Getting In Amongst It! - & Tips Summary

At the end of the day, the kind of film your using, or even the kind of camera you have ( I say this slightly tongue in cheek as I shoot on Nikon F3's and F5's..) wont give you a great image.

I have been shot at while taking a photograph, thankfully the guy aimed at my head, panned across, and then pulled the trigger. It was at a PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) rally that went completely off the rails. The main event of the day was a burning of Bill Clinton's effigy, closely followed by my rescue from the throng by mounted police. And all I wanted was a shot of then Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The moral of the story is that you need to get inside the action to get the shot. That may mean standing in the middle of a road full of suicidal drivers, or going down a crevasse to the dark and mysterious inner workings of a glacier. It means leaving your comfort zone and actively seeking out images that others will never get. The great thing about doing this is not only the shot you may get, but the sometimes extra-ordinary experience entailed while seeking out that shot.

In 2001, just days before 9/11, I read in a newspaper in Islamabad that Yasser Arafat was coming to town for a 1 day visit. I made it my mission that day to just get a close up shot of him. Before the day was out, I had driven in his Presidential Motorcade, met him and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar of Pakistan, and had a quick cup of tea with him in his private Falcon jet. It remains one of the most extra-ordinary and unexpected days of my life.

Go seek, and you shall be rewarded - perhaps in more ways than just the great image!

Mountain Photo Tips – Summary

1. Highest aperture settings will give you great sharpness and great depth of field (foreground subjects remain in focus while infinity (long distance) subjects also remain in focus.

2. Use kodachrome 25 film for good grain and nice textures in browns and rock; use Fugi Velvia for sunsets, close life, and deep blue skies.

3. Shoot during the "Magical Hours" an hour before and after the sun sets and rises.

4. Always use an ND filter if your frame has a split between high and low levels of light and you need to keep the shadows balanced.

5. Use a polarizer if shooting during the glare of the midday sun, but turn it back 20% from full effect (you can see the maximum effect when you rotate it through your lens), and keep the sun to your back and as low in the sky as possible. It is almost impossible to take a good day shot looking into the sun.

6. Clean your lenses regularly - Himalayan trails are dusty.

7. Interrupt people lives and tell them you want their photo - it could be a traffic cop in a busy intersection or a guy weaving a cane box in a village - don’t promise a copy unless you absolutely know you can and will send them the image.

8. Stretch the truth to get into place - the only reason I rode with Yasser's bodyguards that day was that I told them I was on assignment for a major international magazine, after a quick Interpol check, and much haranguing on my behalf, (and much to my amazement), off we went.

9. Dedicate time to your photography: You will need to think about what you’re doing, a lot. You will likely be slowest on the trail, and should miss most evening meals, because eating a hot meal is not important, but getting that image is.

10. Learn from your mistakes: Keep a log of shutter speeds and apertures when shooting sets of images, your prime images will tell you what is working and what isn’t.

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