Yesterday I participated in the 2010 Annual Scott Kelby Photowalk – which as usual was a tremendous success worldwide. For those of you not familiar with the event Photographers sign up to participate with other photographers in their home town and walk a route together, taking images as they go, before ending up in a restaurant or bar to share photos and memories of the day. It brings together photographers of different standards, from different walks of life with a common aim: To spend a few hours together shooting pictures and afterwards shooting the breeze. Of course there is also the opportunity to enter your best images and win some amazing prizes.

I attended one of two such photo walks this year that were taking place in my hometown, Cairo, Egypt. I had high expectations. The previous year I had met and made many new friends, one of whom Ramy Salem is an extraordinary studio photographer that I am now helping to support and mentor through Cairo Photo Studio, as we wandered through the old Islamic quarter of Cairo

This year though, it was, I am sad to report, a bit of a damp squib. On the one I attended over 60 people had signed up and there was a waiting list of 10. Such was the interest that for the first time a second walk had been organized too. Yet on the day though, on our walk at least, only 10 of us showed up – and 8 of those were half an hour late.

I got the impression that little consideration or organization had been done by the leader this year. Sadly he was not even around himself as he was away traveling, and although the last minute replacement Shady Khorshid was charming, helpful and a great person, he of course had had no hand in the organization or coordination of the day and tried his best to make the event memorable. Thank you Shady for stepping in and giving your all.

Sadly the route chosen was not really that suitable. Well potentially it was suitable in that it has one of Cairo’s greatest architectural treasures, the Ibn Tolon Mosque in the middle and the Sultan Hassan and Al Rafaiqi Mosques at the end. However in between theses Mosques, streets were dangerous (even by Cairo’s standards) and lacking in subjects – most were having their weekend nap.

Perhaps the route might have worked if we had chosen a different time of day. The late start meant that most of the Mosques’ Minarets or Museums such as the Gayer-Anderson museum had closed by the time we reached them or we had only 20-30 minutes before they did close. The pictures that accompany this post are of the Ibn Tolon Mosques that I shot in the short time we had available. In addition the intense afternoon sun made it difficult to meter, there was little shade and any subjects that were around were inside sheltering from the heat.

What a shame. I love the photo walk, the way it brings people together. I love meeting new people this time around too. But I guess my learning from yesterday was this:

• If you are going to lead a walk, not only do you have a responsibility to those on the walk but it needs careful planning.
• The event needs to start on time, and the meeting point needs to be clear.
• The time of day selected needs to reflect the local conditions and the light.
• This is a social day. Make the event fun, explain about the potential prizes on offer, and finish on a high with dinner or drinks together.
• As a leader make sure you watch and follow the guidelines that Scott and his team put out or a successful photo walk. They’re there to ensure that walks like the one I attended yesterday don’t happen, but that a framework, and recipe for success is implemented worldwide.

Perhaps next year, I’ll put myself down to lead and take some accountability for participating in such a fantastic worldwide event rather than criticize from the sidelines. But I am passionate about making the most of these types of opportunities, and of sharing my love of photography with others. Events such as these have such power to help and to stimulate peoples interest in photography that it saddens me when, through lack of local planning or thought, the event does not deliver its full potential – especially to those new to photography or the photo walk opportunity.

To Scott Kelby and the team though – THANK YOU. You continue to inspire, to innovate, to educate and to motivate.

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.

As many of you know, Matt Brandon and I have been scouting for potential workshop locations In Egypt this past week or so and at times we both wanted to take the same image from the same location at the same time. Indeed at a quick glance at some of the images that we have both posted on our respective blogs they might look identical. Look closely though at those images and the differences start to appear.

We had a laugh about it but we also discussed which images each of us would put up on our blog or Facebook so that we didn’t “steal each others thunder” – as they say in England. But it made me think back to some discussions and experiences I had had on a workshop recently with David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman, where it felt at times that I was following David around letting him create the compelling image and then I would pole up, ask him what he was doing and think “ooh, I like that” and then set about creating a similar version.

Now I should say at this point that I was not DELIBERATELY following David around, nor was intent on copycatting, but in these tiny seaside towns (population:4 old ladies, 3 vespas and a black cat) it was difficult not to bump into each other. My approach was to try and learn from David what he had seen, what aesthetic he was considering, what setting he was thinking about etc as he composed his image.

Those of you that know David will realize that he is incredibly generous about sharing ideas and helping others to learn. He would show me his image on the back of his camera, discuss with me what lens he had selected, what f-stop he had chosen or what to look out for and then allow me to have a go. And Matt, Jeffrey, Gavin and many others that run these sorts of workshops all share this ethos.

And the result? Well once or twice I got close to a duChemin or Brandon “original”, but mostly they became my images that I had sweated over, albeit inspired by someone else. But mostly – and this recent trip with Matt Brandon was no exception – I just learned a whole lot.

I learned how to really look within the Frame: what was the background doing? What tonal range was I looking at and what options did I have? Was there any hot spot or distraction that would change the viewers [perception of the image? Was I telling a story? Was I using the right focal length to draw the eye or did I have enough visual mass or negative space to balance the image?

Now I wouldn’t have got all of that insight If I had just copied the image carte blanche and if I hadn’t asked – and those of you going on a workshop this year, never be afraid to ask. What you think is a dumb question is only dumb if you don’t ask it. I could have got some of that knowledge or inspiration by reading, but the impact was so much greater when it was a practical example, on the ground, camera in hand. And that was when I started to learn. To me each of these images became sketches that I want to adapt and to make my own, probably at a different time and in a different country.

So although Matt and I might have very similar images from our few days together, we interpreted the scenes we saw differently. Our angles were different, our light was different, our choice of lens was different (I always seem to be coveting Matt’s 85mm f1.2 lens. I am sure there is a commandment about that: “thou shalt not covet another man’s lens”!) and our post-processing is different.

So the morale of the post is what? Well if your intent is to learn, to be inspired by a great image and to use that as a vehicle to further your own vision, then go ahead, emulate, practice, ask copy whatever. If the person is there then for heaven sakes ask them to explain things to you. In my experience photographers are happy to help fellow enthusiasts.

If your intent is to copy without your own subjective vision, or to deliberately mislead, then good luck to you. I suspect you will still be doing that in a few years time – if you have not been caught and had the copyright law thrown at you – whilst the rest of us have moved on and developed our own individual style or vision.

So to Matt – thanks for sharing, for taking the time to explain and for continuing to inspire. I love the image of the camels walking down the hill with Cairo in the background – but I still prefer his! Check out his recent blog to see his (better) version and get inspired.

Then go out and take some fun pictures.

If you can imagine the world covered in sandpaper – slightly abrasive but ensuring that everything else is beautifully smooth -then this is close to what it is like living in Egypt! In fact, on second thoughts, it makes me wonder why Egypt’s main export is cotton and not sandpaper!

When you fly into Cairo you notice how everything – especially the buildings – are sand colored. From the air it makes it look like someone has taken the emboss tool in Photoshop and gone mad. I suppose the pervasiveness of the sand is not that surprising really when you consider that most of modern day Cairo has been built on reclaimed land from the desert, and it seems that the desert does not want to give up without a fight.

So I was genuinely taken back by the riot of color that I found in a Nubian village today, not far from Aswan. It seemed like the architects of Jodphur – the “blue city” in India – had conspired with the architects of Burano – an island in the Venetian Archipelago famous for its brightly colored houses – and gone mad with Indigo and ochre pigment. All of these images are very close to or are the original color saturation – although admittedly it helped creating a dedicated X-rite ColorPassport profile for this day (more on that in a future blog).

This village – that seemed to stretch for miles so was probably really a town – was just an explosion of brightly painted walls, doors and window frames. You would turn a corner and see a vibrant blue wall with white shuttered windows, or walk down an alleyway and be greeted by a green and orange door, partnered with a red-striped wall. For a town who nearest neighbor some several hundred kilometers to the west is Libya and that is fully exposed on two sides to the dust, heat and sand of the western desert, it seemed extraordinary that such color persisted and was obviously encouraged.

Despite the stultifying 52 degrees C/ 125 degrees F at 6 o’clock in the evening, we wandered the village taking some wonderful images of both the colors and the people. We were welcomed, talked to, joked with and followed by scores of children wherever we went – right up to when Ibrahim , our guide, politely told them to go home.

Matt Brandon – whom I was exploring the village with – even managed to convince a man with a hosepipe to spray him to cool him down. In fact I think Matt had quite a good afternoon all round. At times he was like a little boy in a sweet shop with every corner boasting another “wallpaper” photo opportunity. In fact so much so that I suspect you may be seeing a few Nubian walls, door and images from Matt over the next month or so as he shares some of these with you. You can see some of his images in his latest post. I’ve tried very hard not to post too many similar images, especially as all of his are irritatingly better than mine!! It was a wonderful way to end four hard days of visiting villages, mosques, restaurants, hotels, boats and other locations as we scouted the possibility of a Nile Photo Workshop.

Over those days, our confidence in the feasibility of the workshop increased after what was a slightly shaky start, and Ibrahim really warmed to the challenge of doing something a little different and unstructured. As he grew to understand what it was that we were after, so the places we visited seemed to get better and better. He even adapted his style to the different way that Matt and I shot a particular opportunity and quickly learned when to help us or when to leave us alone. I know we will be looking to see more of Ibrahim in the future!

I think Matt and I were increasingly impressed with what Upper Egypt, the Nile and in particular Nubia, had to offer. The combination of rich clutrual diversity, wonderful temples and Luxurious sailing boats seem to me to be the perfect ingredients in which to practice the craft and develop the vision. As I pen this on the short internal flight home to Cairo, I am looking forward to processing the remaining images, working out the fine details and costs of the workshop and sharing all of this with you formally in the next 7-10 days.

   

But, despite this, we are striking a rich seem of cultural images.

My hopes that we would uncover a rich tapestry of life, culture and opportunity seems to have been borne out. We have had to work really hard to educate our guide and driver what we mean by “cultural photography”, but as each day progresses he takes us to better and better locations.

For someone whose life is lived showing people the ancient culture of the pharaohs, he looked at us slightly quizzically at first when we said “Yes, that temple is really great, but we want to see culture that does not include temples or tombs”.

“Why”, you could see him thinking, “did you decide to come to Luxor and Aswan then?” Why , indeed!

Well I think our images begin to hint at why. Matt Brandon has just posted some wonderful images that he took yesterday in the camel market and a Nubian village, and given that we are only spending an hour or so in each location, and not really “working” the opportunity, it highlights just how exciting and rich that opportunity could be.

The contrast between the dark skinned Nubians in their colorfully painted villages and whose women are happy to be photographed and the lighter skinned Luxor West bank Egyptians in their traditional mud brick houses is interesting in itself. There is a common thread though that emerges: The welcome, the hospitality and the offer to sit and drink “shay” – the leaf tea laden with sugar that is an excuse to stop and rest but also provides much needed energy to combat the sapping nature of the sun. It was 50C at 6pm last night! But beyond this the different mosques, culture, villages and variety provide plenty of opportunity.

Quite why we chose to recce a September/October workshop (cool breezes, a balmy 35 C during the day and a comfortable 25C in the evening) in the heat of June is something I am still scratching my head about. Well of course I know the answer. A combination of my availability and the opportunity to garner advice and insight from Matt Brandon whilst he is here on vacation, but I think we are both realizing just what a challenge the heat is and what we must avoid to make it comfortable for workshop participants.

Anyway, the workshop is really taking shape. We have adjusted some of our thoughts and ideas since my last post to accommodate a better use of the right time to shoot photos and enough time to relax, reflect and discuss.

We have viewed a number of different boats and Dahabiyas – the large sailing boats of the old nobility that look like Feluccas on steroids – that ranged from cheap health hazards with no soul or personality but masses of space, to undisputed luxury.

The actual Dahabiya

Inevitably with such exclusivity and luxury comes a more intimate experience and fewer cabins, but I think from some of the pictures below you will agree with us that this is worth it. I was blown away by the facilities and luxury on one Dahabiya, and this has helped us shape the workshop into a more exclusive and defined proposition.

So our current thinking is to take a luxury Dahabiya with up to 10 participants. The single supplement is very expensive (although available) because space is at a premium, but one other option is a “partner program” that will allow your partner to share in much of what you do on the cultural side and enjoy a luxury cruise down the Nile with you – though the places may well be limited for this, given that priority must be given to photographers.

The lessons we learned about the heat and the light, suggest a program geared around early mornings and late afternoons, with time in between spent cruising down the Nile in luxury, undertaking critiques, mentoring sessions, processing your images. Each lunchtime is taken on deck by the BBQ as we sail to our next destination. For the partners they get to see all the temples and tombs with us in the morning and in the afternoon can sunbathe on deck or be pampered on board, as we sail gently down the Nile to the evening location and shoot.

A luxury bedroom onboard

The afternoon/evening sessions will focus on cultural photography in villages, markets, mosques and some other locations, before returning for cocktails and dinner on board.

It is different, compelling and given the level of luxury, the number of guided visits and the uniqueness of what we are offering, tremendous value. And if you decide to bring your partner along you can fell less guilty about the luxury and the sites!

We are also investigating a Cairo pre-extension. Arrival for example a few days before the main tour to spend a day immersed in the souks and bazaars of Old Cairo, a day out at the Wadi, Oasis and ancient pottery villages at Fayoum, a morning at the fascinating Camel market and probably a dawn visit to the Pyramids to watch the sun rise and the camel trains pass in front of these majestic structures before joining up with the main group on the Saturday.

Details will appear within the next week or so, so keep an eye out, and we are expecting that places will go very quickly!

And so begins our challenge. How to uncover the real Luxor, Aswan and Upper Egypt that is not tainted by the tourist dollar, where the offer of tea or food is made out of friendship and without condition – the Egypt that I have come to love and experience.

I am in Luxor in Upper Egypt with Ramy Salem – my Cairo based photography business partner – and Matt Brandon (aka The Digital Trekker) and his delightful family who are holidaying here, but who have generously given up a few days of the family vacation to come and visit some of the locations with Ramy and me.

The idea was simple enough – the first photo workshop in Upper Egypt – but as even Ramy and I, both of whom live here, are realizing the execution is not so simple!

Our aim is to create a workshop that mixes the stunning landscape of the Nile and the Desert with the culture of the region: the ancient temples and tombs of course are world famous, and a must see for anyone visiting here. But our aim is to focus more on the local culture; for example, the difference between the “original Egyptians” of Thebes (now Luxor) and their way of life that is largely unchanged, with the Nubians who live between Aswan and the Sudanese border or the Bedouins of the White and Black Desert in the west.

But to make it a workshop with a difference we have come up with 3 new ideas.

The first of which is that we are looking at hiring either a couple of old large sailing boats or one large Nile cruiser and using this as our base.

Floating down the Nile escaping the heat of the day, with time to process images, do critiques or just relax by the small pool on the top deck, would provide a good balance to the early morning starts and late afternoon photography sessions where the heat and harsh sunlight is replaced by the balmy breeze, wonderful portrait light and villages full of people relaxing after a hard day in the fields. The focus would remain though on a workshop approach – working on technique and vision, allocating time to critique and to learn as well as undertaking a small assignments and a photo essay. Depending on which type of boats we select we could end up with a ratio of 10 students to 3 tour leaders and one or two other professional photographers – one of the highest leader:participant ratios anywhere.

Secondly we are also planning to study how our two tour leaders – hopefully Matt Brandon and Gavin Gough – undertake an assignment for a local NGO. They will lead us through the process of an assignment and then we will all go out for a day, visit the NGO and shoot the assignment. We will donate some of our images to the NGO for them to use in their campaigns.

The third differentiator is that we are looking to provide a “partner program”.

Having been on photo workshops myself I realize how significant a chunk of the annual vacation budget they consume, and yet our loved ones who are perhaps less interested in photography, cannot share those experiences. In Luxor and Aswan there is such a wealth of culture, temples and tombs to provide an ideal alternative program, yet allow the more social times in the evening and lunch to be shared.

Yet nothing here in Egypt is that straightforward. Red tape, bureaucracy and security are given as excuses for something not being possible almost as often as ”Baksheesh” is heard from children seeking cash. Not much can be done without specific permits, and of course although cash always helps to overcome obstacles, this is not our modus operandi. We want to apply and receive the permissions, or visit a village without having to pay extra for that privilege.

Sadly just hiring some 4x4s and going “freestyle” is forbidden, and so although we can and will create a program that unlocks the door to the real Egypt, it does mean that the next few days of research will be full of challenges and frustrations. Already we are thinking that Luxor is just too conditioned and evolved around tourism and whilst it is a great place to start or to end a tour by visiting the Valley of the Kings, Hatchepsuit or Karnak temple, it is not the place best suited to our workshop approach or requirements.

We visit the boats today, and an old village north of Luxor before heading off south at dawn tomorrow on our way to Aswan, where we will explore a massive camel market and the option of each participant living with a Nubian family for a day.

There is so much potential here in Upper Egypt for cultural photography.

If however we are to be successful then we have to break free of a sadly all too familiar global culture where tourism has impacted both positively and negatively a location including that 3-year-old child or village elder whose outstretched hand and plaintive plea “Baksheesh, Baksheesh” is all too familiar.

More to follow in the next day or so.

Most of the images that I took fell – deliberately for once – into one of 4 themes: motion, people, abstract or landscape. I had deliberately selected the motion and abstract categories because I really wanted to push myself to experiment and to try things differently. I’ll be posting some galleries of each category in due course.

The people category was well… it just would have been criminal to have spent ten days in Italy and to have ignored some of the wonderful characters, faces and sights that we saw every day. Rather than just look at my people shots as individual pictures, urged on by David, I decided to process them more as a collection, trying out split-toning as a way to create order out of a fairly disparate group of people pictures.

Below is part of the series – I am still not all the way through the images yet as my day job is somewhat all consuming at the moment and I am also building up to the launch of Focus For Humanity, a charitable foundation aimed at providing grants to photographers wanting to switch to full time and work with NGOs!

During one of the afternoon critique sessions, David took us through his Lightroom workflow, including the use of split toning. I think it is one of those things that you need to practice and to have an objective eye for so that you use it selectively, but I loved the idea of taking such a varied group of people pictures – different ages, locations and activities – and creating a link between them simply by turning them to black and white and then applying a split tone.

In this case I chose red for the highlights and green for the shadows –in homage to the Italian flag! It is fascinating to flick between the split tone version and the full color version and to see the marked difference the change makes to how you perceive the image.

So although I will not fall prey to the trap of split –toning every image or doing everything in black and white, I really enjoyed seeing how the images transformed, how the emotion and the story change or how the message received different emphasis just by a couple of different settings in Lightroom.

Let me know what you think!

The 45 minute boat ride provides a transition from the hectic crowded streets and canals of Venice, to a small fishing island with brightly painted houses and walls. The wider streets and the riot of colors suggest a world apart from the more sober colors and grandeur of Venice, but on closer inspection you see the links – a couple of small canals here, a boatyard manufacturing gondolas there and shops selling beautiful lace. The island was probably settled by the Romans but only rose in importance in the 16th century, when women on the island began making lace with needles, a tradition introduced via Venetian-ruled Cyprus, but more specifically the small town of Lefkara where Leonardo da Vinci visited in 1481 and purchased a cloth for the main alter of the Duomo di Milano.

The lace was soon exported across Europe, but decline began in the 18th century and the industry did not revive until 1872, when a school of lacemaking was opened and lacemaking on the island boomed again. Few now make lace in the traditional manner as it is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive, and the few tourist shops around the ferry station that sells the lace, hint at a glorious past and a more commercial future.

Burano is also known for its small, brightly-painted houses, popular with artists and designers – Philippe Starck owns three houses on the island. Some suggest that the colors originated so that the fishermen could see the town even when out at sea, but whatever the stimulus, the colours of the houses follow a specific system originating from the golden age of its development. If someone wishes to paint their home, one must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the colours permitted for that lot. This practice has resulted in the myriad of warm, pastelly colours that characterises the island today, and creates a harlequin effect of contrasting windows ,doors, walls and alleys

On this, our last full day of Italy Within The Frame, we wandered the streets of this charming town, capturing the shapes, forms and contrast that this kaleidoscope of colors provided us. I was still trying to explore the idea of motion, and shot of couple of images I love – one of which is shown here on the left – as well as lot of windows, doors and shadows. I also spent time with Eli Reinholdtsen and Jeff Fielding chatting to some wonderful retired gondoliers who were sitting in their rowing club passing the time of day and regaled us with tales of their prowess.

On our return to Venice, David duChemin and I hired a gondola for an hour and a half, and went exploring the canals of the old historic quarter between the Rialto bridge and Piazza San Marco. Armed with tripods, flashes and some wide angles lens, we experimented in trying to get some atmospheric and moody shots of the gondolier and the canals.

Gondolas are not the most stable of objects as they rock side to side and at times even the tripod was in danger of tipping over. However by anchoring the camera on the tripod we were able to retain the gondola itself as perfectly sharp, allowing us to blur the motion of the gondolier as he pushed his way through the canals, or used his leg to kick of the walls.

As we went under bridges we experimented with firing a hand held off-camera flash with an orange gel fitted to provide some warm fill light. Some of David’s images are truly breathtaking – mine a little less accomplished, although a couple of my shots on the Grand Canal using a panning technique as the gondola turned which produced an ethereal image. Some of the shots taken pointing towards the front of the gondola are fun as the walls blur, whilst the gondolas remains tack sharp.

I don’t think they will win me any prizes, but it was huge fun, entirely experimental and if you don’t try something like this you just don’t know. I’ll post some more of these once I have completed the processing of them.

It was an appropriate way to end not just our time in Venice but our time on the Italy Within The Frame workshop. It has been an extraordinary journey both literally and figuratively. spent with a wonderful, entertaining and generous bunch of friends. We have cried with laughter, we have made fools of ourselves in large public piazzas running in circles while we panned or dragged the shutter with second curtain synch. We have become leading authorities on Negronis and Foccaccia al Formaggio; we have shared kit, experiences, stories, laughter and tears.

But above all we have all learned a huge amount. David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman’s relaxed mentoring approach has helped each of us address and overcome our photographic barriers or frustrations. Through them we have become objective about our work, we have learned to understand what should be within the frame and what should be left out and we have enhanced our awareness of composition, form, contrast, color, mood or post processing.

I am looking forward to being at home, seeing the family, and reflecting on what I have learned, but I shall really miss the company of a group that have now become firm friends.

If David and Jeffrey decide to run this tour or a similar tour in Italy again, make sure you are following them on twitter, as I can guarantee the tour will sell out in minutes. You can follow them by clicking on these links:

David DuChemin

Jeffrey Chapman

and while we are about it, you can follow me to on twitter, by clicking here: Marco Ryan

Few of us will have failed to read over the years the stories that Venice is sinking. This once grand trading city state, that dominated merchant trading for centuries, and yet has manged to retain much of its medieval and renaissance character today, is fighting a losing battle against rising tides, crumbling buildings and the forces of nature. The authorities extensive work to repair, to restore and to underpin the cities foundations will ensure that Venice does not become the next Atlantis, but it is a different type of erosion that I believe is undermining Venice’s future.

Inevitably the concentration of container shipping, the centralization of logistic hubs around major cities and the increasing adaption of every city skyline to account for service based business leaves most cities changed and not normally for the better. Venice has escaped this harsh treatment by its very situation and construction, but has paid an even heavier price: Tourism.

The eponymous presence of a MacDonald’s, A Hard Rock Café, a Disney Store or any other bland vanilla high street chain marks a city’s final submission to the relentless march of consumerism and seems particularly incongruous in a city like Venice. Yet the reality is that this city’ lifeblood is tourism. The city has become greedy and corpulent on the tourist dollar with prices seemingly indefensively high: A glass of wine in St Marks Square is about 14 euros, a 30 minute ride on a gondola about 80 euros and our simple hotel is double what we were paying for a better place in Cinque Terre. Unfortunately the city has bent so much to the will of the tourist visitor that much of the city reminds me of an extended theme park. I wonder whether I might not get a more “authentic” experience in Las Vegas.

Finding things to shoot in Venice is however not such a problem. There are alleyways, little artisan shops making masks, small courtyards or the joy of turning a corner and seeing a small cobbled bridge, with a boat tethered nearby and an old lady sitting outside the house she has lived in for years, quietly reflecting on her life.

I mentioned in my blog yesterday the need to find a theme to direct my shooting. I steered away from the idea of the people and the water as, although a complex and potentially rich theme I think this needs more than 2 days in Venice to do it justice. I was tempted to address head on the conflict between the majesty and timelessness of Venice with the assault of tourism and modernity but others in the group are doing something similar. So instead I chose something more abstract – Motion.

Slightly masochistically, I chose a theme that required me to focus on making my pictures more dynamic and that, with the brighter light of the daytime, will challenge me to be able to get the shutter slow enough to blur people or gondolas, to provide the aesthetic I need. Of course I will take some panning shots, but I don’t want motion to just be about panning! It is a challenging theme, but I need to push myself to find things that will encourage me to take more risks and to experiment.

For the first time this trip the weather has turned against us. The rain started in the afternoon, just as David was sharing his amazing images from his two weeks here, explaining what creative decision he had made, why he had chosen certain angles and how he had worked the image. I was encouraged that he and I had selected so many of the same subjects often from very similar viewpoints, but there the similarity ended. His angle or selective use of motion or depth of field made his images both simple and complex. They were images that drew the eye, that encouraged you to explore the colors, the textures, the motion or the subject. It was truly inspiring to see how things have been envisaged, but incredibly helpful to then have the “behind the scenes” explanation.

The rain unfortunately claimed one casualty. David and I had planned to hire a gondola between us, and shoot some images with motion, some off-camera flash and some unusual angles of the city from the gondola, focusing on the gondolier and the canals as dusk fell and the city “dressed” itself for the evening. Instead, we headed back into the area around St Marks Square to capture some more moody images of Venice in the rain.

Tomorrow is the last day of this wonderful adventure. It seems like the time has flown but it is difficult to express in either words or pictures how much I have learned, how much fun I have had and how much I would recommend taking a similar workshop. Jeffrey Chapman and David duChemin make the most wonderful combination of host, mentor, teacher, comic and companion. You cannot fail to learn, you cannot fail to eat well and you cannot fail to have fun.

Speak with you more tomorrow!

It is odd to review a body of work taken over such a short period of time and to begin to see patterns emerging of what I have been experimenting with and to remember the decisions I took at the time.

You would think too that with so many images, I would have a wealth to chose from – it is not as if we have not been presented with great opportunities wherever we have gone. Yet interestingly I have found that there are very few images that really move me. There are lots of competent images that when processed will be a useful addition to my work

One of the most valuable opportunities for us is to have some one on one time with David or Jeffrey. I used the long train journey between Milano and Venezia to sit down with David and review some of those images, to analyze what I was lacking or missing in the images that I shot, and to provide a focus for the next few days in Venice.

David is always objective, honest and fair. His critiques bring that wealth of experience that has made his books and eBooks such international bestsellers, so although I feel I have got to know him well over this last week, I was still a little apprehensive.

Most of my images form last week fall into two themes – people in their environment or shapes, colors and patterns. So far so good. The former is my passion, the latter group was what I was trying to experiment with this last week.

However, David challenged me on whether I was taking enough risks. The images are too static or too safe. Initially he thought this might be because I was afraid to get in close, but I genuinely think that my ability to approach people and persuade them to allow me to shoot a series even to use a wide angle and almost be in their space is an area that I am comfortable with. Yet if my images are suggesting remoteness or too much structure, then of course I need to practice this all the more. I am not saying for one minute that I have mastered this but lets just say this is not one of my perceived barriers.

So if it is not about getting in close, is suggest that my images are too static, too structured and that I don’t take enough risks. This I think is spot on. I have been trying to put my finger on what it is that I find stimulating in other images, and are lacking in mine. I think I need to shoot more unusual compositions, more movement and different perspectives.

Secondly I need to have more of a purpose in my shooting. That is not to say that I need to stick rigidly to a theme, but for example over the next few days in Venice I need to have a story of a theme in mind that will help me direct my shooting and ensure that my body of work is more cohesive. It might be the relationship between the water and the people, or it might be the contrast of romantic environment yet solitary people, or perhaps it is something to do with the lack of transport other than by boat.

As we begin the first of our two full days in Venice I am still a little undecided as to what that theme is. However David’s insight into what is holding me back has helped ease a little bit of the frustration that was building, and will allow me to truly enjoy the opportunities that this extraordinary city can provide.

More on Venice in Tomorrow’s post!