Louise Porter | Infrared Tribal

Photo © Louise Porter | All Rights Reserved

Infrared photography is a different technique that will appeal to those of us who have an adventurous streak, and seek to present an alternative vision to their audience. Infrared photography provides a new way to see what we like to photograph because our eyes cannot see infrared light as it is beyond the "visible" spectrum that humans can detect.

Using digital cameras modified to shoot infrared reveals photographs that are different from what we are used to see. Everything is different; colors, skies, clouds, faces, textures, and skin to mention just a few. The infrared "look" cannot be duplicated with post-processing software despite filters and techniques. Some photographers have converted their digital cameras by having the sensor's infrared blocking filter removed, and substituted with one that allows only infrared light to pass through.

One of those photographers is Louise Porter, whose infrared galleries Infrared Tribal Travel and Infrared Niger are lovely examples of this techniques. Readers of this blog post might be tempted to try this style of photography after viewing them.

Photo © Louise Porter | All Rights Reserved

Louise Porter has been a documentary and travel photographer for over 20 years. She trained at New York'sWorld Photography International Center of Photography, and has traveled to Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, India, Laos, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Bhutan, Ladakh, Iceland, Cuba, Barbados, Ireland, Bali, Sulawasi, UK and other European countries. Her work was included twice in the 2013 and 2014 SONY World Photography top 10 short list for People along with another selected infrared photo in the Commended category.

POV: Analog Efex Pro

I'm perennially looking for short cuts when I post process my photographs. I use minimal processing whether using Photo shop or Lightroom (with the exception of sharpening, and adjusting levels and curves, I rarely use the other tools), and sitting at a computer fiddling for hours on end for the optimal look is really not my kind of thing...I just don't enjoy it.

Coming up with my own presets is above my intellectual pay grade, so I am always thrilled to find software that provide "one-click" solutions.

I'm particularly fond of Alien Skin Software and of the Nik Collection, and use them whenever necessary. These alternatives often preclude me from having to use Photoshop, and I'm delighted.

The Nik Collection from Google has received a new free update which is named Analog Efex Pro – a series of filters that replicate the look of classic cameras, wet plate cameras, toy and vintage...all 'funky' presets that alter the character of ones' photographs at the click of a button.

For the portrait of the young Balinese student dancers, I chose a colored wet plate look which replicates the look of ancient color photographs of the Italian photographer Felice Beato (1832-1909).

Summer Doldrums: Framing

It's the summer doldrums...and having the better part of three bare walls means that I have the time to choose some of my best photographs printed, mounted and framed, and placed exhibition-style on these walls.

I already started choosing these photographs...perhaps I'll have some two dozen by the time I'm done with this project. All will be in black & white, in simple black frames.

I've tried Adorama Pix to print three of the first photographs, and so far it's been a success. It's cheap, it's easy and it's fast. I've had the first one delivered, and I'll be picking up the rest in a couple of days. The printing is done on Kodak Pro Glossy paper, in sizes of 11 x 14 inches.  Each print cost me $4.00 excluding the shipping (for the first one) and $2 handling fee for those I'll be picking up. The frames? I already had those.

I found the print quality to be quite good, and suitable for the purpose. I have no patience to print them myself, nor to have them done in a more expensive professional print studio...and the Adorama outfit is very fast.

I estimate that I'll eventually have two dozen of these monochrome prints; some of my travels in India, in Bali, in Vietnam, etc...and the room will be a "surround-visual" of these travels.

Manuel Gomes Teixeira | Platinum Palladium Printing

Produced by Luís Oliveira Santos, this gem of a 12 minutes documentary video may help decrease your blood pressure rate quite significantly because it exudes calm and deliberate movements...and is a must for all fans of monochrome photography. Yes, it's a quasi fluff piece for the new Leica M Monochrom, but it will also interest (perhaps even thrill) those who are interested in traditional photographic printing methodology.

Manuel Gomes Teixeira is a photographer and a platinum palladium printer, who usually uses traditional methods, with photographic film in medium and large format cameras. He was asked by the exclusive distributor of Leica cameras in Portugal to test the Monochrom, and demonstrated how platinum printing combined with the quality of the Leica's image files result in beautiful photographs.

Platinum prints are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process that provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using chemical development, and are the most durable of all photographic processes. It is recognized that Platinum-Palladium prints convey detail even within the darkest shadows, and reveal a range of inviting tonal warmth.

The documentary was chosen as a Vimeo Staff Pick.

American Tintype

American Tintype from Matt Morris Films on Vimeo.

Checking in my Vimeo channel, I noticed this wonderful short documentary picked by its staff about Harry Taylor who discovered a passion for the 150-year-old craft of tintype photography.

There are also remarkable samples of his craft on his tintype gallery, which I urge you to visit.

The ICP website describes tintype as: "One of the most intriguing and little studied forms of nineteenth-century photography. Introduced in 1856 as a low-cost alternative to the daguerreotype and the albumen print, the tintype was widely marketed from the 1860s through the first decades of the twentieth century as the cheapest and most popular photographic medium."

And Wikipedia defines it as a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, lacquering or enamelling and is used as a support for a collodion photographic emulsion.

For those of you who don't have that deep passion and investment, you may want to make faux tintypes as described on Instagram's blog.

Yes, digital tintypes on your mobile devices! Enough to drive the purists bonkers.

Chiaroscuro: The Power Of Light-Dark

On my Facebook page, I have already posted a few examples of chiaroscuro photographs that I made some time ago in Siem Reap and thought I'd write a post about them. Chiaroscuro photographs are a natural for the temples of Angkor Wat; an ideal place to apply this technique with its dark-light ambiance.

Chiaroscuro is an Italian coinage word which literally means 'light-dark', and is a way to enhance a scene by placing light and darkness next to each other. I don't want to be wordy, but penumbra can also be present in chiaroscuro scenes, as in the lower folds of the monk's robes in the top photograph.

Provided the right lighting situation presents itself, or is set up (as most of these accompanying photographs are) with one source of light , one can achieve the effect by exposing for the absolute highest tones in the image. I generally do it by using spot metering and opting for manual exposure.

I was also interested to know that there is a technique called tenebrism, (also from the Italian tenebroso or dark/unclear, which is a style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro. Meedo Taha, a photographer, film maker and architect (and a Facebook friend) reminded me of Caravaggio, who is credited with the invention of the style.

Terri Gold: Where Earth Meets The Sky

Photo © Terri Gold-All Rights Reserved

"No matter where I am, I am always happiest with a camera or three in my hands…"

Terri Gold is an award-winning photographer and artist based in New York City, and has built an impressive reputation for her rituals, rites of passage, festivals, celebrations and portraits from all over the world. She specializes in infrared imagery, which is her signature work.

She has just returned from Ladakh and has posted a new series of infrared imagery in a gallery she titled "Where The Earth Meets The Sky", which is just fabulous. He infrared treatment of her photographs gives the already ethereal moonscapes of Ladakh a unique look and feel. 

Ladakh is the mountainous region in northwest Jammu and Kashmir in north India and in the area known as the Trans-Himalaya. Called by some as The Last Shangri-La (although a fistful of other regions and areas have been called that as well), its capital (or major town) is Leh. Ladakhis people are equally mixed between Buddhist and Muslim, but the majority of the tourist attractions are in the east and relate Tibetan Buddhist culture.

Terri describes Ladakh as a different world...and that certainly is an apt description, especially with her imagery talents.

POV: Why I Like Bare Concrete Walls...

I like bare concrete walls.

Let me explain why.

Many photo tour leaders are known for setting up photographs for their groups, and it's not unusual for photographers who repeat the same photo trips with the same itinerary to end up shooting the same 'models'...albeit looking a year or two older. I've heard anecdotes of how the 'models' know exactly how to pose, which side of their face is more flattering, and know where the dotted line on model releases are.

Due to the nature of my own photo expeditions-workshops which are "event-specific" and are structured around religious or cultural rituals (the more obscure and unique the better), and because my workshops are based on the concept of "photojournalism meets travel photography", I seldom need to set up pre-arranged photo shoots as such. For one thing, the religious/cultural events that I gravitate towards during these photo expeditions-workshops are too intense, too authentic and too crowded...and consequently make set-ups unnecessary, and possibly even disrespectful.

Moreover,  the type of photographers who sign up for my photo expeditions-workshops are generally well-seasoned, experienced and are self-starters...who, not only are perfectly capable of 'de-clustering' themselves from each other, but do what good photographers do best...look for their own photo opportunities within the framework of the religious and/or cultural events.

That said, there are occasions during my photo expeditions-workshops when characters are so photogenic that they figuratively jump at me, and I just have to set-up a sort of "fashion" shoot, gather the group as quickly as I can, and start the fun. However, and as much as the characters' photogenic attributes are important, the backgrounds are also as critical.

What to do if a uniquely photogenic character presents himself/herself but no appropriate background is found? I suppose carrying some form of portable background (white, black or burlap colored cloth) would solve this problem, but what if this wasn't readily available as it was during a photo shoot at a Kathakali academy on my recent The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop?

We were photographing the pre-performance make-up session, and I was disappointed at the walls of the make-up area were painted a drab and blotchy kind of salmon pink, which didn't lend itself to an attractive background. However, a corner of the school was being newly built with walls of bare concrete. Bare concrete means gray and everybody knows that it helps in producing a consistent image exposure... so perfect!!!

The probability that we would all end up with the same image was my primary concern, but the light of day was perfect, the costume was perfect, the dancer was image-savvy and the performance was about to start. So we were shooting paparazzi-style for a few minutes...and despite the appearance of what photojournalists (and the military) describe as a "clusterfuck", we were all happy with the opportunity.

I asked the participants of The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop to send me their favorite(s) photograph from that shoot without telling them why...imagining that their photographs would be identical. They're not. Because of their experience, their difference in shooting styles and because of the dancer's adopting various poses, the results of that particular "clusterfuck" were satisfactory.

So much so that I've used my own image of the shoot for the background of my website.

That's why I like bare concrete walls...and so should you.

The Travel Photographer's Warm Split Tone LR Preset

Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I've received a number of emails asking me how the toning of the still photographs of The Spice People of Mattencherry audio slideshow was done.

It's an overly saturated look, which I thought would go well with the color of turmeric, ginger and the burlap sacks so prevalent in that ancient area of Kochi. So here's the "secret sauce" as some call this sort of post processing workflow, which in reality is really quite simple.

It obviously is not suited for many types of photographs and projects, but if you need this sort of saturation, do try it and see if it suits you. For fine tuning, I'd increase or decrease the Blacks slider as deemed necessary after choosing the preset.

To download, click on The Travel Photographer's LR Presets.

Maika Elan: Thaipusam Festival

Photo © Maika Elan-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Maika Elan-All Rights Reserved

I really can't describe Maika Elan's recent photography style with certitude, and don't know if it really fits neatly in a category...but what I do know is that it's ingeniously creative.

First off, Maika's birth name is Nguyen Thanh Hai, and is a freelance photographer from Hanoi. Her photography was recognized with a number of awards, and she's currently working hard on completing her long term project...The Pink Choice, in which she documents gay life in Vietnam and elsewhere.

Maika attended the Thaipusam festival held at the Batu Caves, near Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and decided that, rather than documenting this festival in a traditional editorial style, she would try to fuse the festival's ancient rituals and tradition with modern images of Western culture. She did so by photographing popular culture magazines, and then double exposed these with her images made during the Thaipusam festival.

The result is an intriguing collection of images which, if you peer at them closely enough, will reveal faint images of Western models superimposed on Maika's photographs of Thaipusam scenes.

You may prefer to view her gallery on Invisible Photographer Asia.

When I heard she was on her way to photograph the festival, I was certain she'd come up with an unorthodox way of documenting it her way...a la Maika. Yes, that's what I ought to call her style...the Maika style.

POV: Street Photography In Old Delhi

The Quizzical Guy. Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The Coco Seller. Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The Don't Photograph Guy. Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Old Delhi is one of my favorite locations for street photography, and is a must stop for me when I'm in India for my photo expeditions/workshops.

I produced a short documentary audio slideshow on the Spice Porters of Khari Baoli of Old Delhi, but on my way through Chandni Chowk, I started photographing with my M9. While some of my photographs were made by shooting from the hip, most were not. Chandni Chowk, as any other market and public place in India, is a dream environment for street photography since it teems with living tableaus.

Notwithstanding, most photographers are bound to be noticed and stared at. Now, this is a problem because the essence of street photography, as told to me many years ago by Costa Manos, is that no one must see the photographer. In other words, if any subject in one's street picture is seen looking at the camera, the photographer has "failed" in capturing the moment. Perhaps extreme, and very difficult to achieve in India where people are alert, curious and have no problem at dropping what they're doing to stare at whatever and whoever interest them.

It takes a little more speed, sometimes stealth, and certainly patience to work around this. We all have our techniques, but I find that a lot patience and "fading in the background" works best. Eventually, the most curious loses interest and I have free rein in photographing as much as I care and need to.

Here are some examples of the street photography "obstacles" I faced during my latest trip in Chandni Chowk.

The top photograph is of someone I describe as "The Quizzical Guy". He saw me photographing, and just froze alongside some mannequins, and kept staring at me for a while...trying to figure out what I was doing. So I photographed him.

The middle photograph is of someone who's the exact opposite of The Quizzical Guy. He probably saw me photographing The Coco Seller, but didn't care and just walked through. If he didn't notice me, he's probably a rarity amongst the crowds of Chandni Chowk.

The bottom photograph is of the "Don't Photograph" fellow. The man had absolutely nothing to do with Khari Baoli, but thought he had authority of telling me not to photograph. I get this type of people quite often...and I tell them quite firmly they ought to move on and find something better to do. He must have been a retired police officer who missed his authority. He wagged his finger at me, and quickly left.

Yatin Patel: Sutra

I'm pleased to have been directed to Yatin Patel's website whose title Sutra in ancient Sanskrit translates as "a thread or line that holds elements together".

Yatin Patel is an Orlando-based photographer, internet entrepreneur and native of India, and his "Sutra" project consists of images of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat. The project uses high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, which gives photographs a distinct artistic feel.

As explained in Yatin's Wikipedia entry, he chose Ahmedabad as subject because it's a partitioned city, with ancient gated communities, small enclaves of different cultures, and lots of hidden courtyards.

Some of the "Sutra" series of prints have been printed on Japanese kozo (rice) paper, and the process is explained in a number of posts on Yatin's blog. The combination of monochrome HDR imaging and rice paper is an interesting one; the photographic style is certainly one of street photography, processed with HDR techniques and then printed on a textured medium.

The choice of Ahmedabad is an excellent one. Founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah, its architecture is a fusion of Hindu craftsmanship with Islamic architecture. I would think that Yatin will eventually do the same in Varanasi and Old Delhi, to name but two similarly compelling cities.

My thanks to Ron Mayhew, an accomplished photographer himself, who suggested Sutra to me.

The Dancer & Name Branding

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

As I've posted a few days ago, I've been fiddling with the trial version of Flare, an app that describes itself as "a fast, easy, and beautiful darkroom for your desktop".

With Flare, one can apply interesting photographic effects to photographs, and it comes with more than 20 presets. It's a matter of drag and drop...mere seconds to get the preset look one likes. The above photograph (click to enlarge) of a traditional dancer I made in Bali last year got a Flare preset treatment, which includes a grungy border.

In all candor, I am beginning to like Flare a lot. I also happen to be a fan of Lightroom's presets...and a fan of anything that reduces the time I spend in post processing images to a minimum. And if this 'anything' is simple enough for a 2 year old to master, it's a hit as far I'm concerned.

In any event, it's fun to be able to use applications such as Flare and others, accepting that these degrade the quality of the images.

But wait, didn't I title this post to include Name Branding? This is important...If you ask any marketer how to set yourself apart from the rest, they’ll all tell you to the same thing, establish and secure your brand.

"I now have a lock on The Travel Photographer as a brand name on most popular blogs...this includes my domain brand name, my Twitter account and my Facebook page."

Keep reading and you'll see what I mean. For a couple of more examples of my photographs fiddled about with the Flare app, drop by The Travel Photographer on Tumblr. Yes, I have various blog platforms such as Posterous, Wordpress and Tumblr with The Travel Photographer brand name....and here's some useful advice: if you have a brand name (your name can be a brand name), you ought to do the same. I now have a lock on The Travel Photographer as a brand name on most popular blogs...this includes my domain brand name, my Twitter account and my Facebook page...and I'm keeping an eye out for any new ones.

As a footnote: I have no relationship whatsoever with Flare. It's just a fun application.

Rick Sammon & On-Location Portraits

Photograph © Rick Sammon-All Rights Reserved
Rick Sammon is a prolific travel photographer, author and instructor who has just written an interesting article in Layers magazine titled The Art of the On-Location Portraits.

This sentence caught my eye: "For me, the key to getting a good on-location portrait is to fall in love—photographically—with the subject. That’s exactly what I did when I saw this young woman. Out of the 50 or so people who lived in this particular village, she caught my eye immediately.

I couldn't agree more. The key to a good portrait (in fact, I'd argue it's the same whether on location or in a studio) is to establish a rapport with your subject. I've posted about this very thing in June last year in a post titled POV: Better Travel Photography . The foundation of successful environmental portraiture and ethnographic photography is the establishment of a relationship between the photographer and subjects....it's a no-brainer. When I lead my photo tours, I always sound like a broken record, and the mantra is "connect with your subject(s)...befriend them and start a conversation". Not only will the photographers make much better photographs, but they'll have background stories to go along with them. You'll be surprised at how long these memories stay with you.

So yes, absolutely...do what Rick Sammon says, fall in love photographically with your subject!!!

Via David duChemin's excellent Pixelated Image blog

Photo Submissions: Elementary Tips

Image © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A large adventure travel operator has recently requested photo submissions for its annual catalog from its approved photographers, and I thought I'd share with you how I'll go about presenting my submission.

Firstly, the client wants the initial photo submissions in low to medium resolution saved as jpgs. Once the choice has been done, submissions are to be in TIFF or PSD formats at high resolutions scans of 300 dpi. All this is pretty much standard for all photo submissions of this type.

Once I've decided on my photographs, I label each digital image with my name and an ID number. I burn these images on a DVD (or a CD for the initial submission) having grouped them in geographically-named folders (ie Bhutan, Ethiopia, etc). I also prepare a page with thumbnails of the submitted photos and burn that on the DVD or CD, along with a cover letter to the client with my address, and contact details. This too is pretty much standard.

I always use printable media (DVD or CD) and with my inkjet printer get them labeled with my name, copyright notice and client's name. I prefer DVD cases such as the one on the left, which provide more protection and are better looking than the square plastic ones. I print another sheet with the thumbnails, add my name, address, contact on the bottom and insert that in the front of the DVD case.

It presents well, and while it won't necessarily make my images stand out from the competition (I'm sure many photographers do the same or have similar ideas), it looks neat and professional. The days of scribbling on the CD and popping it in a mailer are gone!

Is Travel Photography Dying...or Dead?

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A few days ago Heather Jacobsen of hk imagery and a reader of TTP, asked me whether I thought that travel photography was dead...she had heard that statement from many in the industry, and was interested to know my view.

Well, here it is: I do not subscribe to the notion that “travel” photography is dead. It has evolved...and I mean really evolved...not a progressive kind of evolution, but it changed with a relative abruptness that left many of those unprepared gasping for air...and not only was the change sudden, but it happened dynamically.

The confluence of many factors contributed to the evolution of “travel” photography. The relatively cheap travel, the accessibility of the ‘off-the-beaten path’ places, computers, digital photography and all its hardware and software accouterments, the Internet, mini-stock agencies and free photo hosting websites, to name but a few, are all factors that changed traditional ‘travel’ photography industry.

So my response to Heather was essentially that traditional "travel" photography had evolved so much and so rapidly, that many deemed it dead. I guess the emphasis here is on 'traditional'. I also made the rather obvious point that photographers needed to acquire new skills to adapt in this new environment.

Everyone realizes that anyone with a half-decent digital camera can now produce sensational photographs of the Pyramids or Angkor Wat, but that doesn’t mean that working photographers should give up and stay home doing something else. It just means (at least to me) that photographers who travel to photograph must develop skills and abilities more akin to those of photojournalists...they need to tell stories with their photographs.

I follow the Travel section of the New York Times quite closely, and see how photographers and its photo editors are using its website to effectively showcase travel photography. I recently posted a multimedia feature (by Chris Ramirez) on Trinidad which combined photography with its food and wine industry: one of a rapidly expanding genre in the travel photography domain.

There are photographers at the top of the food chain...the members of the ‘oligopoly’… who still sell technically perfect photographs of the Pyramids, or of infinity swimming pools in the Maldives, or of coconut trees swaying in the wind...and who get handsomely paid...but even they are a dying breed and their days are numbered.

While I'm at it, let me add this about the photo tours business...and I've been saying it for years. Photographers -whether celebrity or not- who lead photo tours can no longer rest on their laurels. They too have to evolve. The days of doing the same itinerary over and over are gone...and the "hey! shoot like me!" days are also gone. Photo tour leaders have to research and offer, not only new itineraries, but guidance as to how to weave the participants' daily inventory of photographs into eventual photo stories....how to build compelling stories out of their photographs. Yes, that's right...more workshop-like than just a photo tour.

I firmly believe that the future of "travel" photography is where the photojournalists are treading...and where they’re going...and its adherents will face the same challenges photojournalists face. They’ll have to tell and sell compelling stories though their photographs, by adding creative multimedia effects and sound recordings, and become in effect almost documentary filmmakers. Some will embrace this evolution, will continue to evolve and will thrive, and others will not.

Survival of the fittest...it's that simple.

Face Alignment: Pop Photo

Guatemala- Image © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved
I didn't think I'd find an interesting article in the Popular Photography magazine but to me, this one is. It's about how to align a face in a close-up portrait. Perhaps it's more about seeing in print what I instinctively do, but nevertheless I thought it worthwhile to post on TTP, and share it.

Here's the article.

POV: Clever Framing?

Image Copyright © 2006 Oded Balilty/Associated Press - All Rights Reserved
My POV post last week on digital alteration aroused the interest of some readers of TTP who shared with me their own views. Confirming what I wrote in the post, the general consensus is that removing or adding elements from/to the photograph is considered as unacceptable.

To illustrate my point that all photographs are in some way 'fixed', I chose this photograph by Oded Balilty of The Associated Press. It won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for best Breaking News Photography, and its caption reads:

"A lone Jewish settler challenges Israeli security officers during clashes that erupted as authorities cleared the West Bank settlement of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah."

A really excellent 'decisive moment' photograph, which perfectly encapsulates the drama of the event. However, let's examine it with a more clinical eye. It appears at first glance that the woman is holding off a whole mass of security officers, but is she? Was there anyone behind her, but because of the photographer's clever framing, appears to be on her own? Is she pushing back or is she on the verge of giving up and fleeing the scene? Is she being pushed back down the slope, or is she pushing back? And all these questions...are they even relevant...or does this snapshot in time unequivocally convey the story that the photographer seeks to tell us?

Frankly, I don't know the answer. My gut tells me that the caption describing the settler as "A lone Jewish..." is editorializing. I -nor presumably anyone else but Mr. Balilty who took the photograph- can say if she's really alone or not...the frame's in-camera cropping makes it appear that she is. What I take from this photograph is that many illegal settlers were forcibly removed by the Israeli security forces, and this woman was of the many who resisted.

Is this photograph manipulated in the real sense of the word? The answer is of course not...but through camera positioning and careful framing, the photograph conveys its intended message that the woman settler was alone.

POV: Techniques

Image from A Bali Canang-Copyright 2005 Tewfic El-Sawy
On my photo expeditions, I constantly encourage my fellow photographers to vary their camera height when photographing people in particular. Changing camera height to even a small degree can result in a huge difference to the background. A low angle allows the photograph to use the sky as plain background, while a high viewpoint can provide a more interesting background. The traditional technique in photographing people is to do so at eye level, as it provides "natural looking" images...but how boring! Breaking the rules and experimenting is so much more satisfying.

In the image above, I was photographing in a 'medresa', or Islamic school, in Bali and had to crouch on the ground to capture an eye level realistic image of the students horsing around while their teacher's back was turned. As photographers, crouching down and even lying down is necessary to get realistic shots. Perhaps elementary advice, and in this case a no-brainer...but I'm always surprised at how many of us still photograph children from our high vantage point.

What The Duck