Documentary Photography

Nagaland photography course

About Nagaland Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders Assam to the west and north with Myanmar to the east and It’s home to diverse range of indigenous tribes, with many festivals and markets…

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. Thats how I became…

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 part of the course…

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 […]

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 […]