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Travel photography is one of the best pastimes you can invest in. An image can capture the tastes, smells and sights of a place. Having traveled extensively around the world with my cameras the following tips in order of importance, are the ones that will have the most impact on your imagery and personal enjoyment.   TRAVEL LIGHT - Under no circumstances should you underestimate the importance of this tip. As photographers we are all obsessed with gadgets, and most of us have too many of them. Essential items that were bought on a whim only to languish unused in the deepest recesses...


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Everyone needs something to aspire to, a goal a nirvana, a personal or professional Pinnacle of achievement. In short something to aim for. For me personally it was always a Hasselblad. Considered by many to be the best camera in the world, the ultimate in image quality - they took one to the moon dammit (or to a sound stage in West Hollywood depending on your conspiracy theory appetite). All through 2010 I was setting myself little personal goals in my head, if I can get this publication, if I can land this gig, If I can sell this many prints - I would pull the trigger jump in with both feet and buy a Hasselblad...


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  I've been asked extensively about this image over the last few weeks and it has garnered quite a lot of International attention since being shortlisted in the Hamdan International Photography Award in March 2013. If you have a love of photography you really should check out what is going on over at www.hipa.ae they are doing some great work bringing photography to the forefront of the regions art scene, and from a competition standpoint the quality of work is simply outstanding. Over 168,000 entries were received from over 120 countries, and to have one of my images shortlisted in this...


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Shortly after arriving back from India the kind people at Gulf Photo Plus called to let me know that my Fuji X100s had arrived and was waiting for collection. This was a full month earlier than expected so hat's off to them for managing to get the first shipments to the UAE. I had been looking forward to Fuji making this camera ever since I got my hands on the X100 a brief two years ago. Any one that has owned or used the X100 will know that while a little frustrating at times, is capable of producing some great images if you put in the time to learn it's unique charm. The x100 has been my, and I dare...


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Traveling across Allahabad every day for the last seven by the only mode of transport here - rickshaw has taken it's toll. Any extra padding I may of had in my buttocks when I arrived has truly gone, well maybe just moved around the sides a bit, either way I was looking forward to the last ride for a while in my pedal powered wooden cart. My travel partner and fellow photographer for the journey had it even worse as he seemed to have drawn the short straw most days in the "who gets to ride shotgun with the lighting pack and the 3' Profoto Octa on a stick"! To say this spectacle drew some...


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After a few days of finding our bearings and avoiding Amebic Dysentry, Allahabad was starting to make a bit more sense. It's hard to imagine any other developed area on the planet that could cope with 40-60 million souls passing through and camping out over a five week period. Yet Allahabad still seemed to function. Shops weren't being burnt down, riots were not in the streets and aside for an unfortunate stampede at a train station a few weeks before hand - 2013's Kumbh Mela had operated like a slickly oiled machine. Having spent a few days here now I would suggest that the aforementioned stampede...


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After a great flight to India courtesy of Fly Dubai, we emerged from the airport at around 1am. The usual Indian chaos ensued at passport control. You really do just have to smile and go with it in this country. A car and driver was soon sourced for the five hour drive from Lucknow to Allahabad for the princely sum of USD 40.00. Not sure there are many places left in the world where you can take five hour cab ride for 40 bucks........ When the driver pulled up in his "car" we realised we probably over paid :-) All the gear seemed to disappear into the boot and we wanted to be on the banks of the Ganges...


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Those of you that know me are fully aware ( I do tend to go on about it a bit) that my favorite piece of lighting equipment in the world is Profoto’s Acute B2. I first discovered Profoto about 3 years ago when looking to improve my quality of light and move away from speed lights. For me, having half a dozen speed lights strapped to a stick, along with managing 24 AA batteries plus spares always seemed a bit problematic, and so was looking for a solution. The solutions came in several shapes and sizes. The first of which was a Profoto D1 500 kit and a Batpack which gave amazing light quality...


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Having in the past purchased and owned more tripods than I care to mention,  the two main reasons for me not having one when I really needed one on a shoot have always been weight or it just wouldn't fit in the kit bag without one of those strappy external cup holder arrangements which I hate with a vengeance – in fact anything with straps and buckles is a no no for me, my brain will not compute and allow me to operate them, same goes for camera straps, adjustable shoulder straps on bags – they either stay as they are or I get someone to adjust it for me. The thought of having to readjust...


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This weekend has been an interesting one. Sami from Advanced Media www.amt.tv in Dubai had been kind enough to loan me Sony’s new flagship full frame DSLR, and boy was I excited to get my hands on it…! To say I am a Sony fanboy would be a bit of an understatement – I loved the A700 when it first came out back in 2007/8 and quickly added an A900 and A850 to my personal camera stable and have been using them continuously. Apart from the crisp clean files they produced I was a huge fan of the old school mechanical design handed down from Minolta – they felt like proper camera’s. Added...


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