The April edition of Digital Photo Pro magazine includes my brief account of a day photographing in Varanasi, northern India. The article is one of a series of "Working Lives" pieces that the magazine carries every month. The full text of the article follows:

"I've never been what you might call a “morning person”. However, I'm much more likely to throw back the covers with enthusiasm when the alarm rings if I'm in a great location and know that the potential for eye-catching photos is just outside the door. In Varanasi, the alarm barely sounds before I'm up and searching around in the darkness for my camera bag. For a Travel Photographer, Varanasi is a real gem and I always get that sense of being a “kid in a sweet shop” when I'm here.

I plan to leave the hotel, which is at the southern edge of the main town, take a small ferryboat up the Ganges to the northern end of town and then to walk back along the river, photographing the many activities that take place on the string of ghats that line the riverbank. It's pitch black as I tiptoe out of the hotel and I need a torch to help me pick my way through the maze of cow pats that dot the narrow alleyways or galis towards the river.

Despite the early hour, the ferrymen who sleep in their small, wooden boats have a sixth sense and know when there's a potential passenger nearby. I quickly accept one of the many called offers for a ride and step aboard a rocking rowing boat. It's a magical time to be on the river. The only sound is the slip-slap of the ferryman's oars in the water and the first, golden band of light is only just starting to bring illumination to the ghats and riverside temples.

I'm shooting stock material for Getty and Lonely Planet Images and whilst Varanasi is rich in potential material, I'm also conscious that I need to look for more than the usual run-of-the-mill images. I have a list of potential shots and ideas and I'll refer to this during the day although, inevitably in a place like Varanasi, the great diversity of subject matter will dictate what I actually photograph as the day progresses.

I usually carry three Canon 'L' lenses with a 1Ds MKII body. The f/2.8 70-200mm IS is a wonderful lens and I'll have this on the camera for much of the day. For stock use, having a camera with higher resolution can make all the difference. Larger images give potential clients more flexibility and with Travel Photography being such a competitive market it makes sense to grab what small advantages one can.

I find lots to photograph as I walk towards Manikarnika Ghat, one of Varanasi's main cremation ghats. Even this early there are log pyres burning but it's not a place to photograph so I move on, knowing that there are some locations that really should remain unseen.

The burning ghats show how people lead their lives very much in the open here. The river soon becomes much busier with people performing their early-morning ablutions, praying, meditating, washing their laundry and even scrubbing their oxen clean. The Chai-sellers have set up shop and are soon serving a queue of eager tea-drinkers. A hot, sweet chai is a perfect way to start the day in Varanasi.

In the course of the next few hours I wander slowly back south along the river, photographing couples getting married, children flying kites, men getting haircuts and women gossiping as they lay out their washing to dry on the steps. All life is here.

Back at the hotel there's just time to download the morning's photos to a laptop and grab a bite to eat before heading back out to do the same route in reverse, ready to catch the evening light. Varanasi is such a delight, I'll probably set the alarm clock even earlier tomorrow."

Tags: interviews, india

Andrew Gibson is a UK photographer who has recently moved to Argentina in order to build up a portfolio of photographs from South America. You have to admire that sort of commitment.

He's kindly asked me to complete one of a series of interviews that he's carrying out with photographers and you can read the full extent of my ramblings on his Magical Places Blog.

The interview did give me an opportunity to have a brief but enthusiastic rant about Don McCullin, who I don't talk about nearly enough on this blog but I hope to rectify that in the near future.

Tags: interviews

There can't be a travel photographer on the planet who isn't very familiar with Steve McCurry's photographs. I know that I'll be yanking one or two people's chains when I mention him but, for me, his biography and his photographs can be a valuable resource for anyone hoping to make a living shooting travel photographs.

There's an interview with McCurry at PDN Online, which makes for interesting reading. A couple of quotes stood out for me, "Just because someone’s wearing a turban, doesn’t mean it’s an interesting photo.", which a lot of photographers forget when they start photographing in unfamiliar locations.

Also, "Sometimes when I travel with photographers, there’s a distance between them and the people they see", which I think can also be true. Perhaps it's because the sort of locations that McCurry regularly photographs in, Thailand, Tibet, Burma etc., can seem so strange to western eyes that there's a temptation for photographers to look at local people as "subjects" rather than people. That's human nature I suppose but there's no doubt that my best photographs have been made after I've first made friends with the people I hope to photograph.

Lastly, "If you want to be a photographer, you have to photograph. If you look at the photographers whose work we admire, they’ve found a particular place or a subject, dug deep into it, and carved out something that’s become special. And that takes a lot of time and a lot of work – that’s not for everyone." is a comment that resonated for me. I know that being a "Travel Photographer" and being based in the UK is something of an oxymoron - but more about that later.

And whatever your opinion of Steve McCurry, I think you'd be hard pushed to say that his photograph of the four Burmese nuns proceeding down a rain-soaked street and dressed in pink robes isn't as yummy as the marshmallows that those robes put me in mind of (see the bottom of the PDN article).

Tags: interviews, photography