— Feb 17

  — 24 hours in Cape Town for Australian Gourmet Traveller


posted under Food photography, Travel, work

I remember very clearly the morning that I received the mail form Australian based Gourmet Traveller Magazine, asking me to shoot a story on Cape Town! I had to look twice. In my opinion, Australia has some of the best food photographers with the likes of Con Poulos, Chris Court, Ben Dearnley and Petrina Tinslay, many of whom if not all have shot for Gourmet Traveller. So it was with great enthusiasm that I jumped at this challenge.

Max Veenhuyzen, a freelance writer based in Oz, had already written the copy and so I was presented with a brief of places to cover and the feel of the images they were looking for. I used this as a guide but went to places that I thought were ommitted too. For visual style It was accompanied by some references of their previous travel shoots:

The brief was specific, they wanted to portray a buzzy, fun-paced and packed holiday destination with vibrant, graphic and glam imagery. So generally no empty streets or restaurants void of life! Initial emails were sent out to all the chosen spots on their list informing them that I would be coming to shoot. This generally works well and gets the location ready for your arrival and chefs prepared to make a dish that needs to be shot. It was my job to contact them and arrange times to fit everybody in over a relatively short time period. Most (but not all) of the spots I went to were accommodating, ranging from ‘couldn’t do enough’ to ‘doing me a favour’.

I find it is always tricky to portray your hometown as one would a foreign place. You have to look at the city with fresh eyes and imagine what would capture the imagination of someone paging through a magazine in Sydney or Melbourne for example. Not that it is difficult in Cape Town but having lived here my whole life, one sees it differently and sometimes take the beauty for granted.

With the intention of impressing and giving the magazine a wealth of choice, I sent over 90 images from Franschhoek to Steenberg Estate in Constantia. I was pleased with the result but felt that the picture choice was not entirely on the money. I have included here some of the images they used as well as some that didn’t make it.

 

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— Feb 8

  — A day with chef Liam Tomlin


posted under Behind the scenes, Food photography, News

For the first 5 encounters or so after meeting Liam Tomlin, I hadn’t seen him cook a thing! But the sense you get when you meet him is that there is more going on then cooking, much more in fact! Having just opened Chef’s Warehouse in Cape Town after successfully running restaurants in Oz, our paths crossed. After he realized that my pictures make him look good (ongoing joke we share) and some work we did together, exactly a year ago we joined forces and have been working on a book. Full of useful knowledge from preparing different cooking stocks and olive oils, step by steps on everything from shucking an oyster to making gnocchi, Liam has poured all his knowledge into this. I have been the lucky one to experience it first hand albeit behind a camera and not at the dinner table. We hope to have it on the shelves by Christmas and have already secured a publisher. Sorry for being so vague but it is all still in the early stages to be giving too much away. Here are some shots taken behind the scenes in his kitchen and school at Chef’s Warehouse.

Bailey is a big fan of our book especially when we shooting the meat chapters!

4 Comments
— Jan 6

  — engaging with your subject


posted under Photography tips, Travel

 

When I spoke at the Getaway Travel Blog conference in November, I was asked an interesting question which got me thinking. To paraphrase, how does one successfully engage when shooting people on your travels?

Before I attempt at giving some kind of answer to this question I need to make clear that the success in this often is more determined by your character than your photographic abilities. Some people naturally are engaging and have the kind of personalities that draw people to them. They have a charisma or warm disposition that instantly makes people feel comfortable in their presence. The difference between a good and bad portrait photographer or any photography with people for that matter, is often how they interact with their models and get their muse to feel at ease in what could potentially be an uncomfortable situation.

The pressing of the camera button is the easiest part in fact. It is how you get there that counts.

Having said that there are various techniques to get your Nepalese monk or Turkish fisherman to show you his (or her) best toothy grin.

Different cultures and people have different ideas about being photographed. It is often very important to be sensitive to these differences and to research this before visiting a new place. I am not of the school of doing what ever it takes to get the shot even if it means making the person angry or compromised in achieving your goal. I  believe that the best emotions and reactions come from getting some kind of consent from your subject (I am excluding documentary style shooting from this where you are less involved in what is happening with your subject). Back to my original point, if you know that the Thai people for example, feel you steal their spirit when you take a photograph of them, then be sensitive to this and take some time to communicate before lifting the camera to your eye and build a report with them. Look at taking images of people as a currency that needs to be reciprocated. By them allowing you to take their image, you can at the very least pay them the respect back.

Luck and a little good timing may be on your side but if you don’t have the time then don’t expect the best portrait!

You would be surprised what you can achieve with a little patience and effort. Everyone wants to feel that they are somehow special, so when approaching into their space and say there is a language barrier in asking them permission for taking their portrait, use universal gestures like pointing at your camera, smiling and gently pointing at them as if asking permission. And being humble all the time, knowing that if they refuse you will walk away. They after all are doing you a favour, not the other way round.

If you are shy and you would rather drop your camera into the sea then go up to someone and ask them permission to photograph them then there is the long lens approach. While it gives you a comfortable distance to zoom into someone’s face and isolate backgrounds with more shallow depth of field, it won’t get the expression that you can get by directing or interacting with someone.

Having an assignment often gives me the courage to go up to strangers and explain what I am doing. If you are shooting a travel story on a city and you explain this, often people will oblige as they feel that there is a purpose to you taking shots of them sitting in a park or giving life to an otherwise deserted street scene. If you mention the title of the magazine or client this also may help. The psychological difference for you as the photographer in this situation can‘t be downplayed. You have a mission and an editor somewhere is depending on you for these images. It is a great motivator to get into the thick of things and make friends. The obvious advantage to this is that you can arrange visits to key places where waiters, staff and even customers will be prepared for your arrival and will eagerly pose for the story.

Often, especially here in Africa, children love their pictures to be taken and will go out of their way to pose for you. This has happened to me and I made good use of this to create a wonderful series of bright smiley children. Often showing them the image on the digital display can go a long way to show them gratitude for their enthusiasm.

 

To sum up, try to take some kind of control of the shot, even if it is making the person aware that you are there. We have all tried do the ‘get your friend to pose but really take a shot of the interesting lady behind’ trick. But these are always un-rewarding and something has to be cropped off the image. So be in control and take ownership of the shot. Go and ask the person or people you would like to take a picture of if they wouldn’t mind, you never know you may get a very favourable response with more than satisfying results. The worst thing that can happen is that they will say no and you have at least tried. It is a case of those that dare win.

 

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— Dec 28

  — Sasko shoot with Saatchi CT


posted under Food photography, work

Last month we spent 4 days in studio creating a library of images for Sasko to use in their marketing campaigns. The brief was very much inspired by the look and feel of the gorgeous work by Katie Quinn Davies featured on her blog What Katie Ate. The idea was to produce individually styled images that could be used together or alone and that hinted at the product rather than be glaringly obvious. Jules Mercer sourced unbelievable props and backdrops and prepared all the delicious treats we shot, we could not go wrong! I have said on a post before that you MUST surround yourself with brilliance.

We had a great 4 days with the agency and client and I was really happy with the end product!

Cedits:

stylist: Jules Mercer

agency: Saatchi Cape Town

client: Sasko SA

location: Wembley Road Studios

 

3 Comments
— Dec 20

  — schmooze your clients!


posted under Creative process, The Business of photography

I went to a motivational talk last week by the GM of Protea Hotels and was inspired by one of his simple truths that an important rule in business is to get new clients and hold onto them!!

We spend a lot of time and energy trying to acquire new clients and spend less time looking after and keeping them around. Photographers, just like so many others in business, are in the service industry. And I don’t mean just in producing magnificent images for our clients but all the stuff that goes around taking pictures. I started out naively believing that all I needed to do was produce unparalleled images and they would come running and never leave. Yes, it is very important to have a superior product to compete in the creative market place but no it is not enough!

Everyone and their aunty is a photographer.

The digital age has changed the playing field forever! It has in effect narrowed the gap between photography professionals and Joe with the latest DSLR; the barrier to becoming a ‘professional’ photographer is almost non-existent.  In the days of film, one generally invested in medium format camera or top of the range SLRs. Costly Polaroids or contact sheets to check exposure and composition were the only back up. Film and processing costs as well as portfolio prints and that ubiquitous black leather porty case all cost dollars to produce and tested your commitment. Today with minimal investment required, the digital camera has made it all accessible and the web has made it free to present your work to the world. And the result of this all is that there is so many more people for your clients to go to for photography (most of them not having to leave their day jobs).

My message to professionals is not one of gloom though and am not suggesting packing it all in but rather to use this as an opportunity to differentiate and stand out. Your work is one way to do that but you will need to market and add value to your offering like never before to keep those interested parties well, interested!

The days of photographers being prima donnas are over.

I remember working in Paris as an art director with top photographers who had paid their dues and now were on the top of their professions. They had 4 assistants and when the first assistant had pulled the polaroid, the photographer would walk in, look at it, move a light and walk out again. Those were the days!

Not to say that there isn’t a small cadre of photographers in the world who are not larger than the subjects that they are shooting but for most of us mere mortals we need to be good partners to our clients. I’m not suggesting for a minute that we must give up our creative integrity because that is sure death, but to listen and collaborate with them. You need to make sure they are looked after. Everything from making sure the music playing in the studio is likeable to having good coffee to offer. The experience from the first call you make to the time you hand over the images must be one that is considered positive in general. You won’t get it all right but the take out must be positive!

Add value.

Make it difficult for your client to leave you! Offer your creative input on a campaign sometimes before it gets to the shoot. Ask if you can sit in on the brainstorming session if the agency has asked you to quote on the job. Be careful though as you don’t want to start doing the art director’s job and stand on anybody’s toes. So be proactive but not annoyingly so and your level of sensitivity will be your guide on this. Be part of the creative team and not just the last step in the production. Another example, I have a good network of people around me that I can call upon from stylists, assistants to retouchers and lighting suppliers when a job arises and in a fairly short turn around time put a production together. This clear advantage to my client gives them peace of mind that the whole shoot is taken care of and that you are working with a team of people that has worked together before. I am in this case more than a photographer, I become a mini agency!

Communication and reliability is also crucial. There are many photographers out there but as a ‘professional’ photographer you need to make time for preproduction meetings, be at the other end of the phone or at least email, and make good on timelines and deadlines.

The truth is you need to shoot and schmooze!

You have to be good with people to a large extent too. People like working with people they know and like (sometimes regardless of the quality of the work).  You do need to make effort with people and spend time schmoozing a little. If this is not your thing then it takes more of your energy but a little will go a long way and it needs to be genuine as much as possible. I must add that don’t expect loyalty from clients and you will not be disappointed. I have mentioned before to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket and not to depend on one client no matter how big. Also don’t expect to get on with everyone. Sometimes you just gel with a client and with others, no matter the quality of work, there is no connection. This also applies to stylists and art directors.

Showing that you genuinely care about your work and the clients’ objectives will help form bonds. Offering your time to chat or go and recce locations, that may be beyond your duty, will mean so much to them. You need to go the extra mile! Your current clients, assuming all went well on the shoot, have already formed a relationship with you. This is a great foot in the door and opportunity to turn the relationship into a long term one.

Don’t play the price game!

A piece of advice that I learned from another photographer once was not to compete on price and make low fees your added advantage. Sure if they are on a tight budget or they are good clients you can negotiate but be careful that you are not just the cheapest! The clients often perceive your worth this way too and will not give it a moments thought to look at other portfolios next time a job with a bigger budget comes around. The flip side to this is that you shouldn’t milk them dry either. Rather price yourself fair and keep them coming back.

So with the slow down in ad spend and the closure of magazines, the mind blowing number of images flying around on the net, a smaller client base with interesting budgets and a ton of competent photographers out there vying for the job, you need to be holding on to your existing clients with all the heart you have.

 

 

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— Nov 30

  — interior photography 101


posted under Creative process, Photography tips, Uncategorized

I have always had a fascination for spaces and people’s places!

When I visit someone’s home for the first time I always feel the desire to walk around their whole house. Just like the shoes a person wears, It gives one a good insight into their personalities, well almost!

I started my career shooting decor and interior photography and still enjoy it even though I seem to do less of it now. One of the rewarding aspects of shooting spaces, is that it usually belongs to or is the product of someone’s work, be it the interior decorator, architect or the home owner themselves who are very proud of it and are delighted that here you are with your camera giving it the time of day.

There is a definite art in capturing and representing the feel of the space to someone who has never been there before. Sometimes you have to capture this with a single image that will accompany a small article in the entertaining or travel section of a magazine or you will have 6 to 8 pages in a main decor editorial piece.

Often I have the luxury of being accompanied by a decor stylist who besides bringing flowers and props like books, cushions, throws etc. will help to order a shot and often remove what is not needed or clutters the frame. This is huge win when you have to shoot the bed and the all too often discussion arises: do we leave it pristine or give it the just-slept in look? Often the idea when shooting a home is to represent the way the home owners live and there fore not to bring too much from out side and misrepresent their taste but to rather isolate the essence and key pieces of a home. If it is a decor story for example say on bathrooms or reception areas or interesting lights then often the stylist will source the different items to tell the story. Here the space is almost the back drop to your story rather than the story itself.

The client or magazine that you are shooting for will also dictate the style of shooting. An architectural story will be more about the lines and space while a paint story will be more about the walls and colour. Likewise House and Leisure have for a while now introduced people and lifestyle into their interiors so kids or dogs playing or an adult opening the fridge will be integral to the shoot while Elle Deco may just want more cutting edge design spaces with out people. This too will dictate what happens to the bed I mentioned earlier.

When I used to shoot for Real Simple magazine we had prescribed angles that we could shoot as set out in their guide lines. It was designed to be more graphic with straighter lines. So we had the option of shooting straight on, classic three quarter or from above.

Angles and light:

Daylight is again my preference when shooting interiors. It simply looks more natural and gives a better indication of how the light passes through the space. This does present some problems however. The light differential is often more than 4 stops different from outside to indoors. This means that when the property agent asks you to shoot the Clifton beach cottage and make sure to get the sea and bathers through the windows, easier said then done! Our eyes are amazingly designed to read a much larger dynamic range than film or camera sensors. What would read as a correct exposure inside typically reads greatly over exposed outside. When shooting outside in, what looks right outdoors with the same exposure reads dark indoors. The obvious solution when shooting interiors would be to expose more for outside and lift the indoor light artificially with flash thus balancing the light more. However, you will soon realise that this alters and detracts from the interior light and all mood is lost.  My only solution, dare I say it,  for this is to shoot multiple exposures, a correct one for inside and a darker exposure for out the windows and comp them together in post. Or to tell the property agent to take the pic himself!

I must add here that if you are going to comp then leave the outside brighter and a little more over exposed compared to the interior or it will look false and we have seen this all too often, yich!

I like to keep mood in my interior images, call me romantic but it elicits more emotion and wonderment then lights all on and shadows filled in.

Unlike a controlled lighting set up, buildings have windows sometimes in the wrong places. We as photographers have to work around an existing structure with light sources sometimes coming from behind us which tends to drop off quickly giving dark far walls or the opposite where we have to shoot directly into a window and can get nasty flair. My solution to this(and sometimes it is unavoidable) is to walk through the space and work out how many shots you have to take and what direction the sun will move through out the course of your shoot and plan accordingly. If you want lots of bright sun pouring in then follow that through the house. if there is a room with out windows or is independent of the light outdoors then shoot it when your out side light is not in the correct position for anything else.

Also, if the house or space is dark and moody then reflect that mood in your images by creating enough light to expose the detail of the room but don’t crank up the exposure to make it look like a sunny loft!

I have a pet hate for lines that are not straight! My previous medium format film camera, a Mamiya RZ, on its tripod was a magnificent interiors camera with lenses that never distorted unless they were ultra wide. With digital SLRs the lenses and slightest movement will throw the horizontals and verticals out. The trick is to keep the back of the camera parallel to the back wall as much as possible. When you start shooting high and angling the camera down or shooting low and pointing it up the lines will distort more. I have a little spirit level that fits into my hot shoe to help me gauge my camera’s angles. It is a small thing which I find helps a ton.

I try not to use a wide angle lens for interiors for the same reason but sometimes this is unavoidable when you are in a tight spot and need to get a lot in to your frame. If you can move back and use a longer lens then generally do that. I try not to shoot wider then 50mm but often end up at 35mm correcting distortion in post again. I do miss medium format!

 

When shooting an interior, try and put yourself into the shoes of the viewer of the images. If you have enough pages and shots of the space and you want to capture the flow of the space then shoot connectors. What I mean by this is shoot a room with a piece of furniture or a door that appears in another shot from a different angle so that one understands how it all fits together. Also fill the frame with interest. If the building is quirky or different show that in the images. Remember people are voyeuristic and want to get a glimpse into how other people live and work.

Often a good detail shot can tell more about a person then a full room. It also makes for good layouts to have some pull back images together with close ups.

If you are introducing people into your shot you have to be careful with their movement unless that is what you want. Often i am shooting at 1/4 of a second on a tripod and while a still life study will all be crystal clear the Jack Russell probably will not. If you can get the person (or dog) to sit very still or even introduce a little beauty dish balanced with daylight to up the shutter speed then good. Just be careful that when you introduce artificial flash that it looks natural and is more of a fill then a key light.

Often, interior or decor stories require a portrait of the home owner or family/kids. The trend has moved away from formal poses to them interacting with their environment. It is important to take control and direct this and not try and get something spontaneous. You need to recreate spontaneity!

Exterior shots are best left for good times of the day like early sunrise or near sunset. Again be aware of converging lines and being too close to the facade. You want to show the exterior lines and dimensions so get to a point where you can build context but not with too much distortion, generally speaking.

My last point on this post is that you will find that you will be asked to photograph a space that doesn’t appeal to you. It can’t happen that you like everything you shoot. There are too many different styles and people in this world with their own taste for you to be in-amid with it all. It is up to you as a professional to extract the beauty to the maximum and do justice to that the person who has designed it that way. Sometimes you will walk in and not be able to get a bad angle while other times you will have to dig deep.

 

5 Comments
— Nov 21

  — Shoot out of your comfort zone!


posted under Creative process, Uncategorized

This weekend I was shooting an event for an organisation close to my heart, Diabetes South Africa (post with pics to follow soon) when it occurred to me how it is only when we are shooting in a ‘free environment’ that we really play and push ourselves!

What do I mean exactly, you may ask?

I have mentioned in a previous post the importance of always shooting and testing. Our eye and its ability to see is like a muscle that needs to be trained and honed. The more you are using it and looking through the lens the better you will start to see. We make a million decsions when we are pressing that button, the best light, frame, what to include and leave out, if the subject has the right expression and position, are the styling and props working etc. The more we shoot the better we get at makeing these decisions. No amount of assisting or reading books or paging the internet will train us like shooting ourselves. And the more we do, the faster and better we make these decisons and so we develop. Constantly shooting will perfect your skills and capabilities be it paid or unpaid, the important thing is to be shooting and not for the sake of shooting but in a way that will test your limits and help you become a better photographer.

But there is more.

When we are put into a work environment on set with heavier stress levels to perform and get the shots out at a high level, the chances are that we will fall back into what we know, our default way of shooting that is tried and tested, what we know works. We would be stupid to try a whole new lighting set up or change all the variables in that environment. I have often brought in the odd piece of lighting equipment to try out on a working shoot but would be hesitant to change it all. So we light, compose and manage the shoot the same way we have been doing it up until that point. That is all good and well, you may say that is the portfolio that the client bought into, but then how do we grow as photographers?

We need to push our boundaries and take ourselves out of the comfort zone.

I openly admit that many of my most creative opportunities have come from clients’ requests but I recommend shooting when you are not working, not only to build your portfolio and push the limits of your creative mind but to use what you know under stress free conditions to extend yourself. What I mean by a test can range from a studio arranged set up with models, stylists and assistants to a walk outside with your camera, what is important is to be shooting for yourself and to be exercising your eye seeing muscle and try new things and possibly adopt what you have tried into your work. We all have our own unique way of seeing the world and capturing it in camera but that is not to say that there are not ways to sharpen our skill and abilities further. My message here is not to change how you shoot but to keep perfecting all the time and that is often easier to do when you take work out of the equation.

The more you shoot for yourself, the more you start getting a feeling for what you love to shoot too and therein your style can be born.

Freelance photography comes with a lot of unpredictable busy and quiet times in your schedule, use the down time to expand your default, to stretch your eye seeing muscles and to progress as a photographer. We owe that to our clients and ourselves.

 

 

 

 

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— Nov 15

  — women’s health: behind the scenes


posted under Behind the scenes, Food photography, Uncategorized

Nikki and Sarah together with myself make up the team. With props unpacked and references presented, we are ready to start our day of shooting.

Unlike the good old days of food photography when so much had been done to it to make it look good under the lights, it was inedible, now days we eat the shoot for lunch and quiet happily too!

 

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— Nov 1

  — shedding a little light


posted under Creative process, Photography tips

 

When I was an art director and living in Paris early 2000, one of my memories of early inspiration was a job that took me to the Midlands in the UK. I was working on the Toyota Europe account and was assigned to oversea the photography of all the car shoots for the brochures including the spec photography for the dealers. The photographer that I worked with would get his assistant to drive the vehicle into this huge car studio, angle the wheels in a specific way, weight it down to lower the center of gravity and then he would start the long process of lighting the car. First the side panels, then the wheels and hub caps, he would lower and light a platform from the ceiling for the window highlights, then the head lights and grill and slowly transform a very normal looking object into a piece of jewelry. It was the time of film and polaroid and with each successive polaroid he showed me, this car would emerge more alive and more desirable. And I realised not only the obvious, in how important lighting is, but how one can manipulate it so precisely to get a very specific and often a beautiful affect that is almost impossible with natural light.

He was in effect painting with light!

I have always loved natural light and shoot nearly all my food photography with daylight (see my first post ‘lighting food’) but my need to manipulate light even more drew me to flash which in turn opened a whole new side to photography.

One of my mentors was quiet adamant when I started that I buy my own set of lights, promising that I would need them. I bought a set of three Elinchrom lights with stands and light shapers. Of course he was right and use them all the time to this day. They plug into any wall and acted as a fill in light in my early interior photography work with film and key-lights in people on location when I needed more of a stronger light source.

They were too limiting however for most of my professional assignments and have been using the Pro Photo packs and heads for most of my jobs. My friends down at Sunshine Lighting have been extremely kind in giving me discounted rentals on equipment for tests and personal work, which has helped a lot in getting familiar with how these lights work. Studio lighting and packs can be intimidating at first and an experienced assistant can be a great aid to navigating your way through it. There are many good lighting brands out there but try and find one that has a big family of attachments from softboxes, beauty dishes, snoots and honeycombs.

My objective once I had tested and played with lighting was to find a combination of lights and a set up that spoke to me. Jill Greenberg’s work immediately caught my eye as did Dave Hill. They both have a heavy influence of post production in conjunction with their specific light techniques. I might add at this point that it is very helpful to look at photographers’ portfolios to get a feel of what people are doing out there and just to get inspired when you hit those creative walls.

Growing up I loved to draw. This was fantastic! I saw an opportunity to not only find my own lighting set up that gave me a certain look but also acted as a canvas on which to ‘draw’ with Photoshop in post! It has been an evolution and lots of trial and error and am still perfecting the lighting technique but have started developing a lighting/post production style that I really enjoy. It is time consuming and requires loads of lights but fulfills my desire to create something that lies between photography and illustration and hopefully something unique. With out being cynical, there is a lot of bad HDR going around where a few software sliders are taken to their extremes and with it all the over sharpened artifacts. There is no quick fix especially when you print your final image and take it off the screen. I have been fortunate to find a group of retouchers now that I work with that I brief and understand where I want to go with the look and feel. It is these partnerships that take the work you do to another level and you achieve more than you could ever have done alone.

One last thing, in this time of digital, when everybody is a professional photographer and shooting what everybody else is shooting, you need to stand out from the rest! Your creative ideas, lighting techniques and post production will all help you do this. Find a style of lighting be it daylight or flash that you gel with and feels exciting and comfortable for you. Then build a body of work that reflects this lighting style and bring in your concepts and ideas. It may take a while, in my case three years, before you see clients latch on. Stay focused and keep honing and perfecting and at some point the fish will bite.

Please share your thoughts with me on my blog, I would really like to read your views.

 

 

 

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— Oct 14

  — Travel photography: a passion story


posted under Film, Photography tips, The Business of photography, Travel

I have been asked to speak next month at the  Getaway Travel Blog Conference which got me thinking about sharing some of my insights into travel photography.

We all love travel and if you are reading this you love photography as well. I am always so inspired in new lands by everything around me, I am truly like a kid in a sweet shop, camera in hand, hungry to capture anything that looks remotely interesting or foreign. But to be a successful travel photographer and return with an inspiring story that will proudly illustrate a well written editorial piece, you have to have more then talent.

There is no doubt you have to be passionate, curious and a good observer of the world. You have to desire capturing the essence of your destination and its culture into powerful images. Singularly isolating moments that will give someone far away a glimpse into the workings of the place you are visiting. My mind is in over drive on these assignments as one can never tell where and when the next opportunity sits. So a deep love to capture the essence of your surroundings is a definite precursor to a successful travel story. It is not enough to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower, we have all seen that a million times! You have to surround it with context, mystery and romance using light, angles and composition to tell a new story that is fresh and thought provoking.

Unless you shoot very remote natural environments or prefer documentary style, you should on some level like people and interact with them . You need to connect with the people around you to bring out the emotion and magic.

Travel stories require you to be good at a lot of disciplines: portraiture, landscape, street and architectural photography, food and interiors. If you are a photographer like me that loves to shoot it all and find your studio day job limits you to a certain genres of photography, then this is where you can flex all your picture-taking muscles.

The typical travel assignments that I personally encounter are either commissioned jobs accompanied by the writer or where I pitch an idea before hand with out obligation, and will then try and sell the story on my return. In the latter case I typically take a combined holiday and schlepp my wife with me to every corner of the city in order to get the story.

Editorial (magazines, books and newspapers),advertising or stock photography are the common outlets for travel assignments. A game lodge or hotel may need a bank of images for their marketing material for example.

The reality of travel photography is that it is not very easy to make a good or consistent income out of it and as glamorous as it sounds, it is hard. In and out of airports, jet lag, away from family and friends often for long periods of time and living in hotels out of suitcases or moving between towns and cities. The places you visit may be unsafe or language barriers may make it difficult to communicate. Unless it’s one of those all expenses paid for trips, it does become a matter of keeping costs down and with limited days in one place, the added pressure to get the shots quickly and efficiently. And you are doing this with the intention to sell which means you have to see it as a business as well. You need to document well where you have been and what you have taken images of.  On your return one has to market the images to prospective clients, work on your portfolio and show this to the right people, convincing them that you are right for their next assignment.

Having said all that, and even though it constitutes about 3 percent of the work I do a year, it is probably up there as the most rewarding. And that is what travel photography is really all about, expressing your passion!

In order to set up a travel shoot you need to be well prepared. The better prepared one is for your assignment the more space there will be to create the spontaneity and unrehearsed moments that make up memorable images. We all have our own inherent style of seeing the world but within that you need to go into the shoot with an understanding of your goals. What story am I telling? Is it about the city of Paris in general or is it the brasseries and food of Paris? Is it the markets of each quarter or what Parisians do for recreation? This needs to be thought out before hand so you can do an adequate  investigation as to the where, what and how. Preparation also means your approach. Do you want your images to have a documentary reportage style to them or a more polished advertising feel? Is there a brief or is the narrative up to you? Realistic or abstract? This will help ensure that the images you return with and the expectations of your client meet.

Then there are the logistics. The visas and passports. Your equipment and software, itineraries, plane tickets. map books, your bags and weight. Where will you stow your tripod and what will go into the hold (I always take my cameras, laptop and tripod on board and sometimes they will take the tripod from me and give it to me after but know they have looked after it better than if it had gone directly into the hold).

In a previous post on cameras and lenses I go into my general equipment in more detail but specifically for travel I carry with me the following:

When I’m shooting film I take my Contax G2 rangefinder with loads of Portra colour film or Fuji. I prefer film over slide as it gives me the latitude to alter exposure back home in the lab if i don’t get it right on the run. I also like to shoot film on travel stories as it forces me to look harder through the lens. I feel digital has made us all a little lazy, machine gunning our way through scenes with the hope that we have the shot! With film you have to make a decision and stick to it and then wait until you return or when it is developed to see your results (ooh I miss that!).

My digital bag consists of my 5D mark 2 with my 24-70, 2.8 for wide with out too much distortion and the zoom for flexibility in different environments. It is a great all purpose sharp lens and not too heavy. I have my fast standard prime 50mm 1.4 and the 85mm 1.2 for portraits and low light conditions where I can still hand hold. And if I need to go longer I use my 100mm but not that often to be honest. I like to be close to my subject anyway and while I have rented the 200mm for wildlife it is not my thing and they are heavy! Orms is my port of call for good hardware if you in the Cape Town area.

A good unobtrusive travel case for your camera and lenses is crucial! Make space for your memory cards, chargers and spare batteries. I often carry my laptop and external hard drive separately as a precaution in case one gets lost then I have a back up. Take lots of small (4 gig) memory cards instead of fewer larger ones and I can recommend the portable external Lacie rugged as it doesn’t require it own power just the USB connection to the laptop. I always try and keep at least two copies of my digital files at any given time. A smaller day bag for just the camera and lenses you need for that excursion is also a good idea.

So once you have arrived you need to plan your day around the light. I typically wake up early to catch the first light when everything is bathed in low contrast stunning light. It is a peaceful time of the day but let me add that I get a little jumpy knowing I have a relatively short window period to use that quality of light and feel like I want to be everywhere at once. If I arrive at a new place during the afternoon, I will try and get a lay of the land for the following morning. As most of you know the other special time for good light is the two hours before sunset when similarly the sun is low in the sky, becomes less harsh and warmer in colour. In fact just after the sun goes down the light is magical and tends to bring out a wonderful ambient light. House and streetlights starts to switch on while there is still enough light in the sky to balance it with. For efficiency, I find that I will shoot inside during the day when the light is too harsh to get good outdoor shots. Here a tripod is recomended if the level of light coming through the windows is too low to get hand held shutter speeds and you want to use natural light. Fast lenses become useful here. Again be careful of high ISOs that can ruin a good shot with digital noise. If it is overcast all the better to take full advantage of the shadowless soft light  and colours tend to be rich.

A Google search or preparation before hand can be good but inform yourself about local events, picking up a Time Out magazine or an equivalent can help or speaking to the locals. Sometimes a guide is a good investment if they are not going to take you to all the tourist traps. I have never actually done this but on trips to Botswana, the guides are a wealth of information and a great source of help. Guides can help point out dangerous areas and act as interpreter.

The night is usually spent downloading, backing up and doing a quick edit.

And then on return home the work continues. The final selection of images is made and processed or in the case of film I have jumbo prints made for my selection. I always shoot RAW if it is digital and these should be kept safe somewhere so you can always go back to it for a re-edit or different post production treatment should the story call for it. And always keep the processed image name the same as the original RAW file so it is easy to retrieve down the line. Again when you are pitching and selling your story to an editor, have a plan. Know the angle of the story you wish to pitch and show those images as a set. Sometimes the best images you have may not tell that story and make no sense in the mix.

A point to note about intellectual property in this country, is that if you have been commissioned by a magazine to do an assignment, if they have paid for your transport and accomodation and given you a fee then they essentially own the rights to your images unless otherwise discussed. If you go out and shoot a travel story off your own bat and then sell the images, you sell them as a once off usage and own the rights to the images for further resale. A few years ago I was commissioned to shoot a travel story for Town & Country magazine in the US and was shocked that after three months, with all expenses paid, the images were mine.

One more thing, shooting for a story versus shooting for myself gives me a confidence to do things and ask people to get involved in ways that I wouldn’t normally be able to take advantage of. This extra little bit of purpose heightens my awareness to everything around me perhaps more than had I not had my camera. And yes while on holiday it is good to put the dam thing down and switch off but if you like me shooting is part of my holiday and being paid is just a bonus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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