Travel & Humanitarian Photos
Firstly, an enormous thank you to all who took the time to leave a comment and enter the competition to win a copy of the fabulous Travel Photographer of the Year “Journey Three” book. It really is a very special compilation and over 150 of you entered. Despite the fact that I suspect 140 of you might all be my mum posing as different people, I really wish that I could send each of you a copy of the book. As it is, I only have the one to give away and realise that I’m about to disappoint all but one of you but I guess that’s the harsh reality of competitions.
However, I’m delighted that the special random selection process that my staff* have constructed (a hat, some bits of paper) has produced a really worthy winner. This person has been a friend for several years, we started following each other’s blogs way back when I still had a proper job and he’s been a constant nuisance presence ever since. We’ve never actually had the opportunity to meet in person but through our online connection, I feel that he’s become a long-standing friend.
The TPOTY Journey Three Book winner is… MASHER!
Congratulations!
To hear about future competitions and give-aways, make sure that you sign up for my Newsletter. To buy a copy of the TPOTY Journey Three book, visit the TPOTY web site.
This month’s free desktop wallpaper comes from Varanasi in India and celebrates the photo expedition that I should be packing for right now, given that my flight leaves in 12 hours and I still haven’t ironed my handkerchiefs. I’m leading the tour alongside stalwart photographer Matt Brandon. We’ll visit Delhi and Varanasi before taking the group to document the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar in time for the most auspicious bathing day on April 14th. The highlighted dates on the calendar mark the dates of this tour.
April 2010: 1024x768
April 2010: 1280x800
April 2010: 1280x1024
April 2010: 1440x900
April 2010: 1680x1050
April 2010: 1920x1200
April 2010: iPhone Version
I’m really looking forward to returning to India and to introducing the group to some of my very favourite photographic locations. Matt and I have a great itinerary planned and my only fear is that the days will whizz past too quickly. I will, of course, post as often as possible and I’m hoping to bring you some of our group’s images to illustrate some of the techniques that Matt and I will be teaching during the trip.
If this sort of photo expedition appeals to you and you weren’t able to make our Kumbh Mela trip then you should take a look at the details for the trip to Laos that I’m running with Tim Humble in October. This also promises to be a memorable tour and the places we’re visiting… well, let’s just say that opportunities like this don’t come along very often.
One of the great pleasures of my job – and there are many – is the opportunity to collaborate with others. The Kumbh Mela trip will be all the more enjoyable in Matt’s company and I’m looking forward to working with Tim in Laos later in the year. I regularly get to work with other photographers, with writers and with editors. Being able to share your enthusiasm with somebody who is also motivated to create something of value is very rewarding. Only today I was speaking with another photographer who’s energy and enthusiasm has consistently fired my own and the total of what we are able to achieve together is so much greater than the sum of the parts. Our parts. Perhaps I should rephrase that?
My point is simply that a goal, when shared, quickly becomes more achievable than it might when pursued alone. There’s also the added benefit of being able to combine forces to overcome obstacles and the prospect of shared delight (or relief) when goals are achieved. That’s my suggestion for today, if you’re looking to extend your boundaries and break out of your creative comfort zones, go and find somebody like-minded with whom you can collaborate. If you don’t have a project then make one up.
I’ve recently joined forces with two companies who share my creative ideals and I’m looking forward to collaborating closely with both in the future:
Firstly, I’m delighted to be the newest member of X-Rite’s “Coloratti”.
“X-Rite’s Coloratti includes the world’s top professional photographers, a group whose vision, passion, leadership, and partnership are recognized and valued by X-Rite. These photographers are highly respected by their peers and are admired by up-and-coming professionals, enthusiasts, and students alike.”
Students at the Bangkok Photo School, especially those on Advanced courses, are encouraged to create a colour managed workflow and we use X-Rite tools to help them construct a process that’s consistent and accurate. I’m surprised how many photographers fail to implement some kind of colour management in their digital workflow. I know that all sounds pretty dull but it’s so easy to achieve and the alternative – a random, hit-and-miss approach – is, well, random. If you’ve taken the trouble to go out and search for a great subject, worked on the lighting and the composition and managed to catch something special, then it deserves to have the benefit of some accurate colour control. Anyway, X-Rite obviously caught wind of my colour-control evangelising and invited me to join the ranks of the Coloratti. Now I can preach colour management with their support and have some input into their future product lines. Collaboration, you see? Great, isn’t it?
Secondly, I’ve also joined the team at hip camera bag manufacturer, F-Stop.
“At F-stop we believe your camera bag should assist you in getting the perfect shot–not hold you back. That’s why we have created our line of packs and bags with the adventure photographer in mind. Whether you are skiing down the backside of the Alps, climbing in Patagonia, exploring the rain forest in Brazil, or just on holiday our bags will get your equipment there safely no matter what the conditions.”
It’s great to be involved with an enterprise that is energetic and innovative. Better still, the guys at F-stop are attentive and responsive, the bags are excellent and they’re keen to develop products that meet the needs of photographers like me, people who need gear that’s sturdy, reliable, functional but which doesn’t get in the way of getting the job done. I’ve been using the Satori bag for a while now and love, love, love it. My only concern is that I feel like I should be going on more adventurous expeditions in order to justify putting my gear into it. These bags are, after all, designed for “Adventure Photographers” and I’m just a humble Travel Photographer. Still, if you don’t tell them and I don’t tell them, perhaps they won’t notice.
Check out some of the other members of the F-Stop “Faction” and see what an Adventure Photographer gets up to. I figure that if F-Stop bags can stand up to the kind of extreme sports that these guys do for kicks then they should easily withstand my occasional perambulations down Chandi Chowk.
Many of you have picked up on the fact that I’m planning to offer a mentoring programme in the future. Despite hiding this news away at the foot of my About page, I’ve been inundated with requests for more information.
The mentoring programme is being created to offer aspiring photographers an insight into Travel Photography. It will involve a commitment of 4-6 weeks (from you and me), during which you’ll receive projects and assignments designed to expand your portfolio and stretch your creative muscles. There will be technical information and participants will receive a detailed description of my current digital workflow. This will include things like all of my Lightroom presets, a flowchart of my workflow process and you can bet that I’ll be beating the colour management drum too. However, as well as all of these practical benefits, we’ll discuss your photographic aspirations and consider ways that you might achieve your goals, whatever they might be.
I’ll let you know more when the full programme has been finalised. However, because this type of mentoring requires a lot of commitment, it’s only realistic for me to accept one or two participants at a time. In order to decide which photographers will benefit the most, I’ll be setting up an application process that will ask for a small portfolio of your work together with a brief written summary describing your expectations.
The first mentoring programme will be awarded as a prize in association with the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers and Focus for Humanity. These two organisations are about to launch exciting new projects that will bring tremendous benefits to Travel, Humanitarian, Social and World photographers. Call yourselves what you will, anyone involved in the process of documenting our world in a positive light will want to know more when these projects go live. I’m delighted to be collaborating (there’s that word again) with both teams but you won’t find links to web sites yet as the forces behind these innovative projects are currently beavering away constructing them. I really just want to alert you to the names so that you can keep an eye out – expect to hear more in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, if you’d like to make sure that you receive news as it’s released, subscribe to my newsletter.
Finally, in what has become something of a mammoth post, my recent photographs of the Wai Khru Tattoo Festival have proved to be really popular. Clearly I should do more work in black and white. A number of magazines and web sites have featured the images, including Reportage, Needles and Sins, SocialDocumentary.net, The International Press Photo Agency and others.
Now, those handkerchiefs won’t iron themselves and it’s not long before I’ll be checking-in for the flight to Delhi so I should go and make myself useful. Look out for new images from India in the next couple of weeks and further news of the collaborations already mentioned as it becomes available.
Cheers!
*staff: I wish!
Wow…big, don’t tire yourself out before leaving. The wallpaper image is absolutely stunning.
DO you use standard lightroom adjustments for black and white, or is it a plugin? The tone is beautiful.
I won? Oh my. That’s fantastic! Thank you very much, Gavin.
I’d also like to thank the selection panel for their judicious decision;
The people at Canon for providing me with endless reasons to part with my cash;
My family for supporting me thoughout all this;
Uncle Steve;
Dan and Wendy;
Colin;
All the folks at our local Jessops;
And anyone else who knows me.
[/acceptance speech]
Oh yeah: have fun in India (like you need telling!)
Beautiful wallpaper as always Gavin & congratulations on the partnerships! I’d probably spot it anyway but let me know if you ever do get around to something “adventurous” .. those backpacks look like they could be ideal for a trip i’m planning at the back end of the year so any review you might do would be a valuable read. You know the score. It’s ok getting your camera gear in a bag, they’ll all do that, but can you fit a kettle and a teapot in there with them?
Long but very instructive post. I will look in details at the X-rite site. Color managing… Hmmm…. It seems I have a lot of homework now…