Photo © Sebastian Rich

We are currently formulating our travel workshop destinations for 2011, and have in mind the following locations :

• ARGENTINA : We have a super contact in Argentina! This destination will please you Medium Format landscape photographers. Beautiful vistas, clear blue skies, and .. steak. Lots of steak.

• CUBA : Viva Cuba! We almost made Cuba last year, but decided on Borneo. Cuba it is for 2011! Great street photography, its warm people, Spanish architecture and yes…cigars.

• PARIS,  ROME and SEVILLE are also on the cards for weekend workshops.

If you want to be notified of our 2011 calendar, please drop us an email to info@explorenation.net

Meanwhile, the year’s not out yet, and we have two exciting destinations, Istanbul and Rajasthan, so check these out.

New dates 30 Sept~ 3 Oct 6-10 October 2010 : 4 Days £450 Booking now

Itinerary : TBA

I visited Istanbul in 1998, traveling across Turkey, from Gallipoli, down south to Izmir, Ephesus, Kusadasi and Pammukale. The Bosphorus harbour is a hive of activity, not unlike Hong Kong, with ferryboats to-ing and fro-ing from East to West Istanbul, people fishing, fishing boats, petty traders, newspaper sellers and freshly grilled sardines by the waterfront. Standing majestically in the backdrop on hill is the unmistakable Haghia Sophia dome with its minarets reaching out into the heavens.

© Steven Lee, 1998

We hope to return to Istanbul with a small group to do it justice again, photographing the narrow streets in Sultanahmet, the palaces and history buildings, and of course the amusing residents of this great City.

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We are also Booking now!

Rajasthan, Land of Kings

Rajasthan, Land of Kings , India : 10 – 21 November 2010 : 12 Days £1850** Booking now!

11-20 June 2010: 10 Days £1,450 pp Booking now

When I first saw the images taken by Albert Watson in his 1998 book Maroc, I was instantly caught in a daze. I had to go. Morocco has so much to offer a photographer. The narrow alleyways of the walled city of Marrakesh will loose you in an instant. The smell of spices, smoke and the sound of drums filling the night air in Djemaa El Fna is dizzying. The arid rural landscapes dotted with small villages, the snow capped peaks of the High Atlas, and the brightly coloured town of Fes with its labyrinthine streets, souks and tanneries are simply amazing.

© Steven Lee, 2002

This tour is a great ‘circle’ tour, visiting Marrakesh, traverse of the High Atlas mountains, through the Desert with an optional overnight Camel Trek, to Fes and Cascades Ouzoud before returning to Marrakesh. It includes 2 nights in Marrakech and 2 in Fez, 3 days in the desert, 1 overnight camel trek, and 1 night in Cascades Ouzoud.

© Andy Craggs, 2006

We will be partnering a local specialist tour operator, use small, family run hotels (riads) that are of interest because of location, excellent food, and unique traditional architecture. Generally speaking food in Morocco is excellent and reflects traditional cooking.

Photographically, this will be a great challenge for the keen travel photographer, as you will discover your personal vision through mastering the compositional and technical skills unique to your criteria.

© Andy Craggs, 2006

The workshop will include daily briefings on photo opportunities, one-to-one tutorial in setting of personal projects, editing for a final slideshow, and equipment handling.

Who is this for?

Keen travel photographers who are seeking a small group to travel and ‘talk shop’; beginners and advanced amateurs who are seeking a fabulous opportunity to photograph new places, and to prepare their own portfolio, or begin new editorial projects. ‘Idea-generating’ discussions often lead to new opportunities in photography.

© Steven Lee, 2002

10 DAY MOROCCO ITINERARY

Day 1
You will be met at the Marrakesh Menara airport, and taken to your medina riad, and settle in. Your riad (old house) has a central, tiled, courtyard, with breakfast served on a rooftop terrace. Have lunch. Evening drums will draw you to the Djemaa El Fna (main city square) where a festival atmosphere awaits. Plunge past the snake charmers and have your fortune told, listen to Berber and Gnoua musicians, or storytellers, or watch the “exotic” dancers illuminated by lamplight and wreathed in smoke. Food stall meals range from a bevy of fresh salads, harrira (lentil and bean soups) fried fish and chips (Moroccan style) to kebabs and even sheep’s head (a specialty that has its own dedicated stalls). Stay Marrakesh ancient medina in the heart of the old city. Includes breakfast.

Day 2
After breakfast, depart Marrakesh crossing the Tizi n Tichka Pass of the High Atlas mountains. We’ll have lunch before visiting the World Heritage Site of Ait Benhaddou. This ancient village of clustered Berber Kasbahs has been used as a backdrop for more than 20 films and was one of the most important fortress strongholds on the old Salt Road where caravans as brought slaves, gold, ivory and salt from Saharan Africa to Marrakesh and beyond. Passing through Ouarzazate, our journey takes us through the Rose Valley, to arrive in Dades near sunset to visit the red (Monkey fingers) Tamnalt hills, We’ll stay in the Dades upper gorge this night with dinner by the fireplace. Includes dinner and breakfast.

Day 3
Breakfast on the terrace. Morning departure to visit the Todra gorge, a narrow massive fault dividing the High Atlas mountains, rising to 300 m. Walk among the palmeries, gardens, Berber villages and old Kasbahs with a Berber guide. After lunch transport (3 hours) further into the desert to the tiny village of Merzouga, and take your camels at sunset into the beautiful Erg Chebbi dunes. Your guide will prepare a traditional tajine dinner, and may want to climb the giant dunes to watch the stars before retiring to your bed in a woven wool nomad tent. Includes dinner and breakfast.

Day 4
Bivouac trekkers return by camel at sunrise to the auberge for breakfast and shower. You can chill out in the dunes or the auberge, or take your car and driver for an off road tour around the Erg Chebbi. We’ll stop to visit Nomad families for tea if they are in the region, and you can explore as much as you wish. The village of Hamlia is on your route, and is famous for Gnaoua music. Stay in desert auberge with swimming pool. Includes dinner and breakfast.

Day 5:
Depart for (8 hours) Fez, traveling from the desert through the Ziz gorge to the Middle Atlas mountains. The alpine town of Ifrane is a nice contrast from the desert. You can stop here, before descending to the hilly lowlands where the ancient city of Fez is situated. Stay Fes medina riad. Includes breakfast.

Day 6: Stay and explore Fes. Meet your guide* to explore the ancient medina, an endless labyrinth of narrow streets, (4000 and counting) with hundreds of tiny shops, the dyers souk and craft manufacturers who ply their trade in narrow medieval grottoes. Do not miss the leather tanneries, still in use today using techniques from ancient times, producing fine leather in beautiful colours. Fes is also famous for its pottery. Stay medina riad as above.
*Fez guide can be hired for about 300 dirhams for half day.

Day 7:
Leaving Fez, south towards Marrakesh, we’ll pass through the bread-basket of Morocco near Beni Mellal where you’ll see many olive presses at work. Soon after, we’ll leave the main road to climb abruptly into the Middle Atlas mountains. We’ll stop to admire views of deep gorges and forested hills until reaching Cascades Ouzoud, waterfalls into a spectacular gorge and an endless series of pools. The waterfalls are particularly fantastic during the rainy season November to March. Exploring the gorge above and below the falls, you’ll see Barbary apes and exotic birds. Stay very charming Ouzoud traditional house (riad) overlooking the falls.

Day 8:
Late afternoon depart Ouzoud and return to Marrakesh today (3 hours).
Stay in Marrakesh medina riad.

Day 9:
Explore the back street maze of Marrakesh with a guide,* visit Ben Youssef Medersa, the Koutoubia mosque, and the Marrakesh Museum. Afternoon free to explore the vast souk (market). The Souk is comprised of many specialist areas e.g. metalwork, where crafters ply their trade; dyers workshops are strung with colourful skeins of wool; carpets, and carpet sellers entice you into their shops with a cup of mint tea; search tiny shops selling Berber jewellery, old silver, and African beads; or spices, olives, fresh herbs; or traditional apothecaries where you can buy all manner of potions to heal or cast spells of love or revenge. Stay Marrakesh medina riad.
*We can arrange for an English speaking guide. They work for tips, usually 100 dirhams per hour.

Day 10:
Arrange transfer from your riad to the airport.

What’s included?

- transport by 4×4 each car seating up to 6 passengers, fuel;
- experienced drivers;
- rooms with air conditioning/heating and ensuite baths;
- explorations through markets, old kasbahs, Berber villages and oasis with English speaking guides;
- breakfast and dinner; breakfast only in Marrakesh and Fez (vegetarians welcome);
- overnight camel trek to a desert Nomad camp with guides;
- mattresses, blankets, pillows and sheets are provided;

Not included:
- lunches,
- tips,
- optional site guides,
- personal purchases,
- alcoholic beverages.

Bookings are being taken now. Itinerary subject to change.

Contact : info@explorenation.net

8 Feb 2010 : The London weekend workshop went really well, and I am beginning to post the ‘Best of..’ from each participant’s mini-project Iconic London, in the gallery below. Apologies for not showing my images on Sunday, but as promised, included are my edited selection..SL

6 & 7 FEBRUARY 2010
1 & 1/2 DAYS INSTRUCTION £175 pp

As a replacement to the Venice Workshop in February, we are holding an Introduction to Digital Photography weekend here in London, for new adopters to digital photography, and for those wanting to get more out of your DSLRs in terms of compositional tips, exposure settings, and using different lenses for effects. We will be photographing Central London and its magnificent public spaces, stately buildings and people on the first day, followed by a brief introduction to digital editing, review and selection combined with a personal critical feedback of your photographs.

Program

Saturday 6th

9am to 1pm : Camera handling, exposure settings, compositional aspects, and lenses

Lunch

2pm to 6pm : Guided London ‘walkabout’ shoot, covering Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, London Eye, South Bank, Embankment and the West End : architectural studies, people and dusk images with a difference

Sunday 7th

11am to 3pm : Digital editing of shoot results, creative commentary and review of previous day’s images, Q&A and wrap-up

Includes a workshop handbook.

Who is this for?

Photographers seeking to make full use of their digital camera and lenses by developing their digital photography knowledge and mastering the basics – then beginning to explore and improve on compositional skills and image impact.

You will have the opportunity to discover

* Effective camera handling techniques
* Low light /available light photography
* Architectural studies, photographing detailed structures, shapes and effects
* Basic street photography techniques, mastering different lenses and lighting effects
* Seeing in black and white
* Fine-tuning your visual skills to produce a coherent series of images
* Beginning a personal portfolio of your best edited work
* Basic digital photo-editing skills

The layout of the weekend includes a practical shoot with instruction on creative and technical topics, followed by editing and a professional review by teachers leading to critical feedback for each participant

Please contact Steven or Andy for more information at info@explorenation.net

Photo coaches : Steven Lee + 44 781 084 8470, Andy Craggs + 44 778 712 4832

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Iconic London : A Mini-Project
“Our task, should you agree to accept it, is to interpret what is ‘Iconic’ about London, given the location, time and space we have this weekend..” This gallery is what our participants came up with.

Feedback

Hi Steven my photos -sorry ended up being 9. Great to catch-up with you and Andy. Really learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the company. Will work on getting my eye focused on interesting subjects. Keep me updated on your events.

Cheers
Devini

Hi! Steven and Andy,

Thanks for the enjoyable workshop over the weekend. I have shot the entire workshop portfolio on manual which I had rarely done before. Thanks for the tips and encouragement on how to set the camera properly. I am still trying to learn how to use my new Canon 5D properly ( I am more used to my very old Canon 300). Although my pictures have been published in my books and travel features, it is useful to learn the skill properly from experts like yourselves. Your advice is much appreciated.

Regards, Helen

Pakistan is suffering from severe flooding due to the monsoon rains. 1/5th of the nation is under water.

The Pakistani government says up to 20 million people have now been affected by the monsoon floods.

At least 1,500 are known to have lost their lives, and millions are homeless, and hungry.

Prints for Pakistan Appeal

Andy Craggs, myself and some photographer mates through explorenation.net have decided to donate a few of our favourite images as prints to you in return for your direct donation to the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee), an umbrella organisation of 13 humanitarian aid agencies, or to other official agencies of your choice.

This is straightforward and simple process.

What you get

You select one image from the gallery below, noting the Title. All photographs will be printed on 13″ x 19″ paper with archival pigment inks, signed and dated in verso by the photographer and editioned. All photographs are 15 edition + 1 artist proof. They will be posted to you in a cardboard tube free of charge.

What you have to do

You must make a minimum donation of USD$25 (or equivalent) to DEC via their website direct, and email us your name, address and chosen Title photo, plus attach a screen capture or confirmation webpage/email from DEC, that has your name, address and donated amount to info@explorenation.net.

There is a certain amount of trust and goodwill to this initiative, so we rely on you good people to make this fund-raising event as successful as possible in the shortest time. If the print edition is depleted, we will notify you of an alternative choice.

Thank you.

We started the weekend workshop photographing Portobello Road market on a freezing cold and snowy Saturday morning, but the session soon warmed up with crunchy croissants and hot black coffee back at ‘class’. By the next day, participants were churning out super A3 prints that were jaw-droppingly gorgeous and highly artistic ! Lightroom is a powerful and intuitive app that is simplistic to use, apart from ‘cataloging’ utility, which got a few confused as to where the original files were kept. I think Mac users outnumbered PCs but Andy’s latest Sony Vaio won the ‘coolest’ gadget prize. Running LR on a 10″ screen is brave. Thanks again to those that had to catch trains and planes, hope you all got home safely in the icy conditions. Well done.

UPDATE : For those joining us in the weekend Digital Editing Workshop in London, we will be using Adobe Photoshop CS, CS2 and Adobe Lightroom 2. However, Lightroom 3 BETA is available free to download until April 2010. It is a fully working version, with some processes being tested until they release the actual version in April. It is similar to Lightroom 2, with several improvements. I have just downloaded it to test it. You can, too by registering with Adobe below :

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

FROM SHOOT TO PRINT : We are holding a weekend of Digital Photo Editing in Central London, for photographers who want to adopt a logical digital workflow. Topics covered include : RAW conversion, colour workspace, archiving, basic Adobe Photoshop editing, preparation for printing. Includes : use of A3+ Epson Photo Printer, paper, lunch and use of iMacs. We will be using Adobe Photoshop CS, CS2 and Adobe Lightroom 2.

Require : Digital camera, own laptop with necessary applications. (see above)

We start off with a walk and shoot in nearby colourful Portobello Road market on a Saturday morning. Shooting in RAW mode will enable you to have a ‘digital negative’ which you can then apply processing parameters to ‘develop’ your image without damaging the original file. Participants will be able to adopt a suitable workflow by using Lightroom or Photoshop on their selected images and prepare them for large scale printing on an Epson A3+ printer supplied for use, including photo paper. Some basic ‘photographic’ corrective or enhancement techniques will be demonstrated using Curves, Levels, Cloning, Colour Balance and Sharpening tools.

Extra date scheduled for 23/24 January (to be confirmed).
2 Days £200
Email: info@explorenation.net
Steven +44 781 084 8470

4 Days Instruction £450 (Not including travel and accommodation)

For 11 days in February, the dark monochrome streets and alleyways of Venice opens up to great colour, magnificent sights, light shows, ornate costumes and masked revelers. Carnival, literally meaning, “farewell, meat” was and continues to be a historical festival of great scale and revelry running up to the religious fasting of Lent. Come to Venice and photograph the serene capital of the Doges, with its magnificent Palaces, museums, canals, and stately buildings with the added attraction of the Carnival festivities.

You will have the opportunity to discover..

* effective camera handling techniques
* low light /available light photography
* architectural studies, photographing detailed structures, canal scenes, palaces and piazzas
* artistic portrait compositions of masked revelers in full costumes, light effects and atmospheric scenes
* street photography techniques, mastering different lenses and lighting effects
* seeing in black and white
* fine-tuning your visual skills to produce a coherent series of images
* begin a personal portfolio of your best edited work
* basic digital photo-editing skills

Structure

The layout of our program takes the form of daily shoots with instruction on various creative and technical topics, followed by editing and a slideshow review with critical feedback for each participant. Participants will be encouraged to either adopt to shoot in color or b&w from the start and seriously focus on creating dramatic and strong visuals during their stay, and edit their images to a final 15 – 20 strongest photographs to present at the final review session.

Who is this for?

This workshop is suitable for the newbie, and those who are seeking to experiment with different settings on their digital cameras. As Venice is a confined city, this is a challenge to participants to be creative in their approach, and shoot individually as a travel photographer would. You will learn how to compose quickly in street situations, shoot in low light and experiment with architectural symbols as well as observe colour and shapes making full use of the low Winter light.

What to Bring

We encourage participants to bring digital cameras with interchangeable lenses, and a set of wide to medium telephoto lenses. As we are primarily focusing on the the Carnevale and street revelers, close quarter shooting will be the main order, hence wide angle to standard focal lengths will come in useful. Also, bring your own digital storage medium, like laptops and sufficient memory cards.

Accommodation

We recommend staying in small hotels on the periphery of the main tourist areas. During the Carnevale period, hotels tend to get full quickly and it we strongly suggest making early enquiries.

Travel

Travel to Venice is reasonably low cost with easy access from all major European cities. Low cost flights by Easyjet from London Gatwick, are available as well as fast trains to Venice Termini.

(10 % reduction to early registrants before 31 January 2010)

Please contact Steven or Andy for more information at info@explorenation.net

Photo coaches :
Steven Lee + 44 781 084 8470, Andy Craggs + 44 778 712 4832

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