arabs and arbitrary divided up the land with the French under the Sykes–Picot Agreement.

Stewart sums up, ‘Looking at Iraq and Afghanistan today, I believe very strongly that Lawrence’s message would not have been do it better, do it more sensitively, but don’t do it at all.’

The film is well worth watching — I feel Stewart can add ‘great filmmaker’ to his enviably long list of achievements. Those in the UK can watch it for a limited period on the BBC’s iPlayer.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Effendi first worked as a translator for the Azerbaijan International Oil Company, a consortium of some of the world’s largest oil producers. The job gave the financial independence that eventually allowed the former painter to pursue photography fulltime.

She talked through two projects: Pipe Dreams (exploring the lives of people living along the pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey) and House of Happiness (work covering women at risk in the Ferghana Valley a region of Central Asia). Both works were respectful to their subjects, showed great compassion and were beautifully captured.

I was particularly struck by a number of things. Effendi is very wise and has a enviable clarity of purpose. She has a detailed knowledge of the forces shaping her subjects. She’s also very successful in photographing her own country, something I think many people find really challenging.

A show of Effendi’s work continues at the HOST gallery until 16 January 2010.

Buy Pipe Dreams or find out more about Rena Effendi and the HOST gallery.

I ended up buying a set of these by chance yesterday after failing to bring the correct identification needed to hire a set of Pocket Wizards (the industry standard wireless triggers). At £120.00 the cost didn’t seem too great, especially with two shoots booked over the next couple of weeks.

Performance

The TwinLinks are very straightforward to set-up — it only took five minutes to get them out of the box and up-and-running. There’s a built-in hot shoe adapter for a flash or the supplied leads will trigger regular studio lights.

A plate holding a 1/4″ thread clips over the receiver’s battery cover, allowing you to attach it to a light stand or tripod. The plate also is magnetic (so you could stick it to the side of a studio light).

In use, the TwinLinks are reliable and very straightforward to use. The units have 16 channels, and an enormous 250m range. I used them properly today for the first time on an icy shoot on London’s Hampstead Heath. In three hours I had no problems at all (or at least none caused by the TwinLinks!)

Conclusion

The TwinLink system is very good value for money — especially as everything you need is included in the box. So why spend over double the money on Pocket Wizards? The TwinLink will only trigger your flash, not your camera. Apart from that, they are
highly recommended.

Overview

I can’t think of anywhere more diverse and interesting to photograph than India. The people are wonderful and the landscapes and sights are astonishing. The tourist board’s posters finish with a strapline that reads ‘Incredible India’, after your first visit, you’ll realise what an understatement this is.

I’ve made four trips over the last ten years (Kathmandu to Delhi, Kolkata to Darjeeling and two loops around Rajasthan). I’ve travelled very cheaply (as part of a year-long shoestring overland trip from Dilli in East Timor to Delhi) and not so cheaply (a recent trip around Rajasthan with some family members). India is a very easy place to photograph — I’ve very rarely been refused permission. Most of the time, I’ve been encouraged.

Full coverage of all the interesting places and events is way outside the scope of this article (an entire website wouldn’t be enough). Fortunately, there will always be something interesting happening wherever and whenever you go.

There are many great Indian photographers worth looking at for inspiration before you leave home, including Raghu Rai and Raghubir Singh.

Practical advice

Visa durations are generous, and its fairly easy to get an extension. Day-today costs can be very low so it’s possible to travel very cheaply if necessary. Replacement equipment won’t be too hard to find in the big cities. Hotels have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone has always worked fine. English is widely spoken.

Once a little challenging, travel in India has become a lot easier over the last few years. Sadly though, despite some really inspiring efforts, some areas will still drive you around the bend. It was greatly disappointing to find that Fatehpur Sikri had actually got worse in the ten years since my last visit. What was a beautiful area, marred by minor tourist touting is now a viper’s nest of faux guides, baksheesh seekers and greedy rickshaw wallahs. All this ignored by a sleepy selection of corrupt police and security guards in return for bribes. Of course I understand the reasons why this goes on (and recognise the incredible privilege inherent in my visit), but perhaps there are fairer ways for all the local population to benefit from such a magnificent site?

Risks

There are very few risks involved. Violent crime is rare, though there are plenty of scoundrels willing to try and trick you into parting with more cash then necessary!

Bunty is happy to advise on all aspects of road travel in India and will book your accommodation too if necessary. Avtar, our driver was excellent and made a great effort to ensure we had a wonderful time during our thirteen day trip around Rajasthan.

www.indiaprivatedriver.com

Find out more about Alastair Humphreys or buy the english version of the book.

www.alastairhumphreys.com and www.roxybarandscreen.com

Entries have to feature a location in the British Isles — so the show is a good reminder of the diversity these islands hold. For the best entries, there’s a prize fund of over £20,000, the eight-week exhibition at the National Theatre and publication in a book.

www.take-a-view.co.uk

1. Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names by Alex Webb. I spoke to a Magnum colleague of Webb’s about his work. Her opinion? ‘Alex revolutionised colour photography.’ I’d agree. Istanbul is a wonderful portrait of the city told with a staggeringly good sense of composition
2. Koudelka by Robert Delpire and Dominique Eddé
3. My War Gone By, I Miss it So by Anthony Loyd. This isn’t a book of photographs, but it is about someone who put everything on the line to become a photographer (then later a writer). Its one of the most extraordinary books I’ve read — terrifying, terribly sad, uncompromising and brutally honest but always beautifully written. The second part, Another Bloody Love Letter is equally as good
4. Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World by Alexandra Avakian
5. Raghu Rai’s Delhi by Raghu Rai and William Dalrymple. An epic book covering an epic city
6. Sixteen Countries by Maciej Dakowicz. A self-published book by an amazing new talent. Buy an early edition before he gets famous
7. In the Shadow of Mountainsby Steve McCurry. McCurry’s pictures from Afganistan
8. Carnival Strippers by Susan Meiselas
9. The Americans by Robert Frank
10. Henri Cartier-Bresson: The man, the image & the world: A retrospective. The book for those who can’t afford his individual titles.

In the interest of economics, the following are also worth a look:

1. The Photography Book by Ian Jeffrey. A grand overview with informative captions. It’s not a monograph, but is well written and the small version is very good value
2. The Photofile series. All credit to Thames and Hudson for this very affordable collection of short introductions to the greats.

www.worldpressphoto.org

Standard holiday allowance in the UK is 25 days. Take away time to spend with family and friends, and I’m left with less than ten days a year. During these days I shoot around 100-150 images a day. I generally return with about one image I like for every day photographing. A total of ten images a year.

I sometimes get offered paid event work and occasionally I sell images to clients who find my work through internet searches. Overall it seems, unless you are rich, super talented or a hardened ascetic making proper consistent money is going to be tough.

So what do I think?

I think you should forget about the money, and do it because you enjoy it or because you think its important. Enjoy the freedom to take pictures of exactly what you want without a restrictive brief from an art director (like me!). Plan ahead so you are able to use the time outside your other commitments effectively. Most of all, make those ten images the best you can.

www.photo-forum.org

The drama starts even before Michael hits the water — time constraints mean he fails to find the £1M sponsorship needed and is forced to start the voyage with only a fifth of the required money. Despite everything, Michael bravely pushes on through obstacle after obstacle. He’s an incredible lad and the film is an inspiration.

Well worth trying to track down.

1. Open your image in Photoshop or similar
2. Open the Curves panel (Image > Adjustments > Curves)
3. Select the Set White Point tool (white eye dropper icon). Click it into a pure white area of the image
4. Select the Set Black Point tool (black eye dropper icon). Click it into a pure black area of the image
5. Press OK

If you are lucky and can identify a 50% grey area in your image you could use the Set Grey Point tool instead of steps 3 and 4 above.

Lilwall’s book is many things — a tale of adventure and romance, a story of friendship under pressure and an examination of faith. Best of all, it’s a very honest and often funny account of what it’s like to take on the seemingly impossible and succeed. Highly recommended.

www.cyclinghomefromsiberia.com

To demonstrate just how quickly, try the following:

1. Register your name with Google alerts
2. Upload your image to Flickr, adding the relevant keywords including your name
3. Wait for a bit…
4. In under an hour, and despite Google rival Yahoo owning Flickr, you should receive a Google alert relating to your image.

Timings, guides and vehicles

Most companies head out from the camps and lodges twice a day (06.30 to 09.00 and 16.00 to 18.30). Not only are these the best times to photograph, but also the times you are most likely to see animals. Most use converted Toyota Landcruisers or Hiaces. We travelled in the latter which was great – a large section of the roof opens to give a full vision in all directions. I wouldn’t recommend travelling more than three or four to a van (plus driver), as you may have to take it in turns to photograph.

Michael, our guide and driver was very knowledgeable and an excellent spotter.

The parks and reserves

• Samburu. A stunning landscape and plenty of wildlife. My favourite destination on the trip
• Mount Kenya. A very different environment (misty forests), but we were slightly ‘lodge-bound’ (guests weren’t allowed to leave the grounds)
• Lake Nakuru. Nakuru is much closer to large human habitation than the other parks we visited, so feels a little more like a domestic safari park. That said, the wildlife was extremely easy to spot and is running around in very large numbers
• Masai Mara. Another stunning landscape and a huge variety of fauna and flora. An amazing place.

Equipment

I hired a Canon 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L (from the excellent www.lensesforhire.co.uk).
Even 400mm seemed a little short sometimes, so I wouldn’t recommend anything shorter. The Canon 100-400 is an amazing lens – sharp, plenty of contrast and the IS works surprisingly well.

In addition to the animals and birds, Kenya’s landscape is stunning, so I ended up using a Canon EF 17-40 f4L quite a bit too.

Every day or two I backed up my images onto two Vosonic VP5500 hard drives and gave all the gear a clean (Samburu is particularly dusty). Though these drives are well conceived, and easy to use, reliability and build quality are issues. I spent a fair amount of time coaxing one of the drives to work after the main control button started to malfunction.

Little photographic equipment is sold in the lodges or camps, so make sure you have a back-up plan. We also had a pair of Opticron binoculars with us. Staggering image quality and very useful for spotting shy wildlife.

Overall

If I was fortunate enough to go again, I’d be tempted to hire an even bigger lens. I’d also try and go out on foot. Driving around the parks is amazing, but I wanted to be properly immersed in the environment. I imagine this would be quite dangerous. We also didn’t realise there is an airstrip at the Masai Mara, if your time is short it’d be worth looking into flights back to Nairobi.

The Canon 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L lens that I wanted to take away to Africa, but couldn’t afford to buy, arrived by courier in a combination padlocked, airtight expedition case, with full instructions and return delivery labels like a consignment for James Bond. All in all, highly recommended.

www.lensesforhire.co.uk

1. Yemen
2. India
3. Bangladesh
4. Bolivia
5. Kenya
6. Guatemala
7. Turkey
8. Iran
9. Jordan
10. Syria

Petit seemed to understand that only by doing something astonishing, could he persuade people that they might achieve something similar. His walk was not only a daring spectacle but also an extraordinary work of art — one that transformed my ideas about many things.

I later discovered Petit’s modest response when he was asked why he did the stunt “When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk.”

www.manonwire.com

I saw Alex and Rebecca Webb, Susan Meiselas and Larry Towell. Their criticism was firm but very fair (probably a bit too fair!). The points they made made sense immediately so I left with a really clear idea of what I needed to do to improve. The consensus was that I should spend more time covering much more specific subjects — preferably closer to home.

An amazing day and a great privilege to meet such influential people. If you are interested in improving your work, contact your nearest Magnum office for dates of similar courses.

www.magnumphotos.com

Photographer Toby Deveson spent many years documenting the aftermath of Ceauşescu’s rule in Romania. He later abandoned human-focused work to concentrate on landscape subjects. He is currently finishing work on West of the Sun, his first book. www.tobydeveson.com

David Deveson

David Deveson is a former magazine designer, advertising creative and film director. Now a photographer based in Rome, his images cover Africa, the Middle East and Americas. www.daviddeveson.com

Alastair Humphreys

Alastair Humphreys spent four years cycling around the world, telling his extraordinary story in two books, Moods of Future Joys and Sunshine and Thunder. In late 2009, he’ll embark on the longest ever unsupported Antarctic expedition with endurance athlete Ben Saunders. If that wasn’t enough, he recently took up photography and is rapidly becoming very good at it. www.alastairhumphreys.com

Joe Sheffer

Joe Sheffer is an adventurer and traveller who, at the age of 19, motorcycled 14,000 miles from the UK to Nepal. Joe has also cycled the Pamir highway. www.joeontheroad.co.uk

Maciej Dakowicz

Maciej Dakowicz is a hugely talented street photographer, who has worked, and been published, all over the world. www.maciejdakowicz.com

Światosław Wojtkowiak

Światosław Wojtkowiak is an excellent street and documentary photographer. Along with Maciej Dakowicz, he’s a member of the Wide Angle agency, together they are probably the best photographers on the world’s most popular image sharing website, Flickr. www.nygus.info

Always on the outside of whatever side there was
Bob Dylan

I just wanted to find out where the boundaries were. I’ve found out there aren’t any. I wanted to be stopped but no one will stop me.
Damien Hirst

Great art has always been about taking great risks, so we should celebrate those like Toby who are willing to defy convention, whatever the fashion.

Toby turned his back on a promising career as a documentary photographer to concentrate on landscape work. A risk that most, having found artistic security, wouldn’t take.

To really understand what his work is about its important to see both sides of the story. Long influenced by Koudelka and similarly fascinated by nomads, a strong sense of itinerancy spans all his images — and the manner in which he works. He’ll spend weeks in remote locations, studying whatever maps he can find for clues, then driving as far as the roads will take him before heading off on foot to find what he’s looking for. As this collection shows, he avoids the obvious locations — and the spectacular anomalies — to show us a far more representative view of nature.

Critically though, he hasn’t abandoned his documentary skills — continuing to perfect them, despite the change of subject. He found he could photograph the landscape in the same instinctive way.

I’ve watched him a few times. He moves quickly through the environment and works surprisingly fast, constantly experimenting with framings and compositions. There’s a great sense of ‘Toby’ in everything he produces. He mischievously plays with your own notions of how the landscape should look by drawing you into visual dead ends that, as your eyes retreat, cleverly reveal the real subject. He’ll make your eyes linger longer by creating both large — scale drama and subtle dialogue in the same frame. All this in complete contrast to the traditional landscape photographer, weighed down with equipment and waiting long hours for pleasing light. Its elements like these that make his work stand apart — and give us a unique and uniquely accurate view of the world’s wild places.

Unusually, but not uncharacteristically, Toby photographs on 35mm film using an old manual camera and still prints all his images by hand in a darkroom. He spends hours creating his stunning prints which, due to the limitations of lithographic printing, this book can only hint at.

There’s little romance in his images, but there is a genuine love of nature. Beyond literal representation, they tell stories and suggest myths and magic beyond their four corners. In Toby’s hands we are forced to reconsider landscape photography and learn to disregard that which is instantly appealing. His images challenge the viewer to see the world and the medium in a different way.

If you ever needed proof that risks — of any kind — are worth taking, its here in these pages…

Overview

I think it’d be fair to say that Bangladesh doesn’t have the quantity of natural or man-made wonders of its neighbours. Happily, the wonderful people easily make up this and are more than enough of a reason to visit. Their positivity and resilience in the face of often constant hardship is staggering. I left promising never to complain about anything ever again.

There are some excellent local photographers in Bangladesh, it’d definitely be worth looking at their work for inspiration before you leave. I didn’t have any problems taking pictures and was often encouraged to do so.

Practical advice

Replacement equipment will be hard to find, so plan ahead. Hotels have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked fine. English is widely spoken.

Risks

There are very few risks involved — just take care with the traffic. Strangely, I was followed a couple of times, both instances by young men, both quite persistently. I stopped each and asked why they were following me, but neither gave a straight answer and then continued to follow. I imagine it was just curiosity, but a little unnerving all the same.

INSERT the filter into the top of the holder, only pushing it down a few centimetres (you’ll probably see the bottom of it as a blurred line in your viewfinder). Then meter off the ground (assuming the ground is darker than the sky) before composing your picture. Slowly push the filter down until you are happy and finally, press the shutter.

Very simple, but this can be quite effective when you are in a hurry and the view is a little dull. I use a Lee 0.9 soft graduated neutral density filter (which reduces the exposure by three stops at the darkest point).

www.leefilters.com

‘Alastair Humphreys spent four years travelling around the world on his bicycle, a journey that covered 46,000 miles and five continents. During his trip he gave motivational talks and received thousands of emails to his website in which people asked what kept him going through the low-points on his journey. Collected here are the sources of Alastair’s inspiration, including affirming quotes, insights, and unique photographs. As this inspirational resource shows, the lessons he learned while on the road can be applied to any goal in life.’

Find out more about Alastair Humphreys or buy the book.

To paraphrase Robert Capa, my images weren’t good enough, because I wasn’t close enough (and because I wasn’t brave enough…). A really important lesson.

I drag everything around in a Lowepro Stealth Reporter II bag, which is great. I’ve always used Lowe camera bags and rucksacks and find it very difficult to break them.

I backup my work using two Vosonic VP5500 drives. These usually work as they should, but Vosonic need to put some serious thought to the build quality and durability. More positively, the rechargeable batteries are replaceable and you only need a screwdriver to replace the internal laptop-sized hard drive.

Photoventures last from a few hours to as long as your money lasts. These trips rely heavily on the following motivational forces:

• Jealousy. If you don’t turn up, you’ll be jealous of the pictures the rest of the group takes
• Ego. If you get a better picture than anyone else, you can revel in your glory
• Inhumanity. If you achieve such a picture, why not berate the others in the group for producing such substandard work
• Cunning. Maximise your chance of success by turning up early (or leaving late)

All in all, very positive stuff.

Pros

• Visual flexibility. Your website is likely to look a lot better
• Browser support. Around 95% of web browsers support Flash
• Video support. Now that many digital cameras support video, you might want to show moving as well as still images
• Better copyright protection. It’s more difficult to save images from a Flash website (you’d have to do a screen grab, then go to the trouble of cropping it and saving it)

Cons

• Difficulty in getting ranked and categorised by search engines. Whilst Google and the other search engines are improving their technology so they can rank and categorise Flash based websites, it will be a while before they do this as well as they do for standard XHTML based websites
• Loading times and bandwidth issues. Any Flash based websites that feature loading sequences or slow-to-load complex graphics might frustrate your visitors
• Incomplete back button support

Conclusion

If you are so famous that people are going to search for you by name or work in such a niche market that you have little competition, then use Flash. Otherwise use a standard data-driven XHTML website with plenty of captions.

Overview

Iran is a very interesting country — with spectacular architecture and some of the nicest people you could hope to meet. I spent 16 days travelling from Bandar Abbas in the south to Tehran in the north.

In retrospect, I wish I’d had the time to visit the North East (around Tabriz), the deserts (towards Pakistan) and Mashad. Many Iranians are artists and poets at heart, so understand and will support the desire to photograph.

Practical advice

Replacement equipment shouldn’t be too hard to find, especially in the big cities. Hotels have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked fine. English is widely spoken.

Getting a visa and buying internal flights in advance can be tricky. Zohreh Majidian from Magic Carpet Travel (in the UK) provided me with excellent assistance and advice in this regard.

www.magiccarpettravel.co.uk

Risks

There are very few risks involved — just take care with the traffic in towns and on journeys between them. I was stopped and questioned by plain-clothes police/security in Shiraz, but was treated fairly. I was in town the same day that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was visiting, tensions were high and understandably they assumed I was a journalist (without permission to photograph the event).

www.rogerdeakins.com

www.walkingclub.org.uk

1. Shoot in RAW, then convert the file to a 16bit TIFF using Canon Digital Photo Professional
2. Open the TIFF in Photoshop (converting the colour space to Adobe RGB on opening the file)
3. Apply Auto Contrast (Image > Adjustments > Auto Contrast). Drastic, but it’s surprising how often this works
4. Apply Curves (Image > Adjustments > Curves) to further increase the contrast (basically a slight ‘s’ shape). See image right
5. Apply an increase in colour saturation — 15% for people, 25% for landscapes (Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation)
6. Use soft proofing (View > Proof Colours) to see what image looks like (you may need to increase the contrast and saturation further if it still looks flat)
7. Edit the size and resolution as necessary
8. Convert to CMYK (Image > Mode > CMYK) if the image is to be printed on a litho press (e.g. in a book or magazine)
9. Apply Unsharp Mask (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask). Use around 85-100% for print resolution or 45% for screen resolution.

Please note you might break your lens if you try this without checking it allows manual override.

Recommended travel photography lenses

Remember to get a UV filter to protect the lens. I wouldn’t use a lens cap, there’s too much of a risk of missing something!

• Canon EF 24-70 f2.8L. Very expensive and heavy, but I’ve never used anything better
• Canon EF 17-40 f4L. Good value when you consider the quality of the lens. Discrete and robust
• Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS. A friend has this lens and it seems very good

I really shouldn’t have worried and am very happy to say that we had a fantastic trip, and can thoroughly recommend Afri Tours and Travel. Our driver, Ahmed, was superb, a true King of the Road and rightly proud of his place at the top of the Ugandan road traffic food chain. He was great company and Afri Tours and Travel kept in touch during the trip to ensure everything was going well. All in all, excellent.

www.afritourstravel.com

We stood together for a second watching the passers-by before he noticed my camera and asked “Do you do this for a living?”. “No” I responded, “I do it because I enjoy it. Do you?”

“Well… I’m in Magnum” he replied.

“Look”, he said, nodding towards a group of women observing hijab, “Just like ghosts”. Seconds later, he swung a camera round in front of him and was gone.

www.magnumphotos.com

Overview

Yemen is hands-down the most interesting place I’ve been to in the Arabian Peninsula and possibly the world. Its also one of the most stunning places — the landscapes and architecture are quite extraordinary. The people are extremely friendly and generally relaxed about photography. Whilst I always ask for permission to photograph people close-up, it wasn’t really necessary as in most situations I was invited to take pictures, as soon as I turned up.

Practical advice

There is little in the way of replacement equipment available so carry spares. Most hotels have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked most of the time. Yemeni Arabic is very close to MSA, so those who speak it will be understood.

Bus drivers get very bored of stopping at every army check point because of a foreign face aboard. You can help them by drawing the curtains or ducking down as you approach.

I was required to get a travel permit detailing all the places I wished to visit. It didn’t appear to matter which order these were given in. I listed most of the larger towns in the country. The official asked for payment for the permit (illegal), but I paid up, scared that he might withdraw it.

Risks

Needless to say, I heeded the FCO warnings to the word by wandering around at night and hitchhiking when other transport wasn’t available. I further followed the rules trying to persuade people to take me into the north of the country (closed due to an ongoing dispute). Quite sensibly, they all refused.

It’s not unusual for Yemeni men to walk around armed to the teeth. You needn’t be too alarmed by this. Check the sobriety of any driver (or pilot!) you hire, many Yemeni men start chewing qat in the early afternoon and continue until they fall unconscious.

Don’t underestimate the heat. It gets very hot.

More seriously, there are potentially grave risks involved in a trip to Yemen. Shortly after my visit, Al-Qaeda rammed an explosive-filled car into a tourist convoy killing eight Spanish tourists, two Yemeni drivers and injuring a further 12 people. Understand the risks so you can make an informed decision about whether to travel or not.

It’s effective because it’s not unusual for art directors and image buyers to receive packages from their reception — and because everyone likes to get something in the post.

It got my work on the cover of The London Evening Standard’s ES Magazine.

1. Find out the name of the person you want to see your work
2. Write a letter to the person from (1), apologising for employing such a dastardly technique. Say you’ll be back in a couple of hours. Put the letter in your portfolio
3. Wrap your portfolio up to look like a package
4. Try and dress like a courier
5. Dash in to their reception. ‘Urgent delivery for Mr/Mrs X’
6. Dash out before anyone starts asking questions
7. Wait for a couple of hours with your fingers crossed
8. Go back and pick up the portfolio — and hopefully a commission

For those with a PDF or weblink to email to someone, but whose email address is kept secret, the following should work:

1. Work out their domain, for example: www.example.com
2. Try an internet search for @example.com. This might yield email addresses for other people in the same company, say: john.smith@example.com. As most organisations use the same pattern for email addresses, simply change the name to match your desired quarry
3. If this doesn’t work, you’ll have to try trial and error. As malformed email addresses usually generate an error message from a mail server, just keep trying different name and surname combinations until you don’t get an error (firstname.surname@example.com, surname.firstname@example.com, firstinitial.surname@example.com etc…)

1. Set your camera to Av (aperture priority) and select f8. Most lenses perform best at this aperture
2. Set the camera to underexpose by 1/3rd of a stop (I find my camera tends to overexpose, but yours may be different)
3. Select an appropriate ISO setting, keeping the shutter speed above 1/125th second. If in doubt, use a higher ISO setting than you think you’ll need
4. As the light changes, you may need to adjust the ISO

Note this won’t be much use for capturing fast moving objects (you’d need to set your camera to Tv, a high shutter speed and a high ISO). It’s also not much good if you want to isolate your subject with a large aperture.

This isn’t supposed to be a substitute for thinking carefully about how different camera setting can help you communicate better, but will hopefully help you get things right more of the time, especially when things are happening very quickly.

Overview

An interesting country, with some wonderful people. I entered Syria from Jordan, and headed straight to Damascus. From there, I travelled slowly up to Aleppo in the the north. I had no problems taking photos.

Practical advice

Replacement equipment shouldn’t be too hard to find in the capital, but nearby Amman in Jordan is probably a better bet. Hotels have electricity so recharging you gear isn’t a problem. The internet is widely available and my mobile phone worked fine. Younger people and those working in tourism speak basic English. Transport is cheap and plentiful.

Risks

I felt safe and wasn’t aware of any serious risks during my visit.