We are delighted to announce the dates for our Spring courses which cover everything form getting the most out o your digital camera to advanced post processing techniques using Adobe Lightroom. Click on the links below to find out the detailed information on each of the courses.

Beginners Course – Getting the most out of your Digital SLR

26th Feb 2012

The Beginners’ course serves as a great introduction to photography. We look at the basic principles involved in capturing an image and learn how the camera interprets what it sees. The course has a very practical bias and our aim is to translate the technical aspects of photography into real-life examples, demonstrating how you can take creative control of your camera’s functions. Find out more

Travel Photography Course – Turning snapshots into great shots

5th & 12th Feb 2012

With such an abundance of amazing travel locations just a short hop from Singapore, this course is deigned to help you get the most from your travel in the region. Whether your interest is street photography, portrait photography, cultural photography, story telling or just getting more from your camera when you travel, this course will provide you all of the answers. Find out more

Adobe Lightroom Course – Cataloguing, processing and sharing your images

11th Mar & 8th Apr 2012

Adobe’s Lightroom software has become the post-production software of choice for many amateur and professional photographers. Version 4, continues to innovate and makes Lightroom the one-stop solution for post-production. This introductory course provides a step-by-step guide to archiving, managing and processing your digital images. Find out more

Location

Siem Reap, Cambodia, gateway to the ancient, jungle clad, Khmer temples of Angkor. A bustling vibrant, town, Siem Reap has an energy and vigor that makes it the perfect place for intrepid, photographers to practice and hone their craft. It’s the ideal location for you to be able to concentrate on your photography, and the photographic opportunities of the area are unrivaled. Within close proximity one can explore, temples, markets, lakes, rivers, forests, rice paddies, villages and more.

Instructors

Each of your instructors is in his own right, successful, well known, experienced, photographers who love to teach and share their passion with other photo enthusiasts. They will challenge you and cheer you on. You can check each of them out at:

Activities

Objectives

To enjoy your photography with a group of like-minded individuals, explore, learn, apply and improve. We will help you push the limits of your ability and imagination, and you will leave this workshop a better photographer.

The workshop focus is to push yourself to the limits of your ability and imagination, to have an outstanding and unusual cultural experience and to enjoy and learn from the company of others. Working comfortably in foreign or new locations, particularly in a developing country, can take years of understanding and experience. We hope to jump start you in your environment to enable you to make the most of your location and for you to be able to concentrate on your photography.

Equipment

You’ll need a DSLR, Digital SLR with lenses offering a focal length from wide (24mm or wider) to telephoto (100mm or longer), a laptop or netbook computer running image viewing software such as Breeze Browser, Picasa or Photo Mechanic and an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, or a combintation software program such as Lightroom. You will also need a copy of Soundslides software in order to produce your multimedia project (available here www.soundslides.com for $69.95). Additionally we strongly recommend a back-up device such as an external hard drive.

There is detailed information on how to sign up, the itinerary, what to bring at the dedicated Angkor Photo Workshop website

Angor Photo Workshop participants - Copyright 2011 Gavin Gough

For this reason alone the last two weeks on the inaugural Angkor Photo Workshop, led by Karl Grobl, Gavin Gough, Matt Brandon and myself has been remarkable. I can’t think when I last so enjoyed such a large group’s diverse experience, humor and company.

Looking for Matt Brandon - the fourth Musketeer

And now it is at an end. We leave this morning for Siem Reap and the airport – although Gavin and I are staying on for a few days of personal shooting. It has been a humbling experience to watch each and everyone of the participants blossom (photographically!) and as is so often the case on workshops we have learned as much from them as they have hopefully taken from us. Below is a slideshow with a few images contributed by each of the participants:

I’ve also included the 4 winning Soundslides presentations that were competed at the end of the first week, to give you a hint at some of the talent and creativity we so enjoyed. Without exception, none of the group had used Soundslides and Audacity before, yet everyone mastered it and produced wonderful multimedia presentations.

To Ruti, Scot, Jasper, Melissa, Catherine, Lisa, Chris, Ursula, Carl, Jenny, Darrell, Andrew, Tim and Ayn thank you for your energy, passion and friendship.

And to each of you reading this – save the last 2 weeks of July 2012 and come and join the four of us on the second Angkor Photo Workshop.

First place, Lisa Brockman and Scot Sargeant

Second Equal: Ursula Wall and Carl Johan Ragnarsson

Second Equal: Ayn Brown and Chris Choulos

Third Place: Catherine Wisner and Jenny Krasner

A perhaps fitting – if a little tongue-in-cheek – image to end what has been a fabulous, fun and rewarding 2 weeks,

gear_is_good_beer_is_better

I have blogged before about my previous visit to Toul Seng - also known as S-21 – and the nearby Killing fields, when I visited Cambodia a year or so ago. When I returned this time with Karl Grobl, Gavin Gough and members of the Agkor Photo Workshops - we had the extraordinary experience of a personal tour with Chum Mey – 1 of the only 7 people to survive this notorious torture camp, with the 17000 or so less fortunate meeting their grisly death in the nearby killing Fields.

Chum Mey - one of only three remaining S-21 Toul Seng survivors

Chum Mey and Bou Meng are 2 of the remaining 3 still alive today, and as Chum Mey led us from room to room, showing how he was shackled, water tortured, beaten or electrocuted, so the horror of Pol Pot’s genocide became more apparent. Bou Meng – a charismatic small man – remained sat behind a small table piled high with his book, happy to share his story and be photographed.

Bou Meng - one of only three remaining S21 Toul Seng Survivor

Chum Mey brought the horrors of his capture, detention, torture and survival to life – if that is the appropriate expression to use. Kept alive partly by his ability to repair machines such as typewriters, he told us how he survived two years of torture and fear in a Khmer Rouge death camp, his hopes for his pregnant wife and unborn child.

Close to tears he related how, as the Vietnamese soldiers approached to liberate Phnom Penh, he was marched at gunpoint into the provinces by his fleeing Khmer Rouge jailers. He had a chance encounter with his wife and the young son who was born a few weeks after he was sent to the infamous Tuol Sleng prison in early 1977 but, after two days of traveling together with a group of other prisoners, the guards ordered them to walk into a rice field before suddenly opening fire with their AK-47 assault rifles.

With tears rolling down his cheeks, he related how they shot his wife in front of him. “She turned to me and yelled, ‘Please run, they are killing me now’. I heard my son crying and then they fired again, killing him. When I sleep, I still see their faces, and every day I still think of them”

Chum Mey explains how he was shackled during his time at S-21 Toul Seng

His life now is focused on two things: being a witness and appellant at the International Tribunal where the 4 remaining Pol Pot regime leaders are on trial or subject to appeal and secondly escorting visitors around his former jail.

For many of us it was difficult to understand why, with the memories still clearly raw after 35 years, he chooses to spend his life this way. But with the calm authority of a survivor now at peace with his life, he and Bou Meng are adamant that the younger generation must know the full story, that they must learn the value of humanity and understand the lessons that history can teach us.

Bou Meng - S21 Survivor - talks to Cambodian School children about his experiences

But theirs is a story that must not be forgotten. I feel – having been so touched by their humility, their objectivity and their kindness – that I must find a small way of bringing some of this story to a wider audience.

So working with Karl Grobl, we will try and combine some of the images we both shot that day, some of the audio we recorded into a short Soundslides presentation that I hope to post in the next week or so. Of course a 2 min multimedia presentation cannot really do justice to their story. But I hope it might encourage some of you to read about them, to visit Cambodia and to understand a little bit more of the extraordinary men who are the remaining survivors of Toul Seng – or S-21 – prison camp, and the genocide perpetrated by Pol Pot and his regime.

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.

Yet some places, however many documentaries you watch, travel guides your read or hours you spend researching on the web cannot fail to impress or deliver on those expectations.

Once such place is the Angkor Wat temples complex, in Cambodia, where I have just spent the first day of a workshop along with Karl Grobl, Matt Brandon & Gavin Gough. Our fourteen participants could not be a more delightful, engaging and talented group and If the remaining twelve days are as good as the first then this workshop will far exceed any expectations.

Sometimes on a first visit to a location is it impossible not to be a little over-awed. I experienced this today at Angkor Wat I had long wanted to come here. I also knew that I wanted some evocative and unusual photos of these magnificent temples, and with a little bit of luck I might find an angle or a situation with a saffron robed monk, that allowed me to explore my own creativity.

But I’ll be honest, I got seduced. I was seduced by the extraordinary majesty and magnitude of the temple complex. I was seduced by the intricacies of the stone carvings and, dare I admit it, I was seduced by the cliched contrast of the bright orange robes of the monks against the granite grey of the temples.

I cannot think of a better place or a nice team of colleagues to spend 2 weeks immersed in photography and I am looking forward to meeting the 14 people brave enough to put up with the 4 of us!

This evening, I met up with 4 of them here in Bangkok, as I joined a “pre-workshop” workshop that Gain was running for them. Over the course of a few hours we wandered between the stalls of Bangkok’s 24 hour flower market.

Every time I return to the flower market I see differences – sometimes it is the weather, sometime a change in seasons, or sometimes the light. But there are also several constants: the vitality of the market, the warmth of the smiles and the incredible tolerance of those working in the market as 5-6 photographers, weighed down with gear, all try to capture a compelling picture.

So I thought I would post a few of the “Snap” that I took today. Most of these were taken as I worked with one of the group to explain a point and I present them on this blog as nothing more than a record of a wonderful afternoon spent with some charming individuals in a place that is quickly becoming my “go to” place in Bangkok.

I need your help.

For a very good cause. For Focus for Humanity – the charitable foundation that I set up to support Humanitarian, travel photographers and NGOs.

The purpose of this post is shameless self-advertising. But I hope as you read the next few paragraphs you will realize that this self-advertising is not for self benefit, but to support Focus For Humanity.

We are extremely fortunate in Focus For Humanity to have some of the world foremost travel and humanitarian photographers on our board. We are equally fortunate that all of them run world-class workshops. Sometimes together – like David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman or Gavin Gough, Matt Brandon and Karl Grobl or sometimes independently.

This year, as part of my Focus for Humanity work I have agreed to organize with some of these photographers some workshops in Egypt and to support a third in Cambodia, with any fees/income that I generate from these workshops going directly to support Focus For Humanity grants and investments. Specifically in providing fully funded places on other workshops with these internationally acclaimed photographers.

For the avoidance of doubt, the workshops are run on commercial grounds, but my fees will go to Focus For humanity. The photographers still – and quite rightly in my view – get paid for their time.

The first is with Gavin Gough in the Black and White Desert region of Egypt. The itinerary is varied and exciting – and completely unique. A mix of desert, oasis, villages and towns, providing a variety for landscapes, portraits, environmental and cultural photography. You can find out about this amazing trip on the Cairo Photo Tours Website. We currently have about 3 or 4 places left and I want you to pass the word and help get these filled. Remember a full trip means a considerable donation- in the region of $5000 to Focus For Humanity and our ability to launch 2 workshops grants that will provide fully funded places on workshops later in the year.

The second is an extraordinary opportunity. A workshop in Cambodia hosted by Karl Grobl, Matt Brandon and Gavin Gough. This two week workshop covers tuition on multimedia, color management, Lightroom, social media and blogging AS WELL as the usual extensive shooting opportunities, critiques and mentoring. The second week is spent on assignment.

This is truly a world first and unbelievable value. You have 4 professional photographers at less than the price of most other workshop where you only get 1 or 2. Based in Ankor Wat in Week 1 and then across Cambodia in week 2, this is a unique and unmissable opportunity. There are currently about 7 places left on this. You can find out more about this on Karl’s workshop partner, Jim Cline’s site.

Lastly Matt Brandon is running a unique workshop down the Nile in October. We have created an amazing trip on a luxury sailing boat, where partners can also come and have a similar itinerary, yet not impact your need to slow down, dwell and shoot a location whilst feeling guilty that you are holding others back. The trip includes all the great cultural sites like Luxor temple and Valley of the Kings, but also we have special permission to go off the beaten tracks to villages, towns, mosques and unusual locations such as the Nubian villages that are devoid of tourists.

The afternoons are spent processing images, critiques sessions and mentoring before heading out at the golden hour for more cultural photo opportunities. Dinner every night is gourmet food on board as we gently sail down the Nile. You can find out more about this trip on the Cairo Photo Tours site. There are currently only 4 places left on this.

So please spread the word. If you are a photographer that already runs your own workshops, please consider still sharing this post as we need this to get to as wide a distribution as possible. It is all in a good cause.

Come along yourself, or at least blog about it, tweet about it, email about it or chat about it. You can scrape any images you need off the Cairo Photo Tours website or any content that might support anything you want to help promote.

Every place we fill means support for Focus For Humanity. Whilst Focus for Humanity does not organize or formally endorse these projects, as its role is purely to distribute grants, this is one of my ways this year of trying to build and grow this foundation.

Don’t hesitate to contact me. Below are links to each of the advisory board’s workshops. Help promote theirs too!

Matt Brandon
Gavin Gough
Edoardo Agresti
Karl Grobl
David DuChemin
Jeffrey Chapman

Last week, I announced the launch of the Cairo Photo Tours, part of a new and active group of companies based here in Cairo Egypt, and it has been fascinating watching on Woopra where the interest, responses and traffic has come from. If you don’t know about Woopra, you must. It is totally addictive!

With the launch of the Group, The Photo School and the Photo Tours, as well as the Focus For Humanity Foundation, some of the detail about the Nile Photo workshop with Matt Brandon that was also announced, may have been a bit suppressed, so forgive me if I soap-box for a minute and share with you again why we think this is such an unusual workshop and why you should come on it. In fact in some difficult to justify self-promotion, you can watch Matt and me chat about it in the short video clip below too:

What marks this workshop out are 5 main differences and in no particular order these are:

1. There are currently no other photo workshops that are run in Egypt, which despite the challenging bureaucracy here, surprises me. The weather is always good here (sometime a little too hot if you had read some of my earlier posts from the planning trip!), and in October – when we are doing the workshop – the temperature is a very comfortable 34-36 degrees Celsius in the day and high 20C in the evening. But what marks Egypt out, as a really wonderful workshop location, is the extra-ordinary wealth of cultural photography opportunities and the warmth of the Egyptians’ hospitality.

2. Secondly this is not a workshop spent in basic hotels, in guest housed or on long train journeys – not that those are bad things as they often help you immerse yourself in your environment. But on this trip we are based on a luxurious private Dahabiya- a large twin masted Sailing boat – that has no motors and therefore is in harmony with the wonderful sites and culture we will see. If the wind fails us, then a small tugboat will help us keep on schedule. The Dahabiya is in effect a luxury floating hotel – the standard of the rooms and en-suite facilities, the cleanliness of the public spaces and the kitchens were the equal of many a small luxury hotel (and arguably I should know as that is part of my other day job!). There are all mod cons including wifi, Satellite TV, laundry, free soft drinks and as far as I can work out, hot and cold running staff to cater for every eventuality. The food promises to be great, and the only potential fly in the ointment is that the boat does not have a liquor license – but worry not. I already have a cunning plan that solves that!

3. Thirdly we are mixing the traditional “must see’ locations between Luxor and Aswan such as the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, The Colossus of Memnon, Edfu and Philae temples with a host of unusual, seldom visited locations. Ancient mud-brick villages, livestock markets, ruined mines and a range of different villages including the Nubian village near Aswan that completely astounded Matt and me. In this last village we will get to spend a whole day with a Nubian family – sharing their lives, building a relationship and hopefully getting a compelling photo essay into the bargain. It is this mix of formal and informal and of ancient and modern that helps to make this trip so unique. In all these places – the only exception being the Valley of the Kings where cameras are banned – we have chosen them because of the richness of cultural, landscape, street or environmental photo opportunities that they will provide.

4. Fourthly – and unusually – we have some space for partners to come along. Not many, so you need to be quick, but we are hoping that this might encourage some of you who would otherwise find it difficult to come to such a remarkable place without your beloved other, to convince them that this is finally a photo workshop that they can come on without having to play second fiddle to a camera all week! The Partner program is really a relaxed Nile cruise. In the mornings they are with us when we visit the temples, tombs and historic places. In the afternoon they are able to relax on board or explore the local town and market. Relaxing on board is pretty civilized too – endless free soft drinks, a jacuzzzi, sun loungers, books, board games and Sat TV should occupy most people! In the evenings we are all then together for dinner.

And if that was not enough to persuade you, there is also the option of a Cairo pre-extension – perhaps that should be ”pretension”! A few days soaking up the atmosphere, getting into the groove, visiting some of Cairo’s extraordinarily rich cultural opportunities. We plan to have dawn at the pyramids including a photo opportunity with a camel train; visit the camel souk (check out Matt’s superb photo essay on this); whirl with dervishes, barter in the souks, bazaars and explore the narrow streets of the Old City full of artisans and daily life.

Anyway, enough from me. Please check out the itinerary for both the main “cruise” and the “pretension”. All the details, the costs, lots of images, the prices, what to bring and how to book are over on the dedicated tour website, Cairo Photo Tours.

In the few days since we soft launched the tour, we have already sold a number of places, and several firm expressions of interest. So don’t tarry. You know you want to come. Print out the itinerary, sit down with your loved one, talk it through and then book the trip of a lifetime in October 2011 down the Nile.