In Jaipur recently, a make-shift portrait session was organised in the village where the Hotla family form the Dhanka tribe lived. We befriended Ram Hotla, our auto-rickshaw driver and he invited our photography group to meet his family and relations. I suggested to capture the portraits of all his family members, and on the 14.11.2010 a Sunday morning, they came out posing. Here is the result of that morning’s shoot.
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The ‘Intrepid 9’ traveled across some difficult roads and terrain by vehicles and camels even, and returned with some amazing images. Thank you again to all of you for joining Andy and I on our Indian adventure. The ride was a bit rough on the ‘edges’ at times but now that we are all rested, let the images speak for themselves!
The photo workshop participants parted company on Sunday afternoon, and departed back to the East and the West, just as quickly as they arrived 5 days earlier. This was a most memorable trip partly due to the amazing, breathtaking location, the City of 100 Names, Constantinople, the Second Rome, that is now Istanbul. We ran through everyone’s Mini Assignment slide-show, and we saw a variety of styles, themes and creativity that was of a high standard. We hope all of you have some little thing you have discovered about general photography over the last few days, from learning more of your camera functions, choosing lenses, to shooting manually, using a light meter, composition, editing and adding effects.
The most important aspect in photography is that your images must ‘speak’ to the viewer, otherwise, it would be a generic postcard image. Please post your feedback below and also send me your images, as I will put up everyone’s best images soon!
Slideshows from the Mini-Assignment
Andy Craggs
“Smiles on The Bosphorus” is Andy’s themed assignment shot during a 2-hour river cruise on the Bosphorus. Andy simply approached fellow cruisers and asked to take their portraits with his Nikkor 50mm F1.2 lens. Simply amazing bokeh!
Steven Lee
I decided to go atmospheric and moody, to represent the centuries of strive, conflicts and conquests that shaped this historic city centred around the ancient monuments of the Haghia Sophia, Sultanahmet Mosque and the Hippodrome. Photographing in the calm of night was a surreal experience, devoid of the crowds, noise and distracting colours by day.
Keng-Fun Loh
Composing with her viewfinder through her various funky eyeware, Fun manages to capture candid Turkish eyes looking back into her camera lens like a pro!
John Gainham
John’s trusty little compact Canon G11 brought him many great images from inside the Blue Mosque and also the Haghia Sophia. As well as being the only participant that photographed the group out on their prowl for imagery, his sense of English humour entertained us all to no end! Thanks for the champers too. Heard you had a ‘romantic’ dinner on the Bosphorus too.
Bruno Couck
Bruno set out to rediscover photography after a lapse of several years, and made his theme ‘Istanbul on the Move’, capturing the movement of locals and visitors, transportation and general scenes from various angles and places within the city. Many Happy Returns!
Ivy Tan
Ivy’s energy is unsurpassed and she goes bounding up to people and easily connect with them like a long lost friend. She picked a theme she’s best at, people shots, and came up with this amazing slideshow.
Steve Leroy
Steve managed to photograph a sequence of an LCD advert outside the Spice Bazaar, combining a sweeping landscape at dusk juxtaposed with a mosque in the background. His statement shouts out a clash between modernity and tradition, old and new, secular and the religious. Simple and yet brilliant.
Sonia Beukes
With an eye for detail, Sonia has managed to photograph striking design elements within the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia with her telephoto lens and also super-wide angle architectural studies.
Fernando Perez
Fernando’s architectural background has allowed him to see shapes, patterns, and textures in the built environment all that more clearer and this is evident in his photography. ‘Geometries’ is a gallery of sublime images beautifully photographed.
Kirstin Furber
Women In Istanbul is Kirstin’s project theme, photographed during the 4 day workshop in this great city. Highlighting the many designs and styles of headscarves worn by local women in the Blue Mosque, at the waterfront, by the Spice Bazaar and the ferry port.
Jayne Taylor
“Snaphots of Istanbul” is Jayne’s title for her slideshow, capturing scenes from the Blue Mosque, the Bosphorus, and the Sultanahment area. Her images of the boats are particularly arresting as are those of the Galata bridge from distance.
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 Oct6-10 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.
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.
16 Feb 2010 : I think we have got everyone’s best pics up, thanks to all of you for making this London weekend workshop as successful, as can be seen in the photo gallery below!
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.
explorenation.net ~ photography posts, workshops, writings and thoughts by Steven V-L Lee 
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