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

Guardian Online – How to take Great Photos

Feature on the Guardian Online website to promote the tours and courses.Took the format of six top tips, including one to big up the new Nikon 5100 camera that offers on board image processing – including the selective toning shown here.

The camera really does work very well, and can even do selective toning ‘live’ on a movie, all in camera. Would have made Speilberg’s job on Schindler’s List a lot easier! Don’t think that my suggestion that you have to shoot 99 normal pictures for each selective toned one will make it into future cameras with this feature though!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/aug/23/photography

Impressions of Kerala 2012 tour launched

Our first travel photography tour for 2012, Impressions of Kerala, is launched today. Departing from Kochi (Cochin) on the 28 January 2012 for 14 days. We will visit some of the highlights of this exotic region of India and our trip is timed to include a temple festival, where richly caparisoned elephants are paraded and religious Kathakali dancing is performed. We also visit the Periyar National Park and the tea plantations at Munnar.

This Kerala travel photography tour is designed and lead by Steve Davey, with land arrangements by Intrepid Travel!

More information here.

Take Better Travel Photos magazine

Take Better Travel Photos, the new occasional travel photography magazine from the Wanderlust stable has just been released. I am the Consulting Editor and a major contributor. Shame is that they are only planning on doing one or two a year, depending on sales, so not in line for a day job, or a flashy office just yet! Still, it’s a damn good read, even if I say so myself.

Available at WH Smiths for £4.50.

A few spreads on this link.

Lao New Year at Luang Prabang

A few images from Lao New Year at Luang Prabang, taken on the Impressions of Laos & Cambodia photography tour this April. A great party and tremendous – if not a little wet – fun! The perfect time to be in Luang Prabang and proof that cracked ribs and a smashed D3x won’t hold me back!

See the full gallery of images here.

Wanderlust Magazine Redesign

Wanderlust Magazine has recently undergone a major redesign – and is now much younger and fresher in feel. I am still writing a regular photography feature for them, and also contributing a range of images. Flicking through the last three issues I am pretty happy with what they have done with my stuff.

You can have a look for yourself here.