Gavin Gough Photography

The Ladies of Dansai II

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-09-05T21:35:26+07:00

I’m waving you off towards the potentially boundless delights that exist on a Friday night as a whole weekend stretches out before you with another picture of one of the delightful Dansai ladies.

She was a real gem and I’m pleased that I caught her terrific smile. Indeed, all of the Dansai ladies were great fun and I have two more shots that are becoming favourites so I’ll post those in the course of next week.

In the mean time, have a great weekend.

Photoshop CS4 released on September 23rd

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-09-03T19:38:07+07:00

The British Journal of Photography is reporting that Adobe plan to release the CS4 version of Photoshop at Cologne’s Photokina trade fair on September 23rd.

Whilst we don’t yet know what new tricks CS4 will have up its sleeve, you might want to cast your eyes down this list to see what popular requests Photoshop users have been making.

My personal favourites are:

#452 The world is global now. Please fix your pricing. Thank you.

#400 Make my 2009 Photoshop faster than Photoshop 3.5.

#419 Remember when your applications were lightning fast? I miss that.

#516 Please stop forcing your PDF plug-ins into every orifice of OS X. Apple designed Preview for a reason. [expletive deleted] deal with it.

Whilst we might enjoy moaning about Photoshop and the uninvited extras that Adobe insist upon installing (Adobe Updater anyone?), we should probably remember that it’s been a killer app as far as digital photo manipulation is concerned. Where would we be now without layers and masks? Well, we’d be in Lightroom probably but you know what I’m saying.

Talking of Lightroom, I’m guessing that a Photoshop upgrade is less important to working photographers that it might have been just a couple of years ago. I know that Photoshop accounts for only about 5% of my workflow time now with Lightroom carrying the bulk of the burden. And just to round up that thought, I use Expression Media for my cataloguing needs as Lightroom, whatever else it may do, still isn’t a fully-featured DAM (Digital Asset management) application.

So, there’s much to look forward to at Photokina. News of what will be included in CS4 together with the long-awaited replacement to Canon’s 5D. Expectations of both will be high although rumours of the introduction of an “un-suck” filter in Photoshop are, sadly, unfounded.

The Ladies of Dansai

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-09-03T12:17:22+07:00

Moving from talk of civil unrest and tasteless fashion magazine articles to something much more appealing this morning: The Ladies of Dansai.

I’d love to know what the joke was. These ladies were perched on the steps of the main temple in Dansai in northern Thailand during the Phi Ta Khon festival. Their gossip was much more appealing than the festivities going on around them and once they’d kicked off their shoes it was clear that they weren’t going to move until they’d finished catching up with all the local news and intrigue.

When they did finally get up it was to join in with the dancing around the temple, something that they took very seriously.

Bangkok under "State of Emergency"

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-09-02T13:17:05+07:00

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has declared a State of Emergency in Bangkok after violent clashes between pro and anti-Government protesters last night.

Labour unions are threatening strikes from Wednesday 3rd, which will see transportation links drastically reduced. Thai Airways are suggesting that there will be delays to international flights and anti-Government PAD demonstrators are reportedly blocking access to Bangkok’s international airport and a number of provincial airports. There’s also a threat of limited interruptions to water and power supplies.

It’s not like Basingstoke is it?

Vogue India publish tasteless photo spread

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-09-02T11:35:37+07:00

There's no such thing as bad publicity they say. If that’s true then the publishers of India Vogue must be delighted with the reception that their latest edition is receiving around the world.

Vogue have published a 16-page photo spread featuring luxury designer clothing items, modelled not by the skinny models that we’re used to seeing in such magazines but by relatively very poor local people.

In this picture a toothless woman is seen walking along a street or perhaps through a market carrying a baby who’s wearing a $100 bib by Fendi. In another shot an equally toothless man holds a $200 Burberry umbrella whilst in a third picture a woman on a motorbike has a $10,000 Hermès bag on her wrist.

Unsurprisingly, the article has met with some very negative publicity. It’s not quite on a par with Benetton using a picture of a dying Aids patient to sell jumpers but it’s certainly in the same ball park.

You could argue that it’s preferable to see real people in magazines rather than size-zero models and I have some sympathy with that view. You could also ask why shouldn’t ordinary people be free to walk around with designer goods and I’d say that I think they should be able to if that’s they really want. The point though is this: it’s not only distasteful it’s vulgar. I honestly don’t know where to begin.

It’s clearly taking advantage of people for whom a Hermès bag is unlikely ever to be a necessity. With images from flood-struck Bihar playing on the TV as I type this, it seems unbelievable to think that at some point a person, the picture editor at Vogue I assume, who we might suspect of possessing a modicum of intelligence, would have seen the pitch for the photo shoot and declared “Yes, poor people in designer clothes, it’s a sure-fire winner”.

I’m watching images of people fighting to get into a rubber dinghy in Bihar. They’ve been stranded for a week with little in the way of shelter and barely enough food. The dinghy is dangerously over-loaded as people grapple to get off their shrinking island. There’s not a Burberry umbrella in sight.

I just hope that Vogue is encouraging its designer label advertisers to support disaster relief efforts in Bihar. Indeed, I hope it’s insisting upon it. I’d really like to see pictures in the next edition of Vogue India showing representatives from Hermès, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and all those other designers that were featured in the spread paddling canoes filled with building materials, medical equipment and food supplies into Bihar. How refreshing it would be to see these designers showing an understanding of what life is really like for the majority of people in India rather than using them as conveniently colourful clothes-horses.

The New York Times reports that 456 million Indians live on less than $1.25 a day. Could there be anything more ignorant and arrogant than showing a man in that kind of situation holding a Burberry umbrella?

I’ll stop there because I fear that I’m really going to go off on one and there’s a chance that I may be spoiling my chances of being commissioned by Vogue.

I notice that my friend Tewfic has also posted about the same Vogue feature on his blog where he calls the editors of Vogue India “mindless twits”. As ever, Tewfic is the master of the understated phrase.

September's Free Desktop Wallpaper

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-09-02T00:47:19+07:00

My free desktop wallpaper for September shows the Bahá'í Lotus temple in New Delhi, India.

The temple is one of the most impressive structures I’ve ever seen and no trip to New Delhi would be complete without paying it a visit. It’s constructed from 27 free-standing marble “petals” and has an interior that really makes you catch your breath when you enter. It’s wildly impressive.

Considering that India is a country where Gods number literally into the millions it’s perhaps no surprise that local Hindus were reportedly baffled when the Lotus Temple was first opened as they couldn’t find a deity to be worshipped.

Bahá'íism is a faith that declares that there is a unity between the world’s religions. It links Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad with other religious messengers and emphasises the unity between all humankind.

There! Don’t say I never teach you anything.

Getting a shot of the temple at sunset like this was actually quite tricky. The temple grounds close before sunset and although you can see it from the road I don’t recall being able to get this straight-on perspective of it from outside the main grounds.

So when the security men were ushering out the last visitors I had to try and grab what shots I could. It was a little frustrating to see the temple in the very best light of the day whilst being politely but firmly shooed out by the security men.

Taking a detour around a flower bed enabled me to escape them for just long enough to rest my camera on a fence post and to get this shot in the dying light but when they spied me we did our very own little Benny Hill routine where they chased me in circles around the garden. Well, that’s not strictly true but it was an image that came to my mind at the time.

Click the picture above or follow this link to see the different desktop wallpaper resolutions available.

Bangkok Photo Walk - The Winner!

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-28T11:25:51+07:00

It’s customary for judges to say things like “it was a really tough decision” and “all the entries were of a very high standard” before announcing the winner of a competition but in the case of the Bangkok Photo Walk pictures I promise you both things are absolutely true.

However, this image by Songvut Kositarut stood out. If photography is about the language of light then this image speaks fluently. The late-afternoon light is gorgeous and it’s made all the more appealing by shining upon a door with such warm, brown tones. Miss Dao is, of course, a very attractive subject and I really like the way she’s looking out of the frame, obviously distracted by something. The inclusion of a camera makes it the perfect depiction of our Photo Walk for me. Songvut has chosen to place her towards the edge of the frame, which I think is a composition that works perfectly in this situation.

So congratulations to Songvut who says of his winning photo “If I walk past this kind of light without taking a photo I am committing a huge sin”. Enjoy Songvut’s other photos on his web site.

I have also put together a slideshow of some of my favourite images.

VIEW SLIDESHOW

Whilst there are no prizes for second and third place, I feel that I’d like to draw your attention to these two images, which I also think are really excellent.

Had there been a prize for a panel of photographs then Xmee would undoubtedly have won. His images are so fresh and dynamic and his terrific web site is one that I’ll be regularly checking in the future.

Taken by “monitor_oat”. check out his Flickr page.

So, that probably wraps it up for the Bangkok Photo Walk for this year. I’ll post news of the overall winners as Scott Kelby announces them. Thanks to those who took part and especially to those who posted their photos. We have almost 400 on our Flickr group, not bad for two hours’ work.

Cheers!

Whilst you're waiting for the winner

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-27T17:34:18+07:00

I know, I know. You’re waiting to find out which was the winning image from the Bangkok Photo Walk. Well, my friends, the decision has been made and the result will appear exclusively on this blog within the next twelve hours. The wait is nearly over.

For now, all I can reveal is that I’m confident you will love the winning image as much as I do.

Whilst you’re waiting, let me tease you further with these two bits of very good news concerning my friends Matt Brandon and David duChemin, both of whom led photo walks last week too.

Matt’s book featuring his photographs of Kashmir is now available on Amazon. Matt lived in Kashmir for a long time and he’s a photographer who produces travel images that charm and delight.

“How charming and how delightful are his pictures?”, I hear you ask. Well, I keep just 12 small thumbnails images in my diary of my all-time favourite travel photographs to look at whenever I need instant inspiration and one of them is Matt’s. His stuff is that good.

So, go check out “Kashmir: The Mystery”. Better still, treat yourself to a copy. You’re worth it. No, really, you are.

Meanwhile, David is picking up the Guest Blog spot over at scottkelby.com today. David has never knowingly said anything that didn’t make perfect sense and whilst the world and his wife will offer their opinion on how to take great photos, David will help you understand why.

Come back soon when my favourite Photo Walk images will be revealed.

Bangkok Photo Walk - The verdict

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-24T00:32:38+07:00

The Bangkok Photo Walk took place this afternoon with over fifty photographers meeting up for a sunny walk around Ratanakosin, the royal centre of Bangkok, ending up at the Arun Residence hotel bar for a drink and a chat.

We were blessed with perfect weather and it was a real treat to spend a few hours in such friendly company.

For me, the walk was a great success and judging from the amount of positive comments I received I think everyone enjoyed their afternoon.

Photos from the walk will appear in the Bangkok Photo Walk Flickr group and I will post the picture I judge to be the best here later in the week.

My friends David duChemin and Matt Brandon led the Vancouver and Penang Photo Walks respectively whilst my friend Zoe led the Portsmouth Photo Walk in England.

Over 8000 photographers participated in Photo Walks in over 250 cities around the world today and on both a local and international level it was further evidence of the great sense of community enjoyed by photographers.

To those who attended the Bangkok Photo Walk, thanks. And to those who took me at my word and bought me a beer at the end of the walk, Cheers!

Hic!

Photoshelter - Shoot! The Day. Photo Editors

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-22T01:11:50+07:00

If you can stand the agony of hearing the Deputy Photo Editor of “Travel + Leisure” magazine describing wonderful photos that she’d like to run full page without being able to see the pictures then this video contains some gems about stock photography in general and travel stock in particular.

The panel of picture editors is chaired by Rob Haggart who writes aphotoeditor.com which, if you’re looking to sell photographs to magazines, should definitely be on your daily reading list.

Bangkok Photo Walk - August 23rd

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-20T19:23:54+07:00

It looks like we could have easily filled two Bangkok Photo Walks so congratulations to those of you who registered in time to be one of the fifty official Photo Walkers. To those of you who are turning up on the day, welcome. The more, the merrier.

If you are planning to join the Bangkok Photo Walk on August 23rd but haven’t had an e-mail from me with notes about what to bring and what to expect then use the contact page to let me know your name and e-mail address and I’ll make sure you get all the relevant information.

To all Photowalkers, I look forward to meeting you on Saturday!

Bangkok Photo Walk Page
Flickr Group Page

Canon G9 discontinued - introducing the GX

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-18T20:38:17+07:00

After the success of my prediction earlier in the year about the imminent arrival of a successor to Canon’s 5D you’ll be forgiven if I find you taking this announcement with more than a pinch of salt.

However, I have it on good authority that Canon’s G9 point-and-shoot is to be discontinued and a successor will be announced in the autumn.

Probably.

The “GX” name is a figment of my imagination although I think it looks good and hope Canon go with it for the new model.

I understand that you might not have too much faith in my predictions about Canon’s new models after the 5D fiasco but take a look at the B&H web site before you curse me.

Oh, and about that 5D replacement, that’s definitely coming in the autumn along with a replacement for the 24mm TS-E lens amongst other things.

Remember, you heard it here first.

Golf courses on Annapurna?

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-18T11:03:28+07:00

Today’s Guardian reports news to bring golf courses, heli-skiing and paragliding to Nepal’s Annapurna region.

It is news that will send a shudder of disbelief through anyone who has ever been to the region.

Perhaps it is inevitable that the area, currently reachable only on foot or by air, will soon have road links that will bring thrill-seekers looking for “man-made theme parks” and “adrenaline sports like bungee-jumping and rafting” but I am not surprised that “conservationists and trekkers have reacted angrily”.

Developers agree that wildlife and plants will be destroyed, the number of trekkers will be reduced and porters and guides will lose their livelihood. The time will come, no doubt, when the gentle and hospitable people of the Annapurna and Manang regions will no longer invite trekkers inside their houses for a cup of hot, sweet Chai but will instead charge them a toll to pass through a turnstile.

I understand that you can’t stop people from wanting more and it’s all very well arriving in Nepal and declaring how quaint everything and everybody is from the comfort of a western way of life but one would hope that common-sense will prevail and that the Nepalese will appreciate what a rare, unspoiled and beautiful part of the world they are the caretakers of.

The speed at which areas like this are being lost is depressing. If you have ever considered visiting Nepal and perhaps trekking in the Annapurna region then maybe you should go now before the Pringle sweaters arrive.

Bangkok Sunset - Time Lapse Video

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-16T19:05:56+07:00

We enjoyed an impressive sunset over Bangkok this evening. I captured a short video with the time-lapse function on the Canon G9. Click the image to see the movie.

Philip Toledano - Days with my father

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-15T20:56:26+07:00

Philip Toledano’s series of photographs of his 98 year-old father are exquisite.

If you’ve ever considered taking photos of your family, not just holiday snaps or pictures on somebody’s birthday but everyday portraits that really capture the essence of a personality, then this might inspire you to get started.

Philip tells his father’s story with great tenderness and shows us wonderfully intimate images that really convey his feelings about his father.

Rather than read my waffle, click the link and go and explore the web site. Switch off the phone and the TV for a few minutes and take the time to really let yourself engage.

Benjakiti Park, Bangkok

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-14T20:35:29+07:00

I’ve been working on some High Dynamic Range images for a project this week and thought I’d share this view of the Khlong Toey buildings as seen from Benjakiti Park.

This is an image constructed from seven RAW files and I’ll drop in the technical details below for those of you who like to know these things.

Expect to see more pictures from Benjakiti Park in the future as my apartment is a short walk away (in fact it’s tucked in to the right of those four massive buildings still under construction) and the park is looking like a good location for cityscapes.

Canon EOS 1Ds MKII, 24-70mm L lens at 24mm, f/8, 1/3 sec to 20 sec’s in 1 stop increments, ISO 200

Is this the world's most dedicated gardener?

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-13T02:56:06+07:00

We all know that gardeners can be a pretty dedicated breed but I think the woman I met in the grounds of Wat Ratchabophit in Bangkok this afternoon is probably setting the gold standard.

Cutting the lawn with a pair of kitchen scissors with one hand whilst trying to fend off the monsoon rain with an umbrella held in the other hand. Now that’s dedication!

Talking of dedication, I’m a very big fan of the Zen Habits web site. If you favour a minimalist approach to life, if a clutter-free existence is your aim, if the prospect of no-nonsense productivity floats your boat then Zen Habits should be on your daily reading list. Today’s post is simply a list of five inspirational YouTube videos but the first one alone is probably enough to prompt most of us to sit back and take stock.

I’ll also include Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement speech here, if only because his first piece of advice to students seems to be that they should consider dropping out of college. Even without that rather unusual bit of career advice I am already a fan of Steve Jobs, not only because of the elegant products the man has introduced to us (think Mac, iPod, Pixar films etc.) but perhaps because he’s a success in spite of his background and not because of it.

Mastering the panning technique

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-06T12:16:52+07:00

My picture of a boy cycling, hands-free, along a street in Varanassi appears in this month’s Photo Plus ‘Inspirations” pages and is a good introduction to my top Top Ten Tips for Successful Panning:

Panning, or following a subject with your camera, is a great technique to use of you want to introduce a sense a movement into your pictures. Traditionally, a panned shot will have the subject sharply focussed whilst the background has dissolved into a blur.

The shot above would probably not have conveyed the speed of the boy on the bicycle nearly as well if a fast shutter speed had been used. Freezing the action and the background would have meant that the sense of movement would have been lost.

1. Choose your location carefully. You might be standing in the same place for a while so make sure that it’s out of the way of passing traffic and that you’re not blocking the pavement (sidewalk). Pick a place with regular passing traffic of the sort you wish to photograph and make sure the background is reasonably attractive.

2. Get your stance right. Choose if you’re going to be shooting left to right or right to left. Personally, I get better shots moving from left to right, it feels like a more natural direction for me but go with what feels best to you. Stand facing the point at which your pan movement will end. So, for left to right shots, stand facing towards the right. This helps the body twist naturally to the finish position.

3. Practice a few times without taking a shot. You’re looking for a fluid movement where you pick up your subject at one end and follow all the way through to the other end and your finish position. Keep practising until you feel you have the timing right and you can keep the subject in the frame throughout the panning movement.

4. Choose a shutter speed of perhaps 1/30th for bikes, rickshaws and taxis or 1/20th for pedestrians. You can start at a faster speed, 1/60th perhaps, and slow down as you improve your technique.

5. Pre-focus on a point at which you’re going to shoot your picture. Pick a point in the road and focus on that. Then turn the auto-focus off and be careful not to move the focussing ring again. Alternatively, use the tracking focus function if your camera has one but you’ll need to make sure that you’re focussing on the subject and not the background.

6. Set your exposure manually. Take a reading from a neutral section of the scene and set the aperture to balance with the shutter speed you’ve selected. Using the Shutter Priority mode on your camera is OK but exposure can be thrown out by subjects in very dark or very bright clothing.

7. So, you’re standing facing away from your start position, you have the camera set up with manual exposure, manual focus. Time to test out your technique. Pick out a subject and follow it with your camera as you did when practising. Trip the shutter half-way through your panning movement but - and this is crucial - follow through. Often, photographers trying this technique will stop moving at the moment they trip the shutter and the secret is to keep moving. You should keep following the subject even after you’ve heard the shutter fire. it’s the sporting equivalent of “following through” in a golf or cricket stroke.

8. This is one of those times when it’s OK to check the LCD screen to see what you’ve got. AFTER you’ve looked back down the road to make sure that you’re not about to miss something really eye-catching. Zoom in on the LCD screen image to check the sharpness of your subject. Wheels and feet can be blurred to emphasise the movement but the important things, heads and shoulders for example, should be relatively sharp.

9. Practice. It’s another blessing of the digital age that we can stand in one place and fire 100 frames in order to perfect the technique. It doesn’t matter if they’re all deleted afterwards, the important thing is to get the movement and the timing right.

10. Practice some more. OK, that’s not really a separate tip but whoever heard of a list of Top Nine tips? Seriously, the more you do it, the better you’ll get. And like practising for a big game, you don’t have to wait until you’re on that magical holiday of a lifetime to start working on your panning technique, practice at home so that you’re on top form when it comes to the big match.

OK, wayyyyy too many sporting references in this post.

Lightroom 2 Keyword Bug

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-03T12:01:29+07:00

For all you Lightroom 2 upgraders, there’s some discussion of a bug that prevents V1 keywords from being successfully imported into V2. Check out the forum here.

Hey Jude

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-03T12:12:29+07:00

Hey Dude, it’s the weekend. You should be having fun. Time for a quick check on the fun-o-meter and if your weekend is looking lack-lustre then it’s not too late to change your plans. See if you can get to Monday morning with something really satisfying to look back on.

Worldwide Photo Walk - August 23rd:<br />Bangkok

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-01T11:05:44+07:00

The Worldwide Photo Walk takes place on August 23rd. Visit the link to find locations in your area where a walk is taking place. Each walk is limited to 50 participants so I recommend you sign up soon if you want to take part.

I’m excited to announce the Bangkok Photo Walk, hosted by one of the friendliest, most charming, most professional and most handsome photographers in South East Asia. No, not Matt Brandon, he’s leading a walk in Penang, it’s me you fools.

Yes, I’m delighted to be leading the Bangkok walk and look forward to meeting up with other photo walkers on August 23rd. The walk is completely free to attend but you will need to sign-up as soon as possible as many walks are already full. It promises to be a great opportunity to meet up with other local photographers.

Participants will also be able to upload pictures taken on the walk to a special Flickr group and there are fabulous prizes available for the best photos of the day. The walk will last for approximately two hours and finish at a restaurant where we’ll be able to chill out, chimp* our photos, and chat.

If you have any questions then feel free to e-mail me. In the mean time, here’s the link again.

(*chimping=check out the introductory Photo Walk video for an explanation and demonstration!)

August's Free Desktop Wallpaper:<br />The Red Wall

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-08-01T02:53:19+07:00

The free desktop wallpaper for August is one of a series that I've been taking near my home in Bangkok.

The red wall provides a great backdrop against which to isolate subjects who drive, cycle or walk past.

Stand on the corner opposite the red wall for more than a few minutes and it becomes clear why Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles.

AOP Open Public Choice Vote

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-31T01:12:28+07:00

The annual Association of Photographers Awards is now open for the public to vote for their favourite images. Whilst the judges have already selected the ‘Best in Show’ and their own personal favourites, the Public Vote is arguably the prize that the competing photographers will be most honoured to win.

There are 82 photographs to choose from and, as is the case every year, the subject matter varies as much as the photographic styles employed. Take a few minutes to look through the entries and register a vote for your favourite.

--UPDATE--

I’ve looked through the 82 images and found it difficult to choose my favourite. There are several that I enjoyed so I’ll go through them again. However, I note that there were 1700 entries from which these 82 have been selected. That means that there were 1618 pictures that were worse than the one I’ve pasted in below. I’m not passing any judgements, it’s simply an observation. I’d be interested to know what your views are on the 82 photos that the judges selected. What’s your favourite? What did you think of the standard overall?

Life is Beautiful

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-30T23:06:48+07:00

I awarded myself a day off today and took the Skytrain to Silom where the Kathmandu Photo Gallery is located. The gallery is owned and run by photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom. His own photos are exhibited on the ground floor whilst the first floor is reserved for different exhibitions.

I have to apologise for the poor reproduction of this great postcard. There were a pile of them on the table in the gallery and I thought you’d enjoy seeing it but I’m in-between scanners so this is photographed with my laptop’s iSight camera.

The card promotes an exhibition which, by coincidence, opens tomorrow. It’s entitled “Life is Beautiful - A photo exhibition for living together” and features Manit’s photographs of children with HIV/AIDS.

Yes, it’s a real double-take moment isn’t it. As the exhibition web site points out, these children have the misfortune not only of being born with HIV/AIDS but must also contend with a society that tends to stigmatise them. Indeed, the aim of the exhibition is to overcome some of those prejudices and we can only hope that it succeeds.

The exhibition launch is tomorrow evening and I hope to go along to see the photos first-hand. If you’re in Bangkok, please go and show your support too. The Kathmandu Gallery is five minutes from Surasak BTS, near the Indian temple. The Opening Party is from 6.30pm to 9pm.

Dodging the showers and tuk-tuk drivers I walked all the way back to Sukhumvit via the Neilson Hays Library, where there was another small photo exhibition by Ayako Tsuda entitled “Crossing Borders” with images from Morocco, Greece, Norway and a lovely shot of a girl on a bridge somewhere in France. I can’t find much more information online unfortunately so you’ll have to take my word that it was a pleasant exhibition to enjoy over a pot of Earl Grey.
By the time I’d walked home through Lumpini Park the sun was setting and doing a pretty good job of painting the Bangkok skyline with a palette of colours so delightful as to make you pause and say “nice”.

Today was such a success that I’m thinking of making my day off a regular event.

Lightroom 2 Full Release - Spot the Difference

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-29T13:52:35+07:00

Ready for a little game of Spot the Difference?

The full release of Lightroom 2 is released today. You can download it from the Internet. No box, no disk, no shipping costs. Excellent.

If you live in the United States the full package will cost you $299.00. If you live in the UK the very same download will cost you the equivalent of $410.02. Even my rudimentary mathematical skills can calculate that it’s more than 33% more expensive in the UK.

If you have already purchased Lightroom 1 then you can buy the upgrade. In the States it’ll cost just $99, in the UK it’s the equivalent of $161.68. Over 60% more expensive.

Adobe claim that marketing is more expensive in Europe. Or pencils or something. I can’t quite remember their explanation but clearly it’s ~~bollocks~~ nonsense.

I live in Thailand so you would be think I’d be free to choose from where I buy my download. As there’s no virtual store in Thailand I can buy from the UK, US, Australia, Hong Kong, wherever. Except it’s not possible to change the address on your Adobe account. Once you live somewhere Adobe won’t suffer the inconvenience of you moving elsewhere.

OK, that’s enough. Suffice to say that when you’re buying an online download any arguments about local markets are clearly ridiculous and pricing should be the same for all of us. Especially me.

The AOP have previously suggested a temporary boycott of Adobe products and perhaps that suggestion will come up again. I’m certainly prepared to wait it out. I wonder how it would pan out if it were more expensive in the States? Anyway, Adobe = bad!

How the human brain interprets what it sees

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-26T03:48:11+07:00

The way the human brain interprets the images we see is quite extraordinary when you think about it. Presented with a completely unfamiliar scene, with an subject shown from an unfamilar angle and from a peculiar perspective we instantly know what it is.

So accurate is our brain’s interpretations of visual information that we actually entertain ourselves with optical illusions, things designed to throw the brain off course, enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of having our minds fooled for once.

I’ve been photographing in Bangkok solidly for two days in order to produce work for two magazine articles. I’ve shot the obvious things from the usual angles but looking to keep things fresh have also tried to find some groovily different perspectives.

Despite being tiny in the frame and shot from a very unfamiliar angle you probably knew what the subject of this photograph was before you’d even really registered the whole image. Did you? I’d be interested to know.

I befriended three monks at Bangkok’s Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun) this afternoon. I knew that I wanted to get some different angles and didn’t want to stalk them without them knowing so we played a game where we all walked up and down and around the main Chedi and when we saw each other we’d wave and take a photo. As they all had cameras they got a 3:1 ratio but I figured it was a fair exchange.

The photo above was the best of the set and is probably one of my favourite images from this two-day stint. I love the square stones and the angle of the lines that the paving makes. I’m pleased with the position of the monk, especially so as I nearly launched myself down a steep staircase in my rush to get to the point necessary to make it. It’s all for art though so it’s worth the effort.

Bangkok Traffic Photos

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-25T00:19:39+07:00

Bangkok rush-hour is almost never-ending. No matter what time of day you venture out, the traffic is very nearly gridlocked. Whilst that’s bad news if you want to get anywhere in a hurry, it’s good news if you’re a photographer as drivers of slow moving buses often lean out of their window to pose for a photograph.

And is it just me or, like policemen, do Tuk-Tuk drivers seem to be getting younger to you too?

The Red Wall

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-23T11:37:48+07:00

I knew it would be around here somewhere and think I may have found it.

Studio photographers have a pile of different backdrops and infinitely variable studio lights. Travel photographers make the best use of what’s readily available. Yet we’re the lucky ones as our available backdrops are infinite in number and whilst lighting can only be adjusted minimally if we’re not taking a portable studio with us we do still have access to a whole range of lighting effects.

I’ve been looking for a blank wall near my apartment. Something bright and colourful and with lots of character. Red would be ideal. Something that I can use as a backdrop to isolate subjects against.

This bright red wall, full of character, is just along the road from me. I’ve passed it perhaps twenty times and never noticed it. So much for my powers of observation!

Although, in my defence, I’ve only ever passed it on the back of a motorcycle taxi. It’s at the corner of a particularly narrow but busy junction where the bike drivers either mount the pavement to use as a shortcut or try to squeeze between the opposite wall and oncoming traffic to get through. I’m usually more concerned about the imminent parting of the ways between me and my kneecaps to worry about aesthetics. I wonder if that’s why the wall’s painted red? Perhaps it’s not paint at all.

I digress. I walked along the road yesterday and finally saw the wall. I had the little Canon G9 with me so stayed for a while and shot a few frames. As it’s busy there you have to be patient and wait for the queueing cars and lorries to clear the frame before shooting. I could have shot about a hundred frames of grinning taxi drivers. As they waited for the junction to clear they’d see me (they have special antennae to detect farang) and gurn through the taxi window. Perhaps that’s a project for another day.

So I have a wall and it’s only a short walk away. I’d like to shoot a series of images, each with a single person or couple in the frame and then stitch them all together in a kind of panorama. Ideally, I’d set up a tripod and cable release, set up the exposure, focus and sit on a chair, sipping tea and firing frames at the decisive moment. If I weren’t concerned about the possibility of me and my gear being swept away by a passing motorcycle taxi I might do just that.

Weekend links

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-19T09:09:04+07:00

Some links to juice up your weekend:

Brenda Ann Kenneally is the winner of the 2008 Canon Female Photojournalist award. The prize of €8,000 will “allow Keneally to shoot a report that sweeps away the clichés coming from glossy TV series such as ‘Desperate Housewives’.” Two things I noticed about Keneally’s truly excellent web site, the first is that none of her pictures is wasted. There’s not a single one, to my eye, that doesn’t have impact and which is not thought provoking. The second is that it’s one of the best executions of multimedia story-telling that I’ve seen on the web. No fluffy and unnecessary music, just the words of her subjects to accompany the illustrations.

Photo District News brings us the story of Zoriah, a photojournalist embedded with US forces in Iraq. Zoriah posted pictures of US Marine fatalities on his blog. His blog shows gruesome photos of the dead and dying in the aftermath of a suicide bombing. Military officials claim that Zoriah broke the rules of his embedded status but Zoriah refutes this, saying “They embedded a war photographer, and when I took a photo of war, they disembedded me. It's as if it's okay to take pictures of them handing lollipops to kids on the street and providing medical care, but photographing the actual war is unacceptable.” The photos are horrifying. Shouldn’t that be the point of a War Photographer’s work?

On a much cheerier note, I subscribe to Anna Kuperberg’s blog and am always delighted to see the photos she takes at weddings. Her photos have a lovely look to them and I’m sure that the newly-weds are invaribaly delighted. I think she must be a very personable character. Interesting how her personality comes across on her work. Anyway, her latest shots really appealed to me and I think the picture of the two boys is one of the funniest wedding photos I’ve seen. You’ll immediately know the one I mean when you look at her site.

It’s not big and it’s not clever but if you’re looking for a daily dose of the quite, quite mad for momentary distraction then I recommend the Scaryduck blog. This is the man who regularly writes to local newspapers under the guise of Kim Jong Il suggesting that the local borough council should fund giant statues of the Minogue twins in order to cheer the hearts of the local populace - and gets them published! Become a regular reader and I guarantee that you’ll find the catchphrases “sick inna hedge” and “done a poo” leaving your lips at inappropriate moments.

Not a link but just an interesting snippet of local information: I went to the the local Apple authorised reseller yesterday to buy some extra RAM for my MacBook Pro. The nice lady in the shop opened up the package and grabbed the memory chip quite indelicately. I politely suggested that it might at least have been worth her discharging the static from her body before handling the sensitive electrical component. She regarded my with a sympathetic look that Thais reserve for bemused foreigners and said “it’s OK, we don’t have static electricity in Thailand”. We agreed that I’d take an unopened chip home and install it myself.

Lastly, I’ve noticed that as well as me being away from home, David’s in Hawaii, Matt’s in Malaysia, Mitchell’s in Indonesia and Tewfic’s in London. Don’t these people have homes to go to?

Lightning strikes

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-15T22:21:41+07:00

The storms in Bangkok provide much more entertainment than the 76 TV channels offered by the local satellite TV provider. Especially after the storm knocks out the satellite on the roof! Storms don’t appear here every day but they are frequent and when they do arrive they seem to follow the same route over the city, appearing from the west and moving over the financial district until they pass slowly above my neighbourhood.

There are only one or two very tall buildings in this part of the city but they tend to act as lightning conductors. The one pictured here is just a street away from my apartment building and, as you can see, is still being constructed. The cranes continue to operate in the storm and I know that a crane is probably the safest place to be in the middle of an electrical storm but I think I’d struggle to convince myself of that if I was sitting up there driving one of those things.

The lightning arced across the sky for an hour or more this evening, apparently hitting this building several times. I managed to catch a couple of shots of the lightning, this is probably the clearest. Click on the image for a larger version.

Photo Plus Magazine Travel Feature

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-13T17:40:56+07:00

The July edition of the Canon user magazine, Photo Plus, includes an informative Travel article, featuring 2006 Travel Photographer of the Year, Julian Love. Julian is shown holding a one-to-one expert masterclass with a Photo Plus reader in Venice and if you buy the magazine then the accompanying DVD contains a video showing the gear that Julian carries with him.

Another reason to buy Photo Plus this month is that my photograph of a woman’s hands decorated with henna tattoos covers a double-page spread introducing the “Photo Plus Inspirations” pages which are dedicated to “amazing travel photography” this month.

Shooting in triplicate & the bane of the LCD

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-10T00:29:59+07:00

I’m addicted. If you’re a digital photographer then I bet you’re addicted too. At the recent Phi Ta Khon festival I saw a lot of other addicts, their addiction made apparent by the small but obvious nervous tick that all addicts display.

I’m addicted to checking that little LCD screen on the back of my camera. It’s a crutch, I know, and I tell myself I can stop any time I like but the truth is that I’m hooked.

At the festival there were plenty of photographers including several from a Canon User group. Watching them for a while it became obvious just how addicted to that LCD screen we have all become. As soon as the shutter had fired it was camera down, head down and thumbs on the control buttons. OK, there’s value in checking the histogram but we’ve only recently had that luxury and I managed to take photos OK before I even knew what a histogram was. So I’ve been working hard to kick the habit and concentrating on not seeking the reassuring kick of seeing the image preview straight away.

A couple of things prompted this decision to limit my use of the LCD. Firstly, having seen other photographers fail to capture a potentially good shot immediately after one they’d just taken I wanted to make sure that I’m not missing out too. Secondly, before the festival, I’d set myself a challenge of photographing things in sets of three where possible, thereby reducing the opportunities to peer into the LCD.

We all know about Cartier Bresson’s “decisive moment” and, as photographers, we hopefully also know the sensation of having timed our shot just right and having captured a decisive moment for ourselves. However, what if there’s more than one decisive moment in the space of a few seconds? What if decisive moments follow one after the other on occasion? There’s no reason why they shouldn’t.

Photographing subjects in sets of three helps you to look at a subject with fresh eyes. After the initial choice of angle, focal length, shutter speed and aperture is made you can seek a fresh perspective, think about how else to show the subject and find a different view for each of your next two shots. For portraits, snapping three frames increases the chances of catching a different expression and it’s interesting how many people break into a wide smile the moment after they hear the shutter fire for the first time. Keeping the camera to your eye and resisting the temptation to check the LCD offers more opportunities.

I was pleased with this picture of a lady at the Phi Ta Khon festival and it was definitely one of those moments when I felt that I’d got exactly what I wanted as soon as the shutter fired but, with my Picture Trio Challenge in mind, I kept the camera to my eye and fired off two more frames. Which is the decisive one? Judge for yourself but I think that each has its merits and would work equally as well as the others when seen on its own. However, the three together as a sequence make an even better job of showing the lady’s character and I’m sure they’ll become inseperable in my mind from now on.

So, don’t fall victim to the LCD Preview Demon and try to shoot another couple of frames when you can. It’s a hard habit to break but take it from this reformed character, it’s worth the effort.

Phi Ta Khon (Ghosts in Masks) Festival

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-07T14:02:37+07:00

I’ve just returned from the annual Phi Ta Khon (Ghosts in masks) festival in Dansai, northern Thailand, which was a great success in all senses and a terrific, if occasionally surreal, way to spend a weekend.

Dansai is a small village in the Loei Province. A village to which, I’m sure, the term “sleepy” could be accurately applied for most of the year. However, a lunar festival every year in June/July sees the town turned upside-down into a strange underworld where ghostly figures dance through the streets and young girls are chased with over-sized phallic weapons. I’m tempted to say it’s like Basingstoke on any Saturday night but I’m trying to keep the blog professional so I’ll resist that obvious comparison.

Phi Ta Khon is a curious blend of Buddhist and Animist traditions and although the purpose of the festival is to enable the villagers to obtain merit, thereby improving their chances of reaching enlightenment, there is much merry-making in the process and a great deal of fun is had by all.

Teams of colour-coordinated ghosts dance in the main square, their energy fuelled by the distorted, bass-heavy music from the on-stage band and a mix of beer, brandy and energy-boosting drinks.

Like many similar festivals around the world, the fertility element is big. Whopping in some cases! Ghosts carry swords with phallic handles, hang large fruity balls in-between their legs and tie cow-bells and empty tin cans to their waists. The more ingenious ones have adapted the phallic symbols they brandish to include a trigger which makes it come alive, all the better to scare the local girls with.

The dancing ghosts proceed to the Buddhist temple on the second day and two giant ghosts appear, one man and one woman, they chase each other around the temple, pausing only to dance suggestively with anyone brave enough to get close.

If you don’t have a ghostly costume then mud alone will do. This local girl was part of the procession to the Buddhist temple.

The dancing continues throughout the day and a carnival atmosphere carries all the revellers into and beyond nightfall. The only non-participants are the Buddhist monks who watch the festivities through windows in the temple. I couldn’t say whether they were wishing they could be included or if they were grateful to be in the safe sanctuary of the temple but they were certainly captivated by the lewd goings-on.

Outside the temple, the women elders of the village sit on a wall and watch the events unfold with a kind of detached amusement. But when the rhythym reaches their preferred tempo, they too get up and dance with elegantly considered, gentle movements.

Unfortunately, this photographer’s dancing efforts were greeted with some derision. Apparently, I was putting too much energy into it and, if my Thai language skills are correct, this woman voiced concerns that I might be having a seizure.

The partying continues into the night and moves back into town where dozens of food stalls serve an impressive range of foods to the hungry hordes. Nobody stops dancing though and the funniest thing I have seen in a long time was the cooks jigging along beside the ghosts. I don’t think there was a single one of them that wasn’t roaring with laughter so infectious that I had to increase the shutter speed on the camera to compensate for the giggling. You can read a hundred books on photographic technique and I bet that none of them will mention that exposure-compensation requirement.

It was a terrific weekend and I’m grateful for the company of photojournalist Jane Iverson who shared the drive up and back to Bangkok with me.

Photobox - Fresh out of the Box

mail@gavingough.com — 2008-07-01T21:39:10+07:00

I’m delighted to be the pin-up boy for July, appearing as the featured photographer in this month’s Photobox “Fresh out of the Box” news page.

Welcome to all Photobox users. Please don’t forget to sign-up for my free quarterly newsletter whilst you’re here and you’re just in time to catch July’s free desktop wallpaper too.