Travel & Humanitarian Photos
I teach a number of photographic workshops in Asia which are invariably good fun and I tend to get as much out of them as I hope my students do. However, one of the techniques that I can’t teach on a workshop is the “wait and watch” technique. It’s served me very well over the [...]
Bhaktapur is about a forty minute drive from Kathmandu. It’s one of the places I visited on my first trip to Nepal, nearly a decade ago and holds fond memories. I also went to nearby Changu Narayan on that trip and would liked to have returned there this time but, sadly, it wasn’t to be [...]
Photographers. We love the good light. The golden light. We’ll set our alarm clocks at ridiculously early times in the hope of seeing the first amber rays of the day and we’ll hang around a place long after the sensible people have gone home. We’re like bees. Motordrives buzzing as we sniff out the honey-coloured [...]
If you’re a Canon user, or even if you’re not, you may find the monthly CPN newsletter interesting reading. This month you can find out what’s in Julian Love’s camera bag, an interview with Franck Vogel and news of the first Getty grants of 2009. Next month’s newsletter features Yours Truly talking about why I [...]
Just to confuse you, I’m currently in Nepal but posting pictures from Malaysia. Confuse you! Who am I kidding? My camera is set to local Bangkok time, my laptop still thinks it’s in Kuala Lumpur and my trusty GPS device is telling me that it’s in a village somewhere outside Kathmandu. Fancy synchronising the metadata [...]
Today, I’ll be mostly flying to Kathmandu. For anyone not familiar with ‘The Fast Show’ and ‘Jesse’s Diets‘ that reference will be lost. Whilst in Nepal, I hope to re-create the manly pose favoured by these two rugged individuals. This shot of me and my good friend Matthijs taken at Annapurna Sanctuary in 2004. Taken [...]
I hope that the battles that are still taking place in Bangkok as I write this (Monday 13th) will have subsided by the time this post appears and we can concentrate on more upifting things. Such as… a short time-lapse sequence of clouds forming over Bangkok. Taken with a Canon G9 camera, set to take [...]
I’m working in Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian AIDS Council and have managed to snag a hotel room with a direct view of the impressive Petronas Towers. When I arrived this afternoon the daily monsoon downfall was imminent, the dark clouds making for a great backdrop. At dusk I was treated to a different view [...]
Victory Monument is usually a very busy transport hub in the centre of Bangkok. However, yesterday it was the scene of fighting between army forces and Red Shirt protesters. By mid-morning the army had gained control over the area and the only real traffic consisted of these armoured vehicles, circling the monument, no doubt as [...]
Tension in Bangkok continues to rise after bullets and tear gas were fired in the early hours of the morning. Over 70 people are reported to have been injured. There’s a strange atmosphere in the city today. Many people have left Bangkok, not necessarily because of the protests but because it’s Songkran, Thai New Year, [...]
Sadly the metaphoric clouds hanging over Bangkok today aren’t nearly as light and fluffy as these, taken from my balcony first thing this morning. Troops and protesters clashed overnight and the BBC is reporting that tear gas and bullets were used. Many people have been injured and there is talk of the battle moving towards [...]
A friend of mine has a book coming out and I want to tell you about it but I’m conscious of not wanting it to appear like I’m just plugging a mate’s book as a favour. The truth is that I might consider doing that for a good friend but this is different. I’m telling [...]
One of the lessons we teach during the Bangkok Photo School Foundation course involves a discussion about Creativity. You know that if I ask you NOT to think about a pink elephant for the next ten seconds, that’s all you’re going to think about? Well, this lesson is based on that principle. The fact is [...]
I managed to escape for a day last week whilst scouting out possible locations for a forthcoming Photo School weekend workshop and headed towards Hua Hin, stopping at a variety of potential photo hot spots along the way. I’ve picked out a few images from the day, which proved to be great fun. Standing in [...]
I’ve enjoyed leading several photo workshops recently and they’re invariably a pleasure. I’m sure that I get as much from our forays around Pak Klong Talaat and Chinatown as the participants do. Matt Brandon recently wrote a lovely post about how watching his daughter take photos had inspired him and I find that something similar [...]
Ever dreamed of swapping your briefcase for a camera bag? Does the prospect of filling up a passport with stamps from exotic and enchanting locations make you drool? When you book your summer holiday accommodation do you ask the travel agent to describe the quality of the early-morning light? When a friend shows you a [...]
The first big storm of the season arrived over Bangkok this evening and I managed to grab a few frames after what was a rather delicious home-made curry. But I digress. I tried a slightly different approach tonight and it seems to have paid off. Previously I would have used the lowest ISO setting on [...]
Following on from yesterday’s post concluding our Spring Bangkok Photo School courses, here are two slideshows featuring the students and their work. There was, as you’ll see, a wide range of subjects appearing in our homework review each week. This was an introductory course where we concentrated on the basic photographic principles but also tried [...]
Gracious, I’ve been away from the blog for too long. I’ve been busy. That’s my excuse. You believe me, right? Anyway, apologies for the hiatus. I was thinking of you. Honest! Firstly, your free desktop wallpaper for April comes from the island of Koh Samet in Thailand. It was shot at dawn from a small [...]