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Don McCULLIN Exhibition Review

Don McCullin Exhibition at The Tate Modern, London   QUOTE from Don McCullin “I started out in photography accidentally. A policeman came to a stop at the end of my street and a guy knifed him.…

Hope Foundation Photography Workshop

I am very proud of my work with Hope, and every year return to Kolkata to lead a Hope Foundation photography workshop. Included in the course fee is a donation to The Hope Foundation, and as…

Travel Photography Tips

These are all of the things that I do prior and once travelling, but I’d say the most important is preparation before you go 1  Thorough preparation do your homework and lots of detailed research is the first step and vitally important to ensure you get the most from your planned trip 2  Speak to locals, it gets you in places you wouldn’t have dreamt of and opens up many doors 3  Travel light, all my images were taken on a single camera with just a 35mm lens. Probably the greatest lens for the street and with a prime you just get to know the lens and its capabilities inside out. The only other stuff I take out is a small bottle of water and a spare battery, load up the camera with 128g cards and you’ll be great for the day, oh and get yourself a comfy pair of shoes or sandals if your visiting lots of temples. My fav trainers are made by Merrill and probably the comfiest sandals are a pair of Birkenstock Arizona’s 4  Stay with the moment and shoot through capturing the reactions, not just the action. My biggest lesson came a few years ago when travelling with a guy that could barely walk. He stayed in one chosen location for several hours at a time but boy at the end of the day did he have some cracking images. TOP Travel Photography tips 5 Learn to use Google maps and build up a history of where you’ve been, what look like great places when you’re engaging with others and from your research 6  Learn a few basic words in the native language. A simple Hello or thank you with a smile both buys you many brownie points and opens up new doors with locals. 7  Shoot […]

Kolkata train Shot

How I took this Shot Click on the video link below to hear and see my thought process as the scene develops and I get this four layered shot People often ask what my thought process…

National Geographic Photographer

Special assignment by Mark Seymour on Kolkata How the project came about Becoming a Nikon Ambassador has certainly opened many amazing doors for me but non greater than being given an opportunity to have my work published as a National Geographic Photographer in this iconic magazine that we all see in many receptions around the world. Three years ago Nikon approached me and asked as part of my street and travel photography courses could I do a presentation at the National Geographic Traveller show in London giving a talk on how to get into travel photography, how to prepare your trip and what to do once you are there along with talking about various techniques to make your images varied and more interesting. Lady Luck As they say luck always plays a huge part and today was one of those special days ! The co-ordinator from National Geographic that was going to be present during my talk turned out to be the key person within the organisation when I found out after asking ‘So who is responsible for the allocation of photographic projects within the magazine’  …. to which I received the reply… ‘Its me’ I was kinda knocked of my feet and immediately knew that this was one of those opportunities that when presented you grasp with both hands! The room was packed with over 150 paying photographers wanting to hear how I had managed to make this my career and to develop themselves into this genre of travel and documentary photography. The rest as they say is history with a meeting quickly set up at their London publication office to discuss shooting a furture project and for me to present my portfolio of street photography from around the world. My work was highly praised by the picture editor but […]

Layering… The Art of

Layering is creating interest in your street photography and travel photos by placing people on different planes whilst telling a story across the whole image Layering is probably the single most effective way to bring interest…

Lets talk about Gear

Firstly you don’t have to be a Nikon user to come on one of my courses. Gear, please just bring whatever camera you feel comfortable using, it really doesnt matter. We can all make any gear…

What do I need to bring for travel workshop?

Whilst trying to travel as light as possible on a photo workshop I feel these are some of the essentials Your camera and a backup to allow you to continue shooting if your main camera fails…

Varanasi Sunset

Shoot the street around the world

Myanmar ‘This is Burma,……it will be quite unlike any land you know about’ Rudyard Kipling, and was the inspiration for Kipling’s poem Mandalay. Myanmar is still pretty new to the tourist trail so it is an…

Nagaland Headhunters

Nagaland was always on my bucket list as a place to visit of the beaten track so I finally decided to go and recce the place and try and make contact with the tribal people as they are amongst the lat headhunters in the world today ( they abandoned this parctice in the mid 1970’s ) Nagaland is not the easist of places to get to with a limited road network and basic roads so I decided to firstly fly to Gurwhati airport in Assam and after spending a couple of days there photographing around the Kamakhya Temple which is very old Hindu temple where Godess Kamakhya is worshipped we started the journey through Kazingra park and into Nagaland with my guide and fixer. As we travelled thru Assam we stopped of spending time with the Maya tribe photographing most of the village people on a tobacco lastolite background. Once we entered Nagaland through an old checkpoint reminiscent of days gone by the roads were really quite bumpy and mainly without a tar surface . It took us two days to reach Mon where we spent the day with the Mon tribe both photographing them and just spending time in their huts with a large open fire drinking freashly brewed coffee. The following day we started or asscent up into the Nagahills to Longwa to spend time with the Longhwa tribal people staying overnight in the only hotel in the vicinity which I can safely say was the most basic accomodation I have ever enjoyed with no running water and no heating ! In the morning we made our way to visit the tribesman wher we spent a long day with them witnessing their opium ceremony , firing their muzzel loaded rifels and drinking home made coffee over an open […]

An Indian Adventure

Street and Travel photography from Nagaland, Varanasi and Kolkata Top tips for street and travel photography 1 Thorough preparation do your homework and lots of detailed research is the first step and vitally important to ensure you get the most from your planned trip 2 Speak to locals, it gets you in places you wouldn’t have dreamt of and opens up many doors 3 Travel light, all my images were taken on a single camera with just a 35mm lens. Probably the greatest lens for the street and with a prime you just get to know the lens and its capabilities inside out. The only other stuff I take out is a small bottle of water and a spare battery, load up the camera with 128g cards and you’ll be great for the day, oh and get yourself a comfy pair of shoes or sandals if your visiting lots of temples. My fav trainers are made by Merrill and probably the comfiest sandals are a pair of Birkenstock Arizona’s 4 Stay with the moment and shoot through capturing the reactions, not just the action. My biggest lesson came a few years ago when travelling with a guy that could barely walk. He stayed in one chosen location for several hours at a time but boy at the end of the day did he have some cracking images. 5 Learn to use Google maps and build up a history of where you’ve been, what look like great places when you’re engaging with others and from your research 6 Learn a few basic words in the native language. A simple Hello or thank you with a smile both buys you many brownie points and opens up new doors with locals. 7 Shoot har and Edit hard and then just show your best […]