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.

Which is why we thank God for the likes of David duChemin.

He has managed to push us all (but especially us men) to a point where it is all about vision first and gear second. His mantra “Gear is good, vision is better” has become the hallmark of both his traditional books and his superb eBooks. To me these eBooks are everything I wanted when I was learning to take better images (and still learning). Highly compelling, visually rich, short books that inspire, that explain and that share the insights. It is almost as if they are written to that same mantra “compelling visionary images first, technical and craft explanations second”. Scratch that. It is exactly how they are written.

SAFARI, A Monograph is the second in the his wonderful series “The Print & The Process”, where he takes us on his personal journey as he shoots a series of projects and explains the process behind them.

This latest one is just breathtaking. The images captivate and engage. They transport you to the dry savanna, the equatorial heat and the languid lions watching bemused as another 4×4 of tourists winds it way through the Serengeti. It is hard to believe him when he says this is is first safari – irritatingly, it seems as if the man has no end to his talent.

He unpacks the images from a 10-day safari in Kenya earlier in the year, first letting the images speak for themselves then diving deep into the process behind the photographs. This eBook like his previous one on Venice, offers an honest discussion about the issues connected to the creation of what he called the monograph, including the gear used, the techniques employed, and the lessons learned.

It’s a 62-page PDF eBook that will provide you with inspiration amidst the details of the Why and the How. This is not so much about how to photograph your first safari, though you’ll learn that too; it’s a look at the lessons learned, and re-learned, by a photographer who is now 25 years into his craft.

And then if this is not enough, David also shares his Adobe Lightroom settings used for Serengeti Chocolate, the duo-tone look in which much of his SAFARI monograph has been styled, and a downloadable Lightroom Preset. These books are as “cheap as chips” as we say in the UK, and I for one feel like a kid waiting for the next installment of my favorite comic to hit the newsstand. I devour it when it arrives and the moment of elation is followed by the eager anticipation of the next one in the series.

SAFARI, A Monograph is a available now for $5, but as with all of David’s eBooks there is OF COURSE a special offer:

For the first four days only, if you use the promotional code SAFARI4 when you checkout, you can have SAFARI, A Monograph for only $4 OR use the code SAFARI20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST JULY 11, 2010.

Whats more, I am using an affiliate code for FOCUS FOR HUMANITY, so for every book that you buy you do some good and Focus For Humanity gets a slice. David generously gives Focus For Humanity a kick back for every one you order. Just click on the Craft and Vision image left or in the sidebar.

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.

A couple of weeks ago we launched Focus for Humanity – a new Not For Profit foundation that supports photographers and NGOs. This was the subject of of a previous post.. Well today the main annual Foundation grant of $15,000 was formally announced. This helps s a semi-pro photographer turn pro. You can find about more about this or how to apply at Focus for Humanity

Last week was primarily focused on work a “recce” for a Photo workshop down the Nile that Matt Brandon will be leading in October 2011. You can read all about the exciting developments in my last two posts, here , here and here.

But my real news for this week is the launch of a new photography business here in Cairo – The rather grandly named Cairo Photo Group. What we have done is to establish 4 different but interlinked companies that each focus on a much needed area of photography support here in Egypt.

The first is the Cairo Photo School We are very honored to be the first “franchisee” of Gavin Gough’s Bangkok Photo School, looking at teaching travel, street and cultural photography to expats and visitors, as well as the local Egyptians. The school focuses mainly on practical half day or one day workshops exploring Cairo and working on an individual’s requirements. This is supplemented by some classroom work on Lightroom, creative concepts and also studio lighting. Which brings me onto the second company, Cairo Photo Studio.

Cairo Photo Studio is a commercial photo studio run by an up and coming Egyptian photographer, Ramy Salem. Together Ramy and I have created a dedicated photo studio and some classrooms, filled the studio with some great lighting equipment (no mean feat getting hold of this stuff in Egypt) and are mixing the use of the studio for teaching, the rental of the studio to local photographers to explore their own ideas and the commercial use of the studio by Ramy to deliver client work in product, fashion and event photography.

The third company is Cairo Photo Tours. It seemed strange to me that no-one was offering tours or workshops to some of the amazing site and locations around Egypt, so we decided to fill the gap. With guest leaders such as David duChemin, Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon, we will be offering a series of photo tours/workshops with a difference. There will be a strong social responsibility angle to each of the tours. We will be working with local NGOs and charities (including some hopefully chaired by Egypt’s President’s wife, Suzanne Mubarak) and making some donations back into communities that we visit or spend time with.

The first of those – announced today – is an amazing tour down the Nile between Luxor and Aswan that Matt Brandon and I have been investigating.

Based on a luxurious privately chartered Dahabiya we which allows us to stop off the beaten track and explore some of the lesser known temples, ruins and villages. There full overview, some great images, the price, what to bring and how to book are on the dedicated pages on the Cairo Photo Tours site. Other tours we have planned include the Western Desert including spending time living with the Desert tribes at an Oasis, crossing the dunes by 4×4 and camping out under the stars) and the there is also the Cairo Explorer tour – a week of photo opportunities in Cairo, Alexandria and the immediate area.

Lastly we will be opening in the near future a much need service here in Cairo, Cairo Photo Services. Getting hold of camera accessories and support equipment here in Egypt is both difficult and expensive, and yet photography is one of the fastest growing hobbies within Egypt. We are thrilled to be representing both X-rite – whose product we use in the studio, the school and on the tours and THINK TANK PHOTO in Egypt. In the future we will also look to offer a simple rental service of lenses, cameras, tripods, flash accessories etc to help people try out new equipment and to have access to the right gear for special occasions.

Lots going on!

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.

Nearly 3 weeks ago we launched Focus or Humanity – a not for profit aimed at helping aspiring photographers build a career in the Travel and Humanitarian field and in plugging some of the funding gap for NGOs so that they would be able to afford the best photographers in the word. The response to this has been tremendous, and I will be announcing in the next few days some exciting new sponsorships and deals for those of you who have joined or who continue to support FFH.

On top of that I have soft launched 3 new photography businesses in Egypt – but as these will formally launch next week and there are a couple of exciting announcements associated with that I am keeping my powder dry on those for the moment and will blog about them early next week.

MILITARY – HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY – Images by Marco Ryan

I have also had a fairly full 2 weeks of working on my day job – traveling to the UK for a series of meetings and workshops that have been rewarding but time consuming. On top of this I did manage to cram in a wonderful couple of mornings with the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment as they prepared for the Queens Birthday parade. The slideshow above shows just some of the 2500 images we shot over the 2 mornings!

For those of you not familiar with the Household Cavalry, they are the famous mounted soldiers that ride alongside the Queen on ceremonial occasions, resplendent in their red or blue tunics and plumed hats.

Tradition, particularly ceremonial or military tradition, is something that the English still do better than anyone in the world – in my biased opinion. What makes the Household Cavalry – composed of 2 regiments, The Life Guard and the Blues & Royals – so special is that these are operational soldiers who do a 1-2 year rotation on ceremonial duties. Without exception those that I met had done one or more tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and some of those I photographed had won medals for valour or had a row of campaign ribbons showing their operational service in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, First Gulf War, Bosnia, Iraq or on United Nations duties.

My friend Jasper Dalgliesh – himself a great military photographer and previously a member of the Life Guards regiment – had organized a behind the scenes access. We were free to wander and snap as the whole regiment mounted to participate in the Queens Birthday Parade. We were even invited to take picture of the Officers with their honorary Colonel, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal which was great fun. You can see a small selection of those images in the slideshow above or a fuller gallery in my portfolio

Frustratingly I didn’t really find my groove and now, retrospectively, I realized I went in their without a clear plan. Whilst our access was unfettered, we also had to recognize that they were on parade, and so some angles or positions were not really available to us. But had I taken my own medicine – had I gone in with a story to tell, or a shoot list (wide angle to set the scene, a series of 3 linked images to convey the occasion, some close up, a portrait, some motion shots) and had I selected a subject such as the farrier, or the bandsman, or one of the drum horses, I know I would have come out with a more unified story.

It is not that I didn’t shoot those images, its that I failed to approach them as series or linked images. Individually I have some nice images that convey the preparations, and at times being on my feet when they were all above me o horseback made it a challenge.

But I was shooting what I saw, rather than what I felt, and so the images, whilst interesting and a fair representation of the day, to me lack the impact I has hoped for. To be honest at times I was overwhelmed by the color, the sheer numbers on parade and the opportunity, that I felt I missed a number of shots or lacked the focus on a theme which would have helped me to pull it all together. It was a real lesson that even if you think you know your subject matter or even if you know you don’t. planning, researching and having an idea before you start will stop you being overwhelmed by the opportunities on offer!

To those in the Regiment, thank you for your hospitality, your patience and for reminding me what I miss about England, tradition and her wonderful armed forces.

Focus for Humanity (FFH) is a US based non profit foundation that supports amateur and professional photographers throughout the world to focus their work on telling cultural and humanitarian stories.

Through a series of grants and awards it helps these photographers to perfect their craft by funding not only fully expensed photographic assignments to work with underfunded NGOs, but also grants to help people become full-time photographers or to improve their craft by subsidizing attendance on photographic workshops and providing mentoring schemes with leading humanitarian and travel photographers.

The first of those grants – the Annual Foundation Scholarship – is designed to support a keen photographer or semi-pro wishing to make a life and living in photography. The scholarship includes grants of up to $5,000 for equipment and up to $10,000 for projects, travel and subsistence expenses over the year of tenure, making a total grant of up to $15,000. Applications open on 1st July 2010, but you cam use the intervening period to register, prepare and upload your images and prepare your proposal.

Our Advisory Council – who will also judge the applications – reads like a who’s who of the best in Humanitarian, Cultural and World photography, and we will be announcing some exciting new additions to this illustrious group in the near future. But to David duChemin, Gavin Gough, Matt Brandon, Karl Grobl, Jeffrey Chapman, Edoardo Agresti and Mario Mattei – thank you for your support, advice and faith in our vision.

We are running the whole foundation as a virtual organization, exploiting the best and latest of social media, technology and ideas to allow us to function whilst living 8 time zones apart. What this does give us is geographical reach, if nothing else!

We could not have launched without some amazing support and good fortune – and it would be invidious to name some and not others. You know who you are , so thank you. Our developer walked out on us after a month, so I have put the website together myself. If you think it is brilliant let me know. If not, stay silent! It was a challenging journey and I am grateful to several of you for your help.

OK, so now I want all of you reading this to lend us your support. It is a very simple 3 stage request.

Step 1 – Blog, tweet, Facebook about the launch, the amazing grants on offer, the power and depth of the Advisory Council etc.

Step 2. Encourage your friend to follow us, sign-up on facebook and to register one the website

Step 3 –Pledge . Just $10: the equivalent of two large and over-priced lattes; or $25: the cost of a night at the movies or $60: the price of a tank of gas – unless you live in the UK where this is about the price of a pint of milk! – or some other amount.

We are am aiming to raise $60,000 in the remainder of this year, so that is only a couple of thousand of you forgoing a night at the movies, knowing that in so doing you will be helping humanity.

Please browse the site, spread the word, pledge to your hearts content. And don’t hesitate to get in touch via twitter, facebook or the Focus For Humanity Website if you want to be more involved.