The Craft and Vision approach is characterized by well written, engaging short eBooks, with superb layout and visual identity combined with a relaxed yet consistent editorial style. The latest of these superb publications – and at $5 a complete bargain – is penned by David himself.

“Forget Mugshots – 10 steps to better portraits” does pretty much what it says on the tin. There are 10 steps – actually quite detailed sections – that deconstruct the “secret sauce” of professional and compelling portraits, providing invaluable insights and ideas that you immediately want to go and try.

As is often the case with the Craft and Vision series, this new eBook is not just a theoretical insight into a topic. “Forget Mugshots – 10 steps to better portraits” also contains a practical exercise for each of the steps that will help you understand, practice and retain the key messages of that section. This combination of insight, explanation and exercise is why these ebooks are so useful.

David captures your interest right up front in the introduction. “A snapshot is a photograph of something. A portrait is a photograph about something”. And we are off.

In his 10 Steps – which I am not going to reveal in totality here so that you are incentivized to go and buy the eBook – he covers a range of concepts starting with how to relate to the subject and which lens or compositional style works in different circumstances. David touches on specific aspects of faces – the eyes, the smile – because these are so fundamental to the character of the finished portrait and gives some excellent tips and ideas for us to consider. As importantly, he explores the use of light and its effect on the impact of the portrait; the selection of background, the point of view as well as tackling the “posed vs the spontaneous” image.

As is often the case with David’s writing, this eBook stimulates you to go pick up a camera and try. There is no prescription her: No “take this lens” or “make sure you do this”. Rather there are 10 steps that will help you refine your approach. The skill of course is how we blend those steps, how much emphasis or pressure we put on a certain choices.

I am reminded of the metaphor of the carpenter and his tools. Just because we both go to carpentry school and are taught how to use a plane, a chisel, a jigsaw or a router, does not mean that we both come out master craftsmen. One of us might go on to make beautiful hand made Chippendale furniture and the other struggle to put up shelves. So there are parallels with photography. It is not only about having the tools/gear but rather about understanding the craft and how we can apply that to create our vision

This latest eBook is a glimpse at how a leader in photographic vision uses his mastery of his craft to create compelling portraits. By deconstructing each image – providing a back story if you like to some of the decisions and choices he faced or made – he helps us to understand better the choices and steps that we can take on similar – but different – journeys.BUt beyond that there are the insights and the exercise that turn this eBook into an invaluable tool on its own.

So my advice to you is click on this link and go buy the eBook. For less than the cost of one of those insipid milky coffees from the “TooManyBucks” coffee store, you can have hours of pleasure, an educational read or even just bask in the glow of 10 compelling portraits.

Worth it just for that.

In fact even better than that….If you use the MUGSHOTS4 promo code when you check out you will get it for $4 (applies Mar 13-Mar 17th only) or use MUGSHOSTS20 to get 20% off when you buy 5+ eBooks. Does it get any better!

And of course it is . Above board that is. It is a style of photography, that according to our friends at Wikipedia, is “typically shot in a photographer’s studio or luxury hotel suit and it has become fashionable to create a set of sensual or sexually suggestive images of women (and occasionally men and couples) in “boudoir style”. Nudity is more often implied than explicit.”

So it was with a mixture of nerves and excitement that I agreed to shoot some images for the portfolio of delightful Thai Model, Kanchalee Klammanee. She models catwalk, swimwear and fashion, but wanted some additional images that were shot in a different style.

We had the use of a room at the luxurious Sukhothai hotel, and I decided to use off camera flash for the lighting. As the “boudoir” style was a new genre for me, I did some research, planned some concepts and poses and pre-planned some of the lighting setups that I wanted to use.

I worked with just 2 x Canon Speedlites both on Pocketwizards and on light stands and then diffused with softboxes and umbrellas – all of which folded down and fitted easily into a small suitcase. I was pleased to have done some research – little tips like warming the room, having the model wearing a robe whilst we planned poses or adjusted the lights and having a clear concept for each shot meant that the shoot itself went really smoothly.

I shot entirely on manual and ignoring the ETT-L options, used manual flash. I first took an image with the flash turned off to gauge the ambient light and then used the Shutter speed to control effect i wanted – typically underexposing 2-3 stops to darken the background, except for the high key images where i did the opposite.

I used the aperture to select the creative component and control the amount of flash entering the camera. I varied the lighting setup from single rembrandt lighting to a 2 light setup where the key light and fill were at 45 degrees. I adjusted the quality of the light using a mix of soft boxes, umbrellas and reflectors as well as adjusting the distance of the light form the subject to control the intensity of the light source. In the early past of the session I used natural light with a little bit of fill flash but by the end of the session it was all done through the off-camera flash.

Two of the shots didn’t work out how I had planned them. One I thing was more about the angle of view I adopted combined with the wrong texture in the background. The hotel room didn’t give me the flexibility that a studio would have to control this, so this ended up being a “sketch” for another occasion.

The second shot was due to a failure in equipment. One of my Canon 580 EXII speedlites failed half way through. I don’t mean battery failure I means complete failure, so what was supposed to be a simple profile shot with a nice evenly lit background, became an unevenly lit shot with a dominant shadow. Even using a reflector to bounce some of the light back to fill the shadow that the failed flash had created, didn’t give me the clean background that I was looking for.

Still, overall I was pleased with the result. I learned a huge amount (Not least to have at least 3 off dashes with me!) and I think a couple of the composition are really strong or nicely lit. ou can check out the full set of images on my Facebook page

Love to hear your views!

I was surprised – yet delighted – therefore to be asked to review his latest eBook, because he is someone that I hold in very high regard. Before I share with you that review, it needs to be put in context of the man himself.

Mitchell K to me is probably one of the world’s most talented – and certainly one of the world’s most focused – travel photographers. This isn’t just hyperbole. He is lauded by his peers, by editors and by image libraries and you just have to look at his work to see his talent, his focus and his style – a style that is instantly recognizable and has made him so much in demand.

That style is very much Chiaroscuro – literally LightDark – the technique used by Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt and others that used light to shape the contrast and tone in an image to provide a three dimensional frame for a subject. Mitchell uses this Chiaroscuro effect to provide both a simplicity yet depth to each of his images. In the “Rabari – Encounters with the nomadic tribe” eBook this is immediately apparent. Yet as many great experts can and do, Mitchell always makes this appears effortless – almost simple. TO me this demonstrates true mastery and in this particular case tremendous luck for all of us, because Mitchell has lifte the lid on how he achieved these breathtaking images.

Mitchell has been incredibly generous in recent years in sharing some of that expertise in a series of eBooks and I would encourage you to look at them all. But in particular I would encourage you to look at his latest, “Rabari – Encounters with the nomadic tribe” partly because it was the project that really “launched” his career, but mainly for the detailed technical insights he provides into his style of photography.

The eBook is made up of 10 images from his 4 month documentary of the extraordinary Rabadi tribe. Each image is displayed in full with its exif data. Then over the subsequent pages, Mitchell describes the background story to the image; his objective; the lighting conditions often with small schematics to show you his technique. Furthermore there is then a series of thumbnails showing you the other images in the sequence, which help you understand botht he composition and why he selected the final images for processing.

Mitchell shares with us the insight behind the moment and pose, the challenges he faced and how he overcame them. Lastly, he then talks about how he processed the image and brings it to life. If all of that was not enough, there are some quick tips about how you can apply these learning’s to your own image.

This is a great eBook on so many levels. Not only is it bursting with beautiful images, but the layout and flow of the book makes it highly readable. Mitchell’s accompanying text is both straight forward and unpretentious which only adds to the quality of it.

It is very rare that a photographer of such repute and standing should open himself up and share not only what he was thinking about but the tips and techniques he used to capture the image. It provides a fertile ground for study for all of us whom aspire to be able to shoot such compelling images.

This is treasure trove of insight and tips for anyone that likes to take compelling travel images, so if you are serious about your travel photography then you need to buy this eBook now through Lightstalking.com. In fact even if you are not a travel photographer, you should buy the eBook – the images alone are worth the tiny investment.

These are big, bold, pictures showing an Ankor Wat already disappearing under the pressure of tourism and I would urge you if you are in Siem Reap to look at his work. You can also view it online via his website.

Bayan Temple Angkor Wat

I was looking at some color images I had taken around Angkor Wat (One of which is above) and I began to wonder whether I could create a similar effect in Lightroom, and a quick Google for Infra red and Silver Gelatin plugins brought me plenty of free options, (for the purists I am not suggesting that a quick Lightroom preset will have the same impact as a hand processed and printed IR/Silver Gelatin prints) and the two I liked the best are:

gantico.com/en
Digital Photo Buzz

Once you have downloaded them, then you can copy them in to your the Lightroom Developer presets folder (normally under /Library/Application support/Adobe/Lightoom/develop presets/ on a mac), then make sure you open/restart Lightroom. I found them both a little heavy handed and I wanted a little more grain in m images to mimic the hand processing, so I made a few little tweaks and then re-saved the preset.

Bayan Temple, Angkor Wat as an Infrared image

Each image will of course require some tweaking adjusting, probably some burning and dodging too using the fine adjustment brush, but you can create some pretty remarkable results just with the basic preset.

Have fun and let me know how you get on!

I thought it might be useful to list some of the iPhone, iPad & iTouch apps (and I guess they would be available o ANdroid too) that we have all been sharing on the Angkor Photo Workshop with Karl Grobl, Matt Brandon and Gavin Gough. My thanks to them and to the participants for letting me take most of the credit for sharing these with you! I’ve also added some essential software that is either free or low cost that I think you should all consider using.

iPhone & iPad Photography Apps

PhotoSmith – If you are an Adobe Lightroom user and have the camera connection kit, Photosmith allows you do the first part of your workflow on the road right on your iPad. The app allows you to import, rate, label, keyword, tag your images exactly as you would in Lightroom, before then importing them to Lightroom when you get back to base. A wonderful tool to save time when on the road. Read a review here

Light trac. This iPAD app lets you find out when the light is perfect at a specific location by showing you exactly at what angle the sun hits your location at any given time of the day. I’ve reviewed this previously, but this is a superb app for making sure that you are in exactly the right place at the right time, as it links to satellite imagery to ensure you can be pinpoint accurate. Want to know where to get a star bust effect over Angkor Wat at Sunrise, then use this app to go to precisely the right place. Check out Light Trac’s website for screenshots

Filterstorm – A favorite of Photojournalists, Filterstorm is at home in a professional workflow, or for anyone who simply wants to get the most out of their pictures while on the road. Filterstorm contains a suite of powerful tools including curves manipulation, color correction abilities, noise reduction, sharpening, vignetting, and black and white conversion fine-tuning. It also includes the powerful ability to apply any of the available filters by brush, color range, and gradient. Read a review or check out the pro version in iTunes

GPS4Cam – This excellent and intuitive Geo location data app allows you to append GPS data to your images prior to importing them into Lightroom, Aperture Or Camera Raw and is by far the most cost effective way to geotag those images. By simply synchronizing you iPhone and your camera’s clocks, you can then turn the app on. We has it “pinging” every ten minutes to save battery life as this was accurate enough for us at the pace we were walking. It Works with any and all digital cameras. Any model, any make (even Leica!).and runs in the background leaving you free to take pictures, listen to music, use maps or browse the web and does not even need wifi to work. Then tap the “Export” button. This will generate one or more picture codes that you then take a picture of, with each code containing all of the time and location information. The free desktop application uses these codes, along with your pictures to synchronize precise times and locations and then embeds that info into each picture file. You are then free to import into Lightroom etc.

Hipstamatic – iPhone photography never looked so retro! For those wanting the look and feel of plastic toy cameras from days long ago, Hipstamatic is the app for you. Not only will it turn your photographs into creative works of art, the app does an amazingly great job and transforms your iPhone into a whole new camera. The app itself recreates the look of an old square-frame camera and takes Polaroid-style pictures. With the swipe of a finger you can change its virtual lenses and film formats to create a variety of over-saturated or discolored effects. You can read more on the Hipstamatic Website.

Easy Release This is an essential app if you need to create an on the spot model or property release. The app allows you to create a legally binding release (based on Getty Images own releases), including the image of the model or property, their signature, your signature and a witnesses signature. It then send all parties a pdf copy. Any changes made at a later date require the original parties to sign again. Matt Brandon – aka The digital Trekker – did a detailed and superb review of this great app on his blog

PerfectlyClear It’s fast, easy Dynamic Range Correction (DRC) that balances luminance and color, adds sharpness, and in more recent versions helps to reduce noise especially in processing images with a lot of darker areas. Perfectly Clear helps to overcome the deficiencies and limitations of the iPhone’s camera. This is a great way to quickly process an image before sharing it on social media, facebook or email etc

PhotoMeter – Photometer will turn your iPhone into a reliable Exposure Meter, a modern interpretation of what it should be in times of retina displays and touch screens – for old times sake they have included a classic skin that feels and behaves just like the real thing. Perhaps more a but of fun than an essential tool, it is useful bnever the less!

Productivity and Photo Sharing Apps

PhotoShare – Transfer photos and/or contacts between two iPhones and/or iPod Touches over bluetooth. Requires iPhone 3G or later or 2nd generation iPod Touch or later (Bluetooth data transfer cannot be supported on the original iPhone or original iPod Touch due to hardware limitations). Does not require any 3G or WiFi connection. This is the best bluetooth photo sharing app out there, and it’s free!!

Dropbox – Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, your iPhone and iPad and even the Dropbox website! With the Dropbox app, you can take everything that matters to you on the go. You can read your docs or flip through your albums when you’re out and about. Save photos or videos to your Dropbox and share them with friends in just a couple taps. Even if you accidentally leave your iPhone in a taxi, your stuff is always safe on Dropbox.

Goodreader – GoodReader is the super-robust highly-rated PDF reader with advanced reading and annotating capabilities. Reviews worldwide hail it as “essential,” “the best,” “magnificent” and “the killer app”. With GoodReader on your iPhone, you can read virtually anything, anywhere: books, movies, maps, pictures. Use it once and you’ll be hooked. GoodReader has earned its accolades by the way it handles huge PDF and TXT files, manuals, large books, magazines. The ability to mark-up PDFs opens up new doors to GoodReader users who can now use typewriter text boxes, sticky notes, lines, arrows, and freehand drawings on top of a PDF file.

WorldCard mobile – WorldCard Mobile, the leading business card scanning application for iPhone, uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to instantly transfer information from business cards to the user’s native contacts. With a simple click of the camera, you no longer have to manually input contact info from business cards or email signatures. This is a great tool that helps you keep the details of all those key contacts for a given location: fixer, travel agent, photographers.

Dragon Dictation – Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard. With Dragon Dictation you can also dictate status updates directly to your Social Networking applications (Facebook and Twitter) or send notes and reminders to yourself….all using your voice. So when you’re on-the-go, stop typing and start speaking – from short text messages to longer email messages, and anything in between.

Softsign gives you the ability to sign legal documents, contracts and forms on your iPhone and iPad. Whether you’re a photographer or filmmaker needing a release form signed, an entrepreneur who wants to potential investors to sign a non-disclosure agreement or a tradesman who needs a client to sign an estimate, Softsign is the App for you. Softsign is reliable, easy to use, and environmentally friendly. Importing PDF documents to Softsign for signature couldn’t be easier. You can open PDF documents direct from Mail, Evernote, or Dropbox – simply tap the attached file and select “Softsign” from the pop-up menu and your document will be automatically saved in the templates section of the App. When you need to get a document signed, simply head to the templates section, open the document and in just a few simply steps you will have the signed document processed and you can share it directly from the App via Mail or by printing a hard copy directly from your device.

iSupr8 – Once a staple of home movies and student films, Super 8 mm cameras are used by today’s filmmakers to achieve an authentic, vintage look. But if you don’t want the hassle of good old fashion film, or you can’t make it down to the Levi’s Film Workshop in Los Angeles, for a limited time only Levi’s is giving you this tool totally free. So download away and get busy turning your videos into gritty, grainy masterpieces.

iTalk Recorder is a full-featured recording app with a streamlined and intuitive user interface. Press the big red button to record; press it again to stop. You can append to existing recordings, choose from three levels of recording quality (11.025, 22.05, or 44.10 kHz sample rates), and manage your recordings, all with just a fingertip. You can email recordings straight from iTalk. iTalk also supports direct file sharing through iTunes. Whether you’re recording minutes of a meeting, a lecture, or the sounds of birds singing in a meadow far from any electrical outlets, iTalk Recorder Premium puts the sound quality you need in the palm of your hand.

Essential travel apps

TripIt – TripIt is an easier way to organize travel. No more frantic searches for flight numbers in your inbox: access all your travel plans in one place on your iPhone, iPad, in your calendar, or online – no matter where you book. To get started, simply forward your travel confirmations to plans@tripit.com and TripIt automagically creates a ”smartinerary,” combining your travel plans with maps, driving directions and more, which can easily be shared with others. TripIt Pro acts like a personal travel assistant who takes care of you while traveling, by keeping you in the know with status alerts and alternate flight options, storing all your frequent traveler points in one place, and helping you save money on flights. Greater peace of mind while traveling is available for $49/year.

iTranslate – iTranslate features a well-designed user interface that suits well with the iPhone’s screen. You can easily switch from one language to another easily with the use of a pull-down menu. One good thing about iTranslate is the fact that it doesn’t entail too much data charges since the app uses a small amount of data. This iPhone app also lets you keep track of the previous texts which you have translated already. You can easily go back at these texts and then translate them to another language. It stays in your iPhone’s memory so you don’t have to enter the texts again. It gets more fun whenever you are trying to communicate with someone in a foreign country. You can let them enter what they want to say in their language and then you translate it on your own language

WebMD – Feeling Ill? Responsible for other on a workshop in a remote location? This tools helps you diagnose possible symptoms and provides some basic guidance to alleviate them. It’s feature include: WebMD Symptom Checker – Select the part of the body that is troubling you, choose your symptoms, & learn about potential conditions or issues; Conditions – Find medically reviewed information about Conditions relevant to you & learn more about causes, treatments, & related symptoms; Drugs & Treatments – Search their extensive database for information on Drugs, Supplements, & Vitamins. Access content such as Uses, Side Effects, Warnings, and more; Pill Identification Tool – Identify your prescription drugs and over the counter medicines by pill shape, color, & imprint; First Aid Essentials – Your handy guide for medical emergencies. From insect stings to broken bones, helpful treatment tips are always available, even without an Internet connection.

TuneInRadio- TuneIn radio is simply an internet radio for the iPhone. Is the concept new? Not at all. However, that does not mean that TuneIn RadioTunein Radio does not have the chance to bring some unique features to the iPhone internet radio application market. TuneIn Radio aims to be the best of the best for iPhone internet radios. It locates local radio stations, has a huge list of radio stations, can play custom radio stations from the web and even aims to record live radio stations so you can go back and listen to a particular broadcast or song that you previously recorded.

Packing Pro Packing can often times be a tedious and annoying task. While the end result means you are set and ready to venture off to your desired destination, the process can be a little stressful as you scramble to make sure all the necessities are accounted for.Many have a hard enough time planning an outfit a day in advance, let alone being prepared for multiple days (or weeks), which is where Packing Pro by Quinn Genzel comes in. Essential for anyone who appreciates having enough clean underwear, Packing Pro helps you plan out a well-developed list so you will hopefully leave nothing behind.

Powerplug – PowerPlug is a free reference guide to the power plugs and electrical power systems of the world. Each country is listed along with its commonly found outlet types and power requirements. Search by map, country, or outlet type. Designed for both the experienced traveler and those just curious about the world, PowerPlug provides an easy to use interface that simplifies your search for information.

Genius Scan – Genius Scan turns your iPhone into a pocket scanner. It enables you to quickly scan documents on the go and email the scans as JPEG or PDF.The Genius Scan scanner technology includes smart page detection, perspective correction, image post-processing. It allows you to build PDF documents with multiple scans. This app really comes into its own when you combine it with Travel Tracker (below) so that you can scan all of your receipts whilst on a trip.

Travel Tracker – TravelTracker is your ALL-INCLUSIVE personal travel assistant. It stores all vital information for your trip and displays it in convenient, easy to use itinerary screens. Additionally, it will allow you to record all of the key pieces of information you may need after your trip. It links with trip it, allows you to record recipts, ntes etc during your trip. This is the only product you’ll need to organize all your trip details for both personal and business use.

Some of you have asked me via Twitter, Facebook or this blog to go into more detail about the process I used in Lightroom to develop the images. Apologies to those that are using Aperture – I am sure much of what is shared he will also be relevant to you too!

The original RAW color image as shot in camera

We start with the RAW color image. My first decision was whether to use any presets including the default B&W conversion option in the basic panel. I chose not to because I want to have full control over every aspect throughout as we will see.

So I began to process this image as a desaturated color image, rather than apply a basic B+W conversion and then adjust. The reason for this is that if you convert to Black and White from the get go, you loose some of the controls in the Develop panel, and I like that extra flexibility.

As per Piet’s eBook, I first did the basic adjustments to the color image, knowing that once I desaturated it, I could come back and tweak things. I moved the exposure to +1.35, the fill to +10 and some minor adjustments to the brightness and contrast until the histogram looked correct. As I wanted strong texture on the stone and in the sky I pushed the clarity all the way up to +93.

Most of this felt like the image was become less moody and contrasty, but at this stage this was as much about getting a base image to a point where I could then make fine adjustments. In Black and White images there is an opportunity to exploit more contrast, so I knew I could use the tone curve later to recreate some of the mood that I had temporarily diluted.

The vibrance and saturation controls I left as they were at this stage. I then came back to them later after I had done most of the other processing to adjust these to some extreme values. I’ll explain later why. But if I had done this at this early stage the image who have looked mad, because at this stage, remember, it was still a color image.

My next step was to do the initial conversion to Black And White. As per Piet’s suggestion I went first to the Saturation panel in the HSL. I turned the saturation on ALL the colors down to zero and this gave me a black and white image.

From here I then went to the Hue panel. I wanted to make the grey-blue sky more rich so that the pink/white clouds would stand out more and the sky would look more dramatic. Since in reality my image is still color (just with the colors desaturated rather than converted), I took the Blue and Aqua sliders and played around with them until they gave the sky more depth. The final settings were Red-100 (this helped to bring out the white clouds), and +100 for both Blue and Aqua which helped to darken the sky. I then adjusted the Purple and Magenta sliders until it gave the effect I wanted on some of the stone, which had a slightly pink tint to it in the original color image.

Lastly on this panel, I went into the Luminance sliders and tweaked the red, orange and yellow colors. This had the primary impact of bringing the white clouds more to the fore. Much of this though is trial and error but you can see the final settings for each of the colors in the panel on the left.

Next I selected the Tone Curve panel.

Rather than adjust for the traditional s-curve shape that is so often what I would expect to use, I first played with the different contrast options (linear-medium- strong) before opting for medium. This gave me a good balance between the darks and lights.

Then I went back in and made manual adjustments to reflect the sombre, almost Hithcock, mood I wanted to create. I turned the highlights right down to -100, upped the lights and only adjusted the darks a little so that I kept the detail in the buildings and left the shadows pretty much as was.

Using the tone panel rather than the brightness and contrasts sliders in the basic panel gives me more subtle control over the final image and is a good way to improve the effect of different light sources in your image.

Having completed the Tone Curve panel, I made two further adjustment on two separate panels. On the camera calibration panel I selected the manual option and allowed Lightroom to select the lens form the EXIF data automatically.

Then I switched to the Effects Panel (left) where I applied a small post vignette of -14 to help draw the eye into the image and also opted to increase the grain fractionally to make the textures – especially the paving stone – more evocative.

With the base image now looking pretty close to what I wanted, I then turned to the fine adjustment tools to make some specific dodge and burns to really create the final effect. I applied two angled Gradient fills – one that went from the bottom right corner across the paving stones to the Archway and gate, and the other to the sky, angled slightly to cover as much of it as possible.

A screenshot of the sky gradient is shown below – you can just see the feint white guidelines of the gradient being implemented over the image. The settings for this gradient were: Exposure: -1.18; Brightness:-59 ; Contrast:-46 ; Saturation:-100; Clarity:+98 ; Sharpness:+100 ;

The settings for the ground gradient fill were:Exposure: -0.52; Brightness:+49 ; Contrast:+51 ; Saturation:-100; Clarity:+98 ; Sharpness:+100 ;

My final adjustment was on the buildings which were a little dark and needed a little more of the detail to provide more balance with the rest of the image. I selected the fine adjustment brush, made sure that the anti-alias box was ticked and dialed in the following settings, the result of which you can see in the image below: Exposure: 0.0; Brightness:+82 ; Contrast:+0 ; Saturation:+1; Clarity:+100 ; Sharpness:0 ;

Finally I went back to the basic panel and checked the exposure, brightness and contract again, as well as setting the vibrance and saturation levels up to +98 and +100 respectively, which helped bring out some of the foreground texture more.

If it weren’t for the scene of devastation and destruction that litter the island, you would never believe the last few days have happened. Indeed when I telephoned my family in the UK to say everything was OK, I was safe, they thought I was joking, such was the absence of reporting on this grave natural disaster in the international news.

For over a week freak weather has battered this island and others in Thailand and Malaysia. Landslides have derailed trains or washed small villages away. Angry seas have battered and broken sea defenses leaving hotels with major reconstruction issues on the first day of high season when normally you would expect to look out on a beach that resembled a picture postcard.

Here on Koh Samui I watched in awe as cars, shacks and the contents of small business were washed down the main street now six foot deep in raging flood waters, impossible to cross even with a rope, such was its power and height. It gave me an uncomfortable perspective on just how devastating the Tsunami and recent events in Japan must have really been.

Our hotel’s lobby (see above) was flooded to about 6ft (2m) and of course we lost all electricity, power, water and supplies for 3 days. To their credit the hotel staff carried on as if nothing had happened. Most of our cell phones, laptops or iPads quickly ran out of power, and we couldn’t get messages, images or stories out to the world outside. I managed only the grainy images in this post taken on my iPhone before it too gave up the ghost, although I was approached yesterday as a result of some tweets I got out to do some interviews with the BBC and ITN.

In theory I was supposed to be on self-imposed assignment in Vietnam, but for a variety of reasons – not least of which all my camera equipment being lost in Cairo by someone who will remain nameless the day before I departed! – I had ended up on Koh Samui for a few days of quiet reflection.

Writers often search for metaphors and the destructive storms here on Koh Samui have been a reflection of the turbulence of my own life over the last 7 weeks.

It started with the revolution in Egypt, where the rattle of machine guns, uncertainty and growing lack of food and water, meant for a young family the sensible thing was to defy the curfew, get to the airport and relocate to Rome. It continued a week or so later with some unexpected and life changing issues at home which were then compounded by unforeseen problems both at work and with Focus for Humanity. 10 days ago, I had began to suffer terrible blurred vision and kept blacking out and was rushed to hospital in Singapore with a suspected brain tumor. Days of inconclusive tests finally resulted in the all clear although my eyesight is possibly permanently effected. Then it has culminated recently with this extraordinary experience on Samui. I tell you this NOT looking for sympathy, but as context for the insight it has brought me.

As I sit here enjoying the calm that follows that storm, I realize that good follows bad, light follows dark and that hope follows despair. I feel incredibly at peace with myself. I feel very focused, very empowered. I understand that there are things I cannot change, that I simply have to accept and make the most of. When there was nothing to do but shelter from the storm, the lack of distractions gave me time to think; To really think about my life, its impact on others, my goals, my fears and my insecurities and what the future might hold in store.

I have had to face some tough realizations. I have had to look failure in the face and call it friend. I have had to think hard about what I do or don’t do and what I say or don’t say and how those decisions directly impacts others’ perceptions and responses. I have looked deep within, and to be honest I have not always enjoyed what I found.

I also used this time to think long and hard about my approach to photography. My images must reflect who I am and what I feel. What I discovered is that my default behavior is too try too hard. I worry about perfection, about being in control. I am too structured and too often worried about what others think. Photographically I have played safe – I have followed rather than let my imagination lead. I need to manage less and experience more.

I have tried to be what I thought others would expect, or I have sought re-assurance from others by taking images that would please them and not me. I have used my drive, my determination and my enthusiasm to cover up my fear of failure, my fear of wasting an opportunity or of really taking risks. When in Delhi or Cambodia recently, I now realize that I went for the “must have portfolio shots” rather than just experiencing the moment and letting the camera become the tool of that inner voice.

One of the real positives out of this is I think I have might discovered my true photographic voice, and it sounds a little different to what I thought it was. I am not suggesting some Damascan road epiphany. I am not warning you that I shall now only shoot moody, dark black and white landscapes or that I shall join Messrs Grobl and DuChemin in switching from Canon to Nikon (Sorry stuart!).

But I do realize that the voice within is different. It needs to be allowed to become the voice without. I hope as the weeks and months pass that voice will become stronger, more assured, more distinct…..more me.

Alex’s Fellowship is a US$15,000 grant that will pay for him to complete a number of assignments with the Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA) – a charity dedicated to supporting the ongoing medical problems resulting from one of the world’s worst industrial disaster, the Union Carbide leak at Bhopal.

Alex won the coveted Fellowship with some compelling images – reproduced here with his permission – and a joint proposal submitted with the BMA. His work impressed a panel of judges including the celebrated travel photographer Nevada Wier and Sara Darehshori, senior counsel at Human Rights Watch.

One of the main purposes of this grant is to help underfunded or under resourced NGOS to build a relationship with an established photographer and to understand the value of professional images – a challenge in an age where every phone or compact camera can be thrust into the hands of an eager intern and produce images at a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional for an assignment.

2011 NGO Assignment Fellowship Winner – Alex Masi – Images by Focus for Humanity

And whilst I am not suggesting that the intern, thus armed, could not produce compelling images, the reality is that a professional humanitarian photographer is more likely to capture images that convey the emotion, the story or the message. Not always, but I would argue, most of the time.

The grant therefore helps the NGO afford a professional assignment photographer at the full market rates and to receive some support, coaching and advice from the Foundation in how to use those images to help with their fund raising or communication activities.

So many congratulations, Alex. I look forward to working with you this year in exploring how we can really make best use of your grant.

Not perhaps the normal advice you get in answer to “I am off to Delhi next week, any suggestions?”, but as a Delhi native living in Cairo, Sonali Soni (whose beautiful eyes adorn the header images of this blog) realized that for me the seething mass of humanity, noise, pollution and poverty that has such an impact on most visitors, would seem relatively tame for me after living in Cairo for 3 years.

Huddled in the back of the auto-rickshaw at 5,30 am, with the wind whipping around my ears, I was grateful for her thoughtfulness.

Delhi is a fascinating city that can be overpowering, fatiguing and beguiling all at the same time. I was fortunate enough to a have a couple of days at the end of a business trip to explore what I could find photographically. Armed with detailed suggestions from Karl Grobl, Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon, – as well as the pullover recommended by Sonali – I had planned 6 or 7 locations I wanted to explore, most of which I will share with you over a couple of the next posts.

The first of those was Humayum’s tomb, which I chose to visit at dawn, to catch the tranquility and the golden light and watch the sunrise over this beautiful mausoleum and park.

The first example of the grandeur and Indo-islamic style of Mausoleum and The unprecedented scale and grandeur of the monument, however, are aspects that were to define much of subsequent Mughal tomb building, and are among the similarities commonly cited between Humayun’s tomb and the Taj Mahal in Agra.

When we arrived at 6am – suitably chilled – I was an hour ahead of the official opening time, but a smile, a quick snap and a print on the indefatigable Polaroid PoGo printer, and I was allowed in. The only person in the whole place. Wonderful.

Inside the tomb the small marble sarcophagus lay in the centre of the rotunda, basked in light, whilst the rest of the chamber still remained dark – almost as if was half asleep, refusing to rise to greet the dawn. Off the main chamber are a number of smaller antechambers with beautiful Islamic fretwork and I imagine later in the day stunning light, reflections and patterns.

I wandered around, waiting for the dawn light to bathe the beautiful pink buildings in that distinct warm glow, checking some angles and positions. I had done some homework the night before using the amazing LiteTrac app on my iPad, that allows you to see the angle of the sun at any time of day over a satellite image (shown here shoing the research for the shot above). >

I was not disappointed. As the sun rose the mausoleum took on a duty pink hue, providing some wonderful contrast with the clear blue sky that was developing at the same time.

The price of course of having the place to yourself and completely free of anyone in your line of sight is that the sky ad not quite developed its rich blue color that heralded the transition form dawn to day. However I small price to pay to see this remarkable site completely unspoiled by tourists or souvenir sellers.

By 8am the place was alive with the workers setting up for the days; visitors, and just as finished a camera crew turned up with 5 models resplendent in their saris to shoot a corporate video. And there begins another story, but perhaps not one to share on the blog but over a glass of something when next we meet!

There is an old adage. Never judge a book by its cover. Or this case, never a judge a 12 year old “book” by its cover. The image above was taken by my 12 year old nephew Alexander during his half term stay with us here in Cairo. We had done all the usual things, such as visit the Pyramids, the souks and the museums, but Alexander said he wanted to think about photography as a hobby, so whilst we were traveling around in the car we had some rudimentary discussions on exposure, light, depth of field, rules of thirds, leading lines, eye lines etc.

Much of what I tried to impress on him was not about which camera or which lens, but what you were trying to say with the image that you recreated. If you will, the “why” of taking an image was more important than the “how”. The theory we discussed was, I explained, designed to allow him to express what he wanted to say, rather than how to operate the camera.

Armed with my old Canon 20D and some kit lenses, we went off exploring the desert, the villages, the souks and the camel markets. With the cynicism of age I guess I assumed that any teenager would pretend to be listening if only to shut me up – and we all know I can talk!

How wrong can you be.

I had forgotten that at this age, with the mind uncluttered by the harsh knocks of life, already “fit” from hours in the classroom, that teenagers have the capacity to absorb information like a sponge. Not all of them will allow that to happen, but the capacity is there. Alex though showed an immediate grasp of the concepts. He spent hours experimenting on his own with depth of field, shutter settings, ISO settings, seeking the occasional clarification or confirmation, but content to digest and interpret what we had discussed in his own way. For example, I explained panning to him for no more than 3 minutes. The image above was the result.

Of course not all of images were in focus, sharp or a success. Mine aren’t either and I have no excuse! But with every image though that didn’t quite work out, he wanted to understand why or what he should do differently next time. As he grew more confident, so his images really started to impress me. I was particularly struck by his eye for composition, his application of the rule of thirds or the use of the eye line to draw our own eye around the image. The first image of the potter is a wonderful example of that.

Whilst Alex might have learned a few lessons by making the odd mistake, I in turn (re-)learned two valuable lessons. Firstly real progress, real creativity happens when you take risks. Alex reminded me of that. With nothing to lose, no expectations to be missed, nor preconceptions or self induced pressure, he was free to experiment, to take risks and to try new things. The satisfaction on his face when he created in the camera the image he had envisaged in his mind was so rewarding for all of us to witness.

Secondly, he taught me that our preconceived ideas often lead to misjudgment. How often have we dismissed or misjudged youths or teenagers because we don’t take the time to understand their issues or what they are struggling to overcome. It is all too easy to heap pressure or demands on children of that age, where often they need space, encouragement and time to process information, digest it and try to apply it.

Here was someone with an appetite to learn, a willingness to listen and a thirst to improve. Perhaps we all need to step back once or twice and try and see things with the less cluttered or less jaded eye of a 12 year old. Perhaps I need to be less quick to jump to judgment and more open to new ideas.

And Alex? Well he has kindly let me share a few of his images from the last few days. I think that when you consider this was someone who had never picked up a camera before this holiday, we can all wonder at his sense of achievement and his potential for the future.

And if you like his images, do me a favor and drop him a quick email to tell him what you think. I’m not suggesting that he is the next Joey L, but encouragement and endorsement from you will go a long way to shaping his love of photography long after this post is moved to the archives. He is alex-jp@live.com