Impressions of Laos & Vietnam

Our latest travel photography tour, Impressions of Laos & Vietnam, has just been launched!

This exclusive tour will take in the best of Northern Laos and Northern Vietnam. Concentrating on people and culture, we will visit the historic town of Luang Prabang in Laos, and some of the incredible hilltribe markets of SaPa in Vietnam.

Natural beauty won’t be overlooked either: we will also visit the stunning scenery around Vang Vieng in Laos and the incomparable Halong Bay in Vietnam, where an overnight boat trip will make sure that we see this natural phenomenon in some of the best light.

The final dates are still to be confirmed, but as there has already been a lot of interest, we wanted to let everyone know as soon as possible.

The tour departs Bangkok on the 21 November, and finishes after 15 packed days in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on the 5 December. All land arrangements are provided by Intrepid Travel, and the cost excluding international flights is £1795.

I will accompany the trip supplying a unique blend of inspiration and photography tuition.

There are more details about this tour on http://www.bettertravelphotography.com/phototours/laosvietnam

Caribbean Tourism Organisation Travel Journalism Awards

Have just won the Best Piece of Photojournalism Award at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation Travel Journalism Awards for a story I shot last year in Montserrat in the Caribbean. This was announced at the World Travel Market on Monday.

It was a damn hard shoot – not enough days and almost half the island is in an exclusion zone due to the active Soufrière Hills volcano which dominates the island.

There is an extended gallery of images here.

Travel photography for DP Review

Just started writing on travel photography for DP Review – the preeminent website on digital imaging. Somewhat of a bear-pit to enter into, with notoriously aggressive forums and comments, but a great place to be seen!

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/5965777714/introduction-to-travel-photography

Images from Morocco

Kasbah of Ait Benhaddhou

Am off to Morocco on Saturday for two weeks, leading the Impressions of Morocco 2011 tour.

Morocco is a great destination, and we visit many of the most spectacular and evocative places. These include Casablanca, Meknes, Moulay Idriss, Fes, Todra and Dades Gorges, Ait Benhaddhou, the Sahara Desert, Imlil and Marrakech.

There is a gallery of images from previous trips here.

Impressions of Ladakh 2011

Images from my recent trip to the literally breathtaking high altitude region of Ladakh in India, including pictures from the incredible Korzok Gustor festival at the remote Tso Moriri Lake. This festival included releasing the monastery yak in the middle of the courtyard!

The feeling in Ladakh is more Tibetan than India, with ancient monasteries and giant images of the Lord Buddha. One of the things that most attracts me to this region are the people and their incredible faces.

See a full gallery of images here.

Faces of Cambodia

Cambodia is a fantastic place for photographing people. There are expressive and enigmatic faces everywhere, including carved into the ancient temples of Angkor Wat and The Bayon. After the harsh persecution during the days of the Khmer Rouge, the numbers of Buddhist monks are building up, and you can once again seen long lines of monks on their morning alms round.

These pictures were taken in a few days at the end of the Impressions of Laos & Cambodia photography tour that I lead in April 2011.

Click here to see the full gallery.

Working the crowd at the Korzok Gustor festival, Tsomoriri Lake, Ladakh

One of the great things about leading a tour, is that I actually get a few pictures taken of me for a change! This picture sums up my approach to photography, and getting close to the locals. I was somewhat offended by the way that certain other photographers (not from my tour but some Italian tour group) were treating the locals like they were in a zoo, and stealing pictures, without engaging at all.

That afternoon I went and sat with this group of Ladakhi nomad women. Not so much to take pictures, more to engage and show them that not all westerners were bloody rude. There might have been an element of getting in the way of the Italians’ photos too. Soon they were all taking pictures with my cameras (often of the people photographing them without asking) and enjoying looking at all of the pictures I was taking of the festival. This great picture, taken by one of my group, is me showing them pictures of Alexander on my compact camera! Kids really do break down all boundaries!

Picture © and courtesy Stephen T. Harrold