© Kavitha Subramaniam

Sitting on a fixed seat that’s perched on an elephant is all well and good, but there comes a moment when the Mowgli in you just wants to jump up and sit upfront with your legs behind its ears – wild and carefree. And boy, was it amazing! Nothing beats the feeling of Kamdi’s ears flapping against my legs as she made her way through seemingly impossible routes.
As I was taking a back seat to my friend’s adventure up front, I decided to focus on how her hands looked against Kamdi’s hard skin. It seemed to resonate with me; here is this amazingly strong creature, yet she’s so fragile. After all, we were instructing her where to go, which way to turn and when it was time to eat. When I think about it now, I do feel a little sad for Kamdi. But at that very moment, all I felt was love and respect for this beautiful creature.

© Kavitha Subramaniam

I’m just glad that Kamdi is in good hands with the lovely people at the elephant camp. It was a joy talking to her and feeding her loads of sugar cane. Just being in her presence was an experience I’ll never forget. For a short moment, we were both creatures connecting in a foreign land. I hope she felt the same way too.

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Kavitha is an amateur photographer who loves to travel and connect with the local folks.

Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redbohemia/

© Brian Parillo

It’s Sunday, nobody will care. I quickly change my lens and I feel like I’m in a race. What am racing for? Light usually and cloud positioning. These poor buildings. They must feel like I’m paparazzi when I show up because I really do want to invade them in every way. So out of my car I go as I begin staring up at these giants. It amazes me every time. I walk around them for a while and try to find something that looks different to me. Something that gives these enormous slabs of concrete a voice. I can imagine what I must look like to the average passerby.

© Brian Parillo

Lying in the middle of the street on my back or standing on some ledge must look fairly ridiculous. However, when I find a moment that truly speaks to me everything slowly goes to silent. The only thing I hear, which I ignore for as long as I can, is the security guard who is quickly walking toward me shouting “Sir, excuse me, Sir excuse me,! Excuse me!” Here’s where things get a little hairy. I’ve almost got my shot and he’s getting really close to ending this for me. I open up a little wider on my focal length, drop my camera speed one stop as the sun tucks behind a cloud, and I start shuttering away. “Excuse me Sir”, I hear again for the last time as I pull my camera down from my face. “Hi,” I say as politely as possible. “You can’t take pictures here,” he says as I ponder the idea of that phrase being my epitaph. “Oh you can’t?” “Okay sorry, take care.”

© Brian Parillo

As I get in my car I quickly review my shots. No, no , no, no, no, maybe, maybe, possibly but the light is a little to hot on the top portion of the far building in this shot. I may be able to save it in post. I start my car and off to the next location. I’ve always felt like some refugee on the run while stalking these buildings. It feels a bit sin city like down here and I’m enjoying every minute of it.

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I’ve been shooting architecture for quite a few years now. I choose to shoot in black and white mainly because it extenuates the lines of a building and because it separates the elements of the photograph resulting in a more clean and efficient look. It also creates a feeling as if you’re being dropped into a mysterious abstract world. I see integrity, elegance, strength and vulnerability in black and whites and I try to carry those emotions into my shots as well.

Website: www.brianparillophotography.com

© David Julian

On this Sep­tember morning, there were probably forty people within a hundred feet of me near the base of the ever- popular Haystack rock, so I chose to move in closer to nature and leave the people out of frame. It’s easy to reach these multi- hued Ochre Sea Stars at low tides, but a challenge to find an unpop­ulated com­po­sition that really comes to life. I wanted to show the habitat more than to focus in on the animals them­selves, which I would make detailed por­traits of later. I also made a gallant effort not to step on the anemones, mussels and tiny crabs covering the area. I must have looked like a strange clown balance- stepping toe- to- toe with the extended tripod legs held high over my head.

Once I found the perfect com­po­sition, I mounted my SLR and a Canon 17- 40mm wide zoom, com­posing half my frame with the starfish grouping and half with the landscape and shoreline. The warm morning sun lit my fore­ground perfectly. Timing was important as incoming tidal waves swirled in and around my sinking tripod legs at staggered intervals, causing a shift in its position. I stopped my lens down to f16 so I would have a sharp enough back­ground to show the nur­turing sea and landscape’s details. A slow exposure allowed me to soften the receding waters leaving a reflected sky. The result was a pleasing description of animals in their environment.

But I was not finished telling the story of this amazing place, because it is acces­si­bility that allows us to see the colorful creatures of this envi­ronment and make our con­nection to them. My next task was to show the starfish and the people in an imag­i­native way. I put my camera in my bag and strolled along the tide pools noting how people viewed the uniquely accessible offerings of undersea nature in their path.

© David Julian

Once I had a feel for their behavior, I set out to reverse the typical pho­tograph of people watching nature. Instead, I put my camera’s point of view as close to the starfish as possible, and let the people become the back­ground. This technique worked per­fectly, and put the emphasis on the natural history of this location rather than our occu­pation of it.

Next time you are out in the world shooting nature, macros landscapes, try an exercise of thinking of the idea or story before the compositions, and you will be more deeply linked to your subject. From there, I believe your perspective and compositions will reveal themselves naturally.

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Photographer/Educator David Julian teaches creative workshops across the US, and offers screen-shared online custom learning.

Website: http://davidjulian.com

© Colin Gallagher

The road into the valley looked pretty well-plowed, which worried me. I wanted fresh snow. Untouched. My fears were soon dispersed as we made a right onto a side road and clearly left our mark as the first ones there since the snowfall. A mile drive through snow drifts and sagging, snow-laden evergreens later, we pulled off next to a bridge. Strapping on the boots, I headed out into the woods towards the lovely stream cutting through it. The first few shots were nice, and served their purpose in getting my juices (and warm blood) flowing as I stepped carefully from rock to rock, trying to get a shot down the stream towards the bridge. The game of cat and mouse with the sun was growing frustrating, the dark midday shadows cutting harsh lines through most of my pictures.

Enter Solstice, my friend’s adorable dog.

Crashing through the trees off the right side of my shot, a few of the smaller, bare trees brushed up against the evergreens towering over them, sending dusty snow sprinkling down through the sunlight. And just then, a breeze blew through. From the very tops of the pines, snow crystals began raining down all around me. The light from the sun softened, glittering as the cloud of snow diffused the harsh rays. I stood there, mesmerized for a moment while I got a second helping of falling snow in my own little part of Poe Valley. Then I remembered something…

Push the button, Colin.

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Colin is a 27-year-old Bellefonte photographer from Pennsylvania. His uncanny ability to completely destroy any piece of lighting equipment that he touches continually drives him outdoors to capture the breathtaking scenes Mother Nature has to offer.

Website: http://colintgallagher.com

Now about this person, it would be very unfair to say that he is doing it because he can. No! He is doing it because he has to. So that he can feed his family. Employment is a major problem in India, and so people literally do/have to do anything to earn a meal. But we can clearly see that the job this person is doing is inhuman. The smallest mistake and he could get crushed under the weight. Or maybe even run-over by a car.

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Dipayan Bhattacharjee is a passionate Street & Portrait Photographer who loves to show posed beauty as well as candid truth.

Website: http://50mmstreettog.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xedmundian

© Nick Fancher

The other important element in this shoot was the location. It was shot at the historic Milo Arts center in Columbus, Ohio. I had been given a tour of the place a few months prior, and noticed the amazing attic. It was over one hundred years old, and looked untouched. So when I was planning the location of my shoot with Abigail, I thought her timeless look would fit well in that old space. I also borrowed my friend’s tilt-shift lens to further add to the old feeling. ” – Photographer Nick Fancher

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I identified with this image because of the contrast in the composition. It has a very cool color palette, yet rather than being distant, it’s engaging. The bright white light of the window behind Abigail increases the intensity of the image. Her gaze goes from engaging to hypnotizing. As I work with Nick and document his work, I am fascinated to break down the creative process, seeing every detail he puts in place as an artist. The creative process is something that isn’t often explored, and that’s what I hope to provide with my work.

That’s why I’m currently working on a feature-length documentary that will focus on Nick and his work, as well as two other great photographers – Andria Lindquist of Seattle, WA and Kim A. Thomas of San Francisco, CA. The documentary, titled “Portrait” is now funding on Kickstarter. It will explore the question: “In the age of Instagram, what sets a professional photographer apart?”

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Andy Newman is a freelance video producer, director of photography, and editor specializing in commercial, short form documentary, fashion and modeling videography.

Website: http://portraitdocumentary.com

This was an image that won me a Bronze Bar from The Guild of Photographers recently.

The building in the background is the historic Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, in the center of my hometown, York, which dates from 1357 and is a popular location for wedding ceremonies in the city. York is a very photogenic city generally, with many wonderful locations to photograph bride and grooms!

I positioned the couple on the left-hand third of the frame and then did a test shot for the ambient light, which at this point was fast disappearing. The ironic thing about shooting at dusk, is that if you want to capture the lighting that you see in front of you, you need to underexpose. This is because the sensor does its best to render everything it sees in front of it as if it was shot at two in the afternoon. I then used the pop up flash on my Canon 60D to trigger the Speedlite that Barry was holding, pointing into the umbrella at camera left. The pop up flash was used as a trigger only, and did not throw any light onto the scene. The Speedlite did a fantastic job of rendering Katy’s dress and didn’t need any compensation.

The image looked good straight out of the camera, but I took it a little further in Lightroom. I decided to darken down the background some more, so used the adjustment brush to reduce the exposure of pretty much everything except the couple and a patch of  lawn in front of them. Then there was just a trip into Photoshop to clone out an intrusive sign that was sticking out of the lawn to their right, and that was job done.

Vital statistics: Camera: Canon 60D with 17-55mm F2.8 lens, Canon 580EX Speedlite, manual exposure, F3.5, 1/100 sec, 1250 ISO, evaluative metering.

David Bellis is a professional portrait and wedding photographer in York, UK, a historic and photogenic city.

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Website: http://www.bellisweddingphoto.com/

So how do you go about photographing an event like this, without intruding on their religious beliefs and not offending anyone? It’s a tall order to be respectful and yet get some great images.  Also how do you prepare for seeing the extreme piercing that is before your eyes?  I said to myself I had to look for photographs that were bold, clean and accurate in photographing the persons piercing, and then move on to the next person after you had hopefully got the shot.  I only really started to see the extreme piercing I had photographed in detail when I got home and was reviewing the photographs, and then you see the detail in the photos. It was useless trying to edit them on the fly at the event, reasons: – too many people around you, too bright even in the shade to see the screen on the back of the camera, it was very busy, so you did not have time to review any shots on the two days.

My worries were unfounded, as when I went towards the two Indian Temples where all the ceremonies’ etc were taking place and there were many thousands of people all around, a lot of them were taking part, being cleansed with the milk etc.

The down and up side to the large crowds at this event, on the downside you missed images because of someone getting in your way or quite simply you could not get the angle you wanted, and on the upside you were invisible, you could get your shot and disappear, sometimes without any one knowing you had been there.  Also a smile and a simple “thank you” went a long way, if they did notice you, no one objected to being photographed, as there were a lot of people with camera phones and had being photographed along the route many times.

Using the crowds as cover it is quite obvious when a “devotee” was approaching, so you had to look for a space in the crowds where you could slip in and get the shot.  However walking the route I found there was a policeman on a corner where they came off the main road and towards the temple, he was very good at crowd control all on his own (his assistant was not so good), he kept the spectators away from the devotees (to give them respect as they need space with what they are doing), this meant that I had space between me and the subject to get the shot as I followed them up the short path to the temple.

Some the people were just walking too fast, and as they approached me quite quickly, directly after photographing another devotee, I had little time to compose the shot, and untimely I had to let the shot go, which was a shame, but with so many people doing this, it was not long before the next one was going to come by you.

At this corner they often stopped, did a dance or a mini break before the final walk 200-300m before the long climb up the stairs to the final prayers at the top.  The other thing in my favor was a barrier that tried to keep the people moving in one direction either side e.g. left side up and right side down.  You have to use everything to your advantage and if someone look badly at you, or you just bump into them, just smile and say sorry, sounds to good to be true, but I did not cross words with anyone during the whole two days.

The temperature was around 35 deg C and most of the route was in the sunshine, so it was hot for all, between photographs you did try and find a little shade from the searing sun, and yes I did go through a lot of water (4 litres when at the festival and lots more when I got home).

Now for the coconut smashing, this was a little different, it was more of a party atmosphere there, as the road/path that the silver chariot was going pass on needed to be cleansed with coconut milk, it’s a serious event, but with a fun side to it.  However you had to dodge coconuts coming towards you as they were smashed to the ground and splitting open, and the pieces went flying, I had many hit my shins and feet.  Also the other thing you need to watch is the milk from the coconut, and it splashing all around you, hitting you and the camera lens, I was often had milk hit the lens, so frequent cleaning was the order of the day.  However I was told that being splashed by the milk brought you good fortune, so I did not mind.

As these coconut smashing sessions were in small batches of around 100-200 meters long, you could photograph one and then wait for the next one to start, so you can correct your mistakes as you go, again, no one stopped me taking any photographs, you had to dodge some traffic on the other side of the road sometimes, but it was slow moving, so that was OK.  When photographing a crowd of people smashing the coconuts, it was good to let the camera be on continuous shooting, at what ever max frames per second it would allow, and then edit afterwards, as trying to time the shots, was near impossible as I started out like that, trying to photograph a person in full throw, so I gave up and photographed either the crowd or a particular person in the crowd smashing the coconuts, and then let the camera do its work at 3-5 frames per second and then review when you get home. I got some of my best shots this way along with some sequences of the coconuts being smashed along with the blurs of the milk splashes from the ground.

Prior to the event I had contacted a news syndication agency and to see of they could sell any of these photographs to newspapers and magazines, they knew the shots were coming and currently I have 32 images up on their servers, this is hard to edit down from 1400 over the 2 days, I sent them around 90 in total and they did a final edit for me, as they know what might sell to these outlets.  All the photographs were shot on a Nikon D90, with 28-200 VR2 lens.  For more info on the actual event: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam

Michael Crawford-Hick photography is an eclectic mix of all things water related e.g. sailing, windsurfing, powerboats, as well as abstracts of waves, reflections, beaches, sunset.

Links:

Websites: Images From Around the World, Prints by Post
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mchphoto
Blog: http://mchphoto2011.wordpress.com

Rick Sammon famously talks about Exploring the Light and has a great book to prove it, but here it’s all about chasing the light. The skies can be grey for days on end, windy and rainy and all this can play havoc with your shooting schedule.  When you plan for a landscape shoot of a mountain vista looking out over the sea, inevitably the sky turns a blanket of blown out grey, blurring the horizon with the sea.  Granted some cloudy days can prove very picturesque, but you need definition in the sky for that to work.  You need to be able to bring out the contrasting shades of grey.  The old black glass or ND filter can help, but sometimes you just have to pack it in.  On other days you’re set for a macro shoot of the botanical gardens just as the southerly winds from Antarctica pick up and make shooting close-ups near impossible.  What is the frustrated photographer to do?  Well, one goes to the hardware store and buys a sheet of Perspex of course; wraps it around to create a cylinder and melds the edges together.  Now place that over the flower or other subject matter and wallah, no more wind interfering with my shooting.  Working in variable elements requires myriad techniques.  I have learned this nowhere more so than New Zealand.

Fairly recently I was sent to a beach just north of the country’s biggest city Auckland to do some fine art shots at low tide.  The plan was to use the images in an advertising blitz for the summer holidays.  Summer is just coming to an end here.  I had dedicated two full days to the shoot and closely monitored the weather forecast – it’s so changeable.  All looked good, my plan was to utilize golden hour, just before sunset,  as this time of day works perfectly at the beach.  I had some compositions in mind and set off on the hour long drive with my trusty assistant.  By the time we arrived at the beach a weather front had rolled in and the whole scene was grey and washed out.  Not deterred, we wandered about the beach looking for good vantage points and planned the shoot for the following day.  Patience is probably a photographers best asset.

Next morning the wind had picked up and the grey remained.  Disappointed, but not defeated we decided to forget the beach and instead headed off for a nearby temperate rainforest.  Shooting in a forest on a dull day can be very rewarding.  The light is even and there are no harsh bright spots clashing with the blacks.  We weren’t there long, when this amazing Tibouchina bud came to our attention.  There were a number of them, but this one looked incredible.  Now to get the shot.  The wind made shooting macro a little trying, especially as I was hand-holding the camera, but after just three shots I had captured it just as I perceived it.  The bud as it is about to flower looks like something out of that scary 1950s novel by John Wyndham The Day of the Triffids.  A few other nice macros were also taken that day, just to prove that when the light and/or weather isn’t behaving look elsewhere, try to match the conditions and never give up.  There is always something you can shoot.

Oh and btw, I finally managed to capture that beach shot.  I decided on a storytelling composition that has a foreground, middle and distant horizon that are all in focus.  I love to use this technique on landscapes and you can achieve this simply by focusing a third of the way in on your scene.  Here I shot with a focal length of 30mm at an aperture of f/16 which gave me an awesome amount of depth of field.  By using the small aperture with a wide angle focal length you can create images that have continuity, images that essentially have the potential to lead the eye all the way into the scene.

Susan Blick is the founder of Photoopolis and an Australian freelance photographer in Auckland, New Zealand.

Links:

Website: www.photoopolis.com
Twitter: @photoopolis

Over the years, I have anticipated their seasonal arrival, and with camera in hand, I begin taking advantage of some great photo opportunities. The first time I attempted to photograph hummingbirds, I was not pleased with the results. My images were not in focus, and often times came out grainy and overexposed. Learning from these photos, a different approach was used in an attempt to improve the image quality.

After reviewing my errors, it was determined that first off, I was in a rush; I did not take the time needed to properly dial my camera into the environment I was shooting in. Secondly, I used the wrong lens for the situation. A super zoom lens was used and I did not need to employ such a lens for the situation. Based on these mistakes, I wanted redemption, and would not be denied.

On an early Saturday morning, I set up my camera near the hummingbird feeder and proceeded to patiently wait for these fast flyers to start their morning feeding frenzy. Surprisingly I waited almost an hour for some action and when the birds started to feed, they noticed my presence. Every time I would move to focus on the subjects, they would immediately fly away. To capture the images I literally had to be in position and motionless to snap the images. Over the coarse of the morning, the hummingbirds became more comfortable with my presence and even began to land on some of the existing vegetation’s we had planted in years prior to clean themselves. Although I was able to capture some nice images with their long tongues out, my position had some obstructions in place that took away from those photos. My advice when trying to photograph hummingbirds is simple. Patience and time, Allow them to become comfortable with your presence. Doing so will benefit you greatly.

The shots: Canon camera and Tamron lens combination. 270mm focal length with an aperture of f-8. ISO setting at 400 with a shutter speed of 1/500 to 1/800 of a second.

Michael Sargent is a top wildlife outdoor photographer in the eastern United States. See more:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/M.SargentPhotography
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/msargentphoto
Blog: http://msargentphotography.wordpress.com