While on the road I wrote up a pretty detailed article on how I packed for the trip.

Packing for travel photography requires some planning. There are some things to consider ahead of time, like where you are going, how long and will you be away from power outlets.

Please read my entire article which also contains a review of using a hiking style camera backpack from Mindshift Gear, called the Rotation 180.

I hope you get a lot out of my thoughts!

I like on one hand, images that reflect the mood of a situation and thereby have an illustrative character that goes beyond the actual situation and on the other hand I am fond of photographs, that reflect the essence of a person or situation. Thematically, I’m interested in the “between” or, as the famous anthropologist Victor Turner’s once said the “Betwixt and Between”.  So my topics are ritual, religion, culture …. ethnological topics.

Story behind the image: The man in the wheelchair and the little island are a intense metaphor.

How would you describe your style?

I am an visual anthropologist. So I would describe my style as a mixture of docu and art.

Story behind the image: The photo “seagypsy girl” is a sweet, charming portrait I took at Sulawesi.

What or who inspires you?

I like the korean docu-photographer Kim, Soo nam, the portraits of Eric Lafforgue, some works of Michael Ackermann, the incredible work of James Nachtwey and many others.

Story behind the image: I like the photo of the naga baba because it has special lighting conditions, which give the perfect setting to the Naga Baba and his spirituality. It reminds me of a fantastic time at the Kumbh Mela in India.

What gear do you use?

I shoot with a Nikon D700. Therefore I use different fixed focal lengths: 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 105mm. I do not work with a zoom. Usually I opt for a lens and then I try to capture the subject with this focal length. When I am done I might  change to a different focal length.

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Links

Website: www.photoanthropos.com , http://www.mabellephoto.com/photographe-dirk-schlottmann-g10101.htm

Travel photography and wedding photography.

Story behind this image: This was taken at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, it was early in the morning and I was standing on the seat of a soft top 4wd safari vehicle with half of my body out of the car. We drove up to this guy while he was standing in the middle of the road and after he bluffed a charge at us he moved into the flowers and we drove past taking photographs. Love.

How would you describe your style?

I dont really know how to describe my style, but my aim is just to show the world as it is. I draw a strict line between photography and digital art. It’s very easy to manipulate a photograph to the point where’s it can no longer be considered a photograph. I stay well away from that line.

Story behind this image: I was snowboarding at one of the most beautiful places on earth, Bariloche Argentina. The view from the top of Cerro Catedral is indescribable, this is just a taste.

What’s your approach to post processing?

I use Adobe Lightroom for “development” work like colour correction, strengthening composition and usually straightening the horizon – that seems to be one thing my brain cannot cope with through the viewfinder!

Story behind this image: I just LOVE blending landscapes into my wedding photography work. I had a perfect opportunity at Yarra Valley right here in Victoria Australia. This is Kara and James.

What or who inspires you?

Jasmine Star for the way she brings out natural expression in her subjects. And Jonas Peterson for his artistic style and ability to blend landscape and travel photography into his wedding work.

What gear do you use?

Nikon D700, 85mm F1.4, 50mm F1.4, 35mm F2.0 and 20mm F2.8. Oh and at wedding ceremonies I use my trusty 70-200mm F2.8. All Nikon Glass.

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Links

Website: www.djbworldphotography.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/djbworldphotography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/djbworldphoto

As a self-described amateur photographer, writer, traveler and wanderer, it would only be fair to say that the genre which really arouses my senses and sensibilities is travel photography. I am intrigued and inspired by landscapes and architecture in their changing forms, but what I’m most passionate about is creating portraits of “ordinary, everyday” people I meet along my journeys, all of whom have a different story to tell, which I then attempt to narrate through my images.

Story behind this image: I made this photograph of an old man while in Ladakh, India. While heading back to where I was staying, I saw him sitting in a junkyard by the side of the road, leisurely puffing away on his cigarette, in the light of the setting sun. I was tired at the end of the day, and went past him by a mile or thereabouts. But then I couldn’t hold resist myself and the voice inside of me. I turned around and headed back to him. He was shy and reticent, and unwilling to get his photographs made. I offered him a smoke, and from then on, everything was just fine as he became my muse-for-the-day. Ever wondered how the twinkle and the mischief in the eyes can be seen on the face without even the eyes being visible?

How would you describe your style?

Photographers, as in any other creative, literary or artistic pursuit have a signature style, and to be completely honest, I am figuring mine out. From simply saying “I was here”, I now want my photographs to say “I felt this”. And since I’m still on this path of discovery, I photograph all genres, though of late, as I just said, I have been focusing more on travel photography and portraits of “ordinary, everyday” people. I am developing a feel for monochromes, which I believe are more expressive than color photographs at times.

If I were to answer this question, however, in a few words, I’d rephrase Descartes and say, “I photograph, therefore I am”.

Story behind this image: This image of an old lady was made by me en route to Matho Gompa in Ladakh. She couldn’t speak either English or Hindi and so I told my driver to talk with her in the local language and request her permission for me to capture her grace. She reluctantly said yes, but only on the condition that I send her the photographs which I did. Quite a bargain that was! She didn’t smile – not once in the half-an-hour that I spent with her. Just this vacant, faraway stare. I had always believed that it’s only the eyes which can reflect a story within, but as with the old man and her yet again, the face and its lines do as well. With her (and in her photographs), I could sense hardship and pain, and yet undisguised dignity.

What’s your approach to post processing?

I am a purist at heart. I rarely if ever crop my images, and when I do, it’ll either be a square or a 9:16 crop. I shoot in RAW and process in Photoshop which I limit to adjustments in Camera RAW and then a conversion to JPEG, at times using Nik Color Efex. For my B&W images, I use Nik Silver Efex. As my post processing is minimal, a single image is usually done within maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I agree that if I spend more time on my images in the digital darkroom, they’d surely be better, but then someone needs to teach me patience along with Photoshop!

Story behind this image: This is a photograph of a traditional mithai-wallah (sweets-seller) at Amritsar, India, in small lane near the Golden Temple. I went up to him to make a few photographs, and he most readily agreed. I was mesmerized with the joie-de-vivre in his eyes, and of course the one-tooth smile, the three-day stubble, errant tufts of hair, awry eyebrows, all of which made for this most endearing image of an old man indulging my passion for photography.

The indomitable quality of the human spirit, courage in the face of adversity, the inner strength we all possess but fail to recognize, never ceases to amaze me. It gives me hope, it inspires me – which is why I look for “ordinary” people to frame and which is why I see these images over, and yet over again.

What or who inspires you?

Many years ago, I read the book, “Bridges of Madison County” about a National Geographic photographer who finds love while on assignment in Madison County to create a photographic essay on the bridges in the area. Of course that never happened to me, but it did fuel an incurable romantic’s passion for photography.

Many inspire me, but two names come to mind always without fail. Steve McCurry for his evocative, emotional, expressive photography, especially portraits; and David duChemin for not only his photography, but also his writing. “Within the Frame”, written by him, allowed me to walk this path with greater feeling and depth, and to write a photo blog where I could express my feelings as I stumbled along, to many others such as me. My writing also inspires me as it is my openness to share this journey with you, my trials and tribulations both, my angst and happiness in equal measure, so that you can see the world through my heart but as it appears through my lens. I am a voyeur as a photographer but also an exhibitionist because I am unabashedly naked with my feelings in my photographs and words, and what I have to say.

What gear do you use?

Nikon D90 and Nikkor lenses and speedlights, though most of my images have been made using my trusted friend – the Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom. As David duChemin said: “Gear is good, vision is better”.

Links

On my way to Cairo I developed a plan to photograph and document the zekr; a form of ritual performed by Sufis, a sect of Islam frequently considered as too liberal and too progressive by the more orthodox theological authorities in Egypt and the Islamic world. It was a tall order since I was after the authentic zekr, not some version diluted or prettified for the tourists and tour groups. It was therefore by pure luck that I discovered someone with strong connections to one of the Sufi tariqahs or sub-sects, and who promised me full access to a number of these rituals. The devotions of many Sufis center on the zekr, a ceremony at which music, body movements, and chants induce a state of ecstatic trance in the disciples.

The first ceremony was scheduled for late afternoon in an area of Old Cairo that I had only heard of. A somewhat rough neighborhood originally known for drug dealers, it seldom extended a welcome mat to outsiders (and certainly never to foreigners), but it seemed to have recently cleaned up its act. Riding a battered local taxi masterfully but maniacally driven over innumerable potholes by Abdel Fattah (or Kojak, as he prefers to be known) and accompanied by Badawi and Haj Zakaria who are connected to the Sufis, I arrive near the area where the performance is scheduled, carrying a small Domke bag with my Canon 5D Mark II and a 28-70mm f2.8, a 17-40mm f4.0 and my new Marantz PMD 620 audio recorder.

The area is dilapidated, with small buildings having seen better days a hundred years ago. Electrical connections and telephone wires are limply stretched from one building to the other, quite possibly illegally, reminding me of nests of pasta. Men seated at small coffee shops, sipping tea or coffee and sucking on water pipes, stare at me quizzically. They don’t seem to notice they’re sitting on wobbly chairs, precariously perched on ground strewn with litter and worse. All that matters is the soccer game playing on the grimy television sets. Seeing that my guides are walking briskly ahead of me, I choose -wisely, I think, not to ask permission to photograph the coffeehouse patrons. It’s a pity, since a number of these coffee houses are owned and managed by women. Women tougher and physically stronger than many men who boast a vocabulary that would put many a hardened criminal to shame. These women are called “awalem” and are best avoided if one is in not the best of moods.

The performance is to take place near the mosque of Sayyidah Fatimah Al Nabawiyya, a great grand-daughter of the Prophet Muhammad who is said to have been instrumental in bringing Islam to Egypt. My efforts to photograph inside the mosque are thwarted by the guardians who claim that photography is prohibited. I suppose they were made nervous by the sight of my large camera and lenses, since they don’t bat an eyelid when devotees use their camera phones to snap pictures of the saint’s mausoleum. Just as we make our way out of the mosque, I hear the sudden screech of an amplifier, signaling that the musicians are ready to start. The enterprising coffee shop owners provide chairs, anticipating a brisk business supplying tea and water-pipes to spectators and participants. There are a number of them already there. One of them is an elderly feisty looking woman who’s dragging on the mouthpiece of her water-pipe, and who laughs raucously when I start photographing her. Another woman taps me on the shoulder and asks me not to photograph her. Later, she changes her mind and literally begs me to do so since she’s sitting with a man who is not her husband. Another Muslim stereotype bites the dust!

The musicians have started their performance, led by a chain-smoking “muallem“, or teacher. The singer clears his voice and sings the repetitive songs that laud the Prophet Muhammad, his descendants and the various Sufi saints, including the founder of the sect, Sayed Al Badawi. The music is rhythmic, played with well-rehearsed ease by the musical troupe. Only a lute, tambourines, a flute and an Egyptian drum are used. So far, it’s a sedate performance, no different from a small neighborhood party in any big city in the United States.

Slowly, people emerge from the neighboring small hovels and gather around the musicians. A demented man starts to sway to the music, while the elderly matrons clap and cheer him on. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a heavyset woman starts to dance to the music. Wearing the obligatory scarf (and even gloves!), she swings left and right with no apparent rhythm. I’m slack-jawed because I never expected to see a seemingly conservative and religious woman dancing in front of an audience in Egypt. Sufis indeed have a different approach to Islam, and engaging in such ceremonies, which include singing, instrumental music, dance, incense, ecstasy, and trance, is part of their belief system. The woman, who laughed so raucously when I photographed her, has now weaned herself from her hubbly-bubbly water-pipe and is taking tentative steps to the beat of the music. She slowly, but surely, gets herself all worked up, and enters a trance-like appearance with glazed eyes and foams at the mouth. On seeing this, the other woman eases her gently to her seat, where she is eventually reunited with her water pipe.

The leader of the music band is now in charge, as the singer takes a break. Only the leader can recite the “madh“ or the paying of homage to Sufi saints, and can honor those in the audience who donate money. One of my companions must have given him money because I hear my name called along various deceased saints. Apart from the half-hearted trances, it’s not what I originally hoped for, but I enjoyed the authenticity of my surroundings and of the performance. It is what it is, and what it will always be.

The performance has ended for now, and will resume after the final prayers later at night. I’m thrilled to have witnessed and photographed an authentic Egyptian Sufi ceremony, but disappointed that the audience wasn’t large and participatory. I realize that the televised soccer match that evening was to Egyptians the equivalent of what the Super Bowl is to Americans. Soccer trumps religion, even in the Arab world.

Mono Lake is one of the most famous California nature photography sites, that fame is a consequence of both it’s photographic and environmental history. Environmentally it supports the second largest population of California gulls (the first, paradoxically, being in Utah), that support was threatened by the diversion of streams that provide water to the late for use by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 300 miles away. Photographically, tufa, the strange limestone formations exposed by the lowering lake level, the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada to the west, and the gull population provide a rich source of photographic opportunities.  In this post, I hope to excite you (just a little bit) about the area, and suggest a few places you might want to begin your photographic exploration of the area.

The most frequented area of the lake is the “South Tufa Area”, located along the south side of the lake.  While often a busy and well-frequented area, the number, size and variety of the tufa formations there are  unparalleled.  Your biggest challenge many times of year will be other photographers, but the area is large and gets interesting light both at sunrise (both toward the Sun and toward the Sierra) and just past suns, when the geography and elevation often provide strong, saturated earth shadows such as the one in the image I’ve included above.

A second location is what’s referred to as the “Old Marina” area, accessed from highway 395 just north of the  Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area Visitor Center.  This area does not contain the dramatic tall tufa of the South Tufa area, but the numerous formations in water provide interesting opportunities and challenges for sunrise silhouettes, and post-sunset earth shadows again are often very strong here. Because this area provides the most direct scenics looking directly east, it offers opportunities for shooting directly into the rising sun, or toward the rising moon.

A great area “off the beaten track” is found just east of Black Point along the north side of the lake. From highway 395, take Cemetery Road east past the cemetary, it becomes a dirt wide graded dirt road. After passing the tall hill that is black point, a thinner brach of the road heads back south towards the lakeshore and ends in a small parking area, from there it’s a simple 10-minute walk down to the lake shore near Negit and Paoha Islands. Again, smaller formations in water dominate here, and my best experiences in the area have been before, during and after sunset.

Most of these areas are available save for intermittent periods during the winter. While access can be limited in parts of winter, the combination of the strange formations and winter snow can be quite powerful. Fall is also popular, with good reason (there are a few lovely areas of aspen near the lake), but far more crowded for the photographically minded.

For bird photographers, gulls arrive in number in June, their chicks hatching in June on the islands inside the lake, and increase in numbers probably through August, only to by the end of September. While there’s a fair number of gulls along the shore, canoe tours after breeding season is over provide access to greater numbers of birds. Eared grebes are an August-early November opportunity. Avocets in breeding plumage are common in March and April.

Do stop by the Mono Lake Committee’s visitor center in Lee Vining as well, they can provide excellent information on current birding, flower and road conditions. They also offer photographic workshops (that attract beginners through pros), and they often have a photographic exhibit from the area as well.