Sri Lanka Workshop Recap: Part 1: Central Highlands and the Southern Coast

Travel is a funny thing. Despite due diligence and research, trying to control all the variables is often like carrying water in a sieve - a lesson in futility. This is not to say throw caution completely to the wind, but rather understand going into it that things will inherently be different than any preconceived ideas regardless if you’ve been there before. So, with that being said, this year’s workshop I co-led with Etienne Bossot of Pics of Asia in Sri Lanka was a lesson in laughing at the weather when it should have been far less...moody and often grumpy. Maybe it wasn’t grumpy, but it definitely wasn’t blue skies and gorgeous sunsets. So, when these things happen, a bit of a change in perspective is necessary. It allows us to start thinking in a mindset that’s not really so much about “perfect travel conditions” but rather looking at the conditions and making images that play to the strengths of each situation. So that golden light isn’t there….. so what. Are we going to sulk around and whinge about the shitty weather or do we start looking for pools of light, reflections from the rain, indoor markets, texture, beauty in the mundane and decisive moments? Perhaps we need to start thinking more about how to create compelling images with what’s in front of us rather than what is traditionally seen as beautiful. This is definitely a do as I say, not necessarily as I do type situation because there were more than a couple of occasions that I shook my fist at the sky and groaned at another overcast sky. We’re all human, but it’s not the end of the day if things go differently than we thought. If it was, oh man, I’d have been witness to about a million apocalypses at this point in my life.

We started in Negombo, made our way to the mountains around Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, down to the rice paddies on the way down to the coast again and back along the southern coast through Galle and back up to Colombo. It was a whirlwind! This post will focus on the central highlands and the southern coast to Galle. Colombo and Negombo to follow. With such a varied countryside, it became impossible to narrow it down to just one post. So stay tuned for part 2.

For the photographers, I only took the Fuji x100v on this trip and while it had its ups and downs, I recently got the little adapter lenses that give me a 28mm, 35mm, and 50mm equivalent options in a tiny package, so I didn’t miss the bigger system. I did this partly because of the ease and speed of the tiny camera, but additionally to prove a point. Making compelling images doesn’t require a mountain of gear. Yeah yeah, I know everyone has heard its not the gear, and I’m a big supporter of that. But thats’s not the whole picture. It’s more of the recognition that all these magic picture boxes are tools to realise the vision in your head. Picking the right tools for the right job is far more the camp I reside in and the Fuji x100v was more than enough to shoot everything I wanted. I’m not a wildlife photographer, so I don’t need a bazooka lens, I’m not shooting massive print ads on these trips so I don’t need the bajillion megapixels. Sometimes less is more and and these trips are proof positive that you can take a small kit and create something that reflects that crazy person’s vision in your head. Speaking of gear, massive massive thanks to the folks at Think Tank. In addition to our usual program, we ran a friendly little competition for the best series of images/story and, because crows are ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, a cheeky little contest to see who could wrangle the nicest shot of a crow was thrown in last minute. We gave away their incredibly useful cable management bags to the winners.

For transparency, I am a ThinkTank affiliate and any purchase made off the link above I get a small percentage that allows us to keep these types of giveaways possible. I couldn’t speak higher of the folks over there. Not only are their bags incredible, but their customer service is world class. I’ve had nothing but over the top good experiences and only cosign things and companies that I feel are doing it the right way. Supporting them supports photographers and helps us create the images we love.

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Frank Turner, 7uppercuts & Papa Lam

Another chapter in the Chronicles and what a chapter it was. The fine folks at Loud Minority put together an absolute banger of a show. Frank Turner boarded a plane in London, got off of the plane, and played a show a few hours later… If you didn’t know this, you’d have been well impressed by his performance and the energy in the room. Knowing this, it’s ever more impressive… What an absolute professional road dog.

Callum from 7uppercuts started the night off with Skeleton Goode as his backing band with his solo stuff under the name Papa Lam. Really looking forward to see how this progresses, fun stuff in kind of the same vein as Turner. 7uppercuts then got on stage and ripped it up setting up for an absolute barn burner from Frank Turner. The fact that a guy can get up on stage with an acoustic guitar and have people lose their minds like I was watching Bad Brains is quite honestly mind boggling. Can’t give this man enough credit. He played one crowd favourite after the next and ended things with Skeleton Goode coming back on stage as his backing band. As I watched from the balcony, it felt like I had stepped back in time and was watching one of the great punk shows of my youth. This type of energy in a room isn’t the norm so being able to see it in Saigon was pretty special.

For the photographers, these were shot on my Sony kit with a 28mm prime lens that I’ve not used in ages. Normally I’ll use a 18mm for these type of shows and get up close and personal, but opted for a bit of a different feel for this. Allowed for a nice little happy medium in this venue.

Papa Lam

7uppercuts

Tips and Tricks: Technical Perfection is Overrated.

Coffee factories are full of steam, dust, and typically…. DARKNESS. When the light pours in from the windows, you get this incredible atmosphere, but then you’re stuck with such a huge variance in light values that if you expose for your highlights, everything else is nearly black, but if you expose for your shadows, say hello to a millIon blown highlights. Usually when I’m teaching photography, I often encourage students to pick one and shoot to that limitation. Don’t try and satisfy both gods, because you’ll end up pissing them both off and end up with something pleasing neither. So what do you do? I’m not really in the camp of appeasing any gods, so I guess it’s a bit of dancing with the devil and doing whatever gets a compelling image or story. This is often tricky when it comes to photographers as we’re so obsessed with everything being technically “perfect,” that we get lost in the forest for the trees. Moment is always better than technical perfection, so never mind the noise, crank that iso, blow a few highlights and forget about everything you’ve been taught thats supposed to make a good photo. If it works, its not wrong, right?

Of course there are some little tricks you can do, but ultimately in these types of situations, something’s gotta give. It’s just up to you what you can let slide. All of these images are shot with the little fuji x100v. Not exactly known for its ability to handle high dynamic range. But this isn’t a pristine commercial shoot, the subject matter is a bit rough around the edges, so having a bit of technical imperfection isn’t a deal breaker for me. Medium matches the subject? Maybe I’m making excuses for poorly executed images. But that’s what I’m telling myself, and I’m certainly not losing any sleep over it. These were all from a recent trip from Buon Me Thuot down through Dak Nong back to Saigon with Etienne Bossot from the Pics of Asia fam. Let me know your thoughts and make sure to head over to Etienne’s site to read his thoughts on shooting in challenging environments.

Travel Diary: Milan

The last chapter in my trip to Europe, Milan, nearly got skipped in favour of heading up near Lake Como. With all the travel before getting to Milan, the need to slow my roll superseded another destination so I parked it in Milan for a few days and explored the city. Coming from Florence, Milan has a distinctly different feel. It feels lived in rather than the open air museum quality Florence had. While not as traditionally “picturesque” as Florence, Milan’s got its fair share of beautiful architecture and from what i experienced, it certainly is a bit rougher around the edges. For some reason, I always end up gravitating towards areas with a bit of grit as most of the good stuff is always found in the areas that are a bit unpolished. Diamonds are overrated, anyways.

After Florence, I was in full on street photography mode and with the dreary weather Milan was giving me, I leaned into it. Rain always means reflections and an extra bit of dynamism in images, so having those types of days isn’t a bummer and provides for some interesting frames here and there. It also helped out in giving me perhaps a different way of shooting places that have literally been shot a million times before. There’s nothing new under the sun, but it’s a fun challenge shooting famous spots while trying to give it my own spin or capturing it in a different way than what’s normally portrayed. Whats the point in shooting a famous place in the exact same way it’s been done countless times before? I’d just get another frame in a sea of the same…. Forgettable and ultimately a snoozefest. The more and more I travel to places that are famous for something, the less and less I care about getting “that shot.” I’m sure someone has shot that iconic image about a bajillion times and it’s far more interesting to me visually to try and do something different.

Everything shot on the Fuji x100v and tweaked in Capture One.

Travel Diary : Florence and Tuscany and Over-tourism

From Lucerne, I made my way down through northern Italy and ended up in Florence for a few days with a couple little excursions out into the Tuscan countryside. Upon entering the city, it’s pretty clear why it’s such a popular destination- the city is a stunner. Renaissance art, incredible architecture, some of the best food on the planet and a damn good coffee game. What’s not to like?

While absolutely stunning, something in Florence felt ….. off. Walking around the city, I immediately thought “Do people actually live in the central part of this city or is it just a playground for tourists?” Group tours fill the streets, English spoken on every corner, a carbonara with cream and bacon in it?!…something was awry. And I say this while painfully self aware that I am not outside of the problem. This notion of over-tourism is on the forefront of every conversation it seems when it comes to travel these days and I’d feel remiss if I didn’t comment on it. Airbnb, the issue with affordable housing, respect of locals, pricing locals out, and neighbourhoods feeling like open air museums…none of this feels great.. And it certainly doesn’t feel sustainable or conducive to the best part of traveling for me - breaking bread and finding connections with people all over the world. The issue is certainly nuanced, but the more I think about it, the more a common denominator becomes clear - for me at least. There’s a pretty big difference between mass tourism and traveling to experience other cultures. I’m not going sit on a high horse by any means, and any traveling is better than being insular with no world perspective, so take this for what it is - just a slice of my perspective based on a short time here. I’m sure I’m missing key points and I’d love to be schooled on them. That being said, participating, interacting, immersing into a culture is the exact opposite of the petting zoo type scenario you see with mass tourism. It’s like people’s sense of empathy has been replaced with grabbing a photo for the ‘gram or ticking a box on a list of destinations.

I also realise I don’t have the answer to this on a macro level, and I don’t want to be one of those folks that just points out a problem and goes back to exactly what they were doing. I do know I have control over my own actions and can only move in ways that I feel are respectful and empathetic. The more I ponder it, the notion of being a participant in something rather than merely taking up space becomes a differentiation in all of this for me. Certainly, policy level decisions on housing, numbers of tourists, and a myriad of other things need to be addressed, but some personal responsibility on the shoulders of travellers and tourists is definitely in order. A split second of thinking “what if this was my home? Would I act this way if this was my front yard?” If the answer is no, don’t be that guy.

In the images below, it’s not super obvious at the sheer number of people in the city, but I’m a creature of habit, and waking up early to go shoot is pretty normal in Vietnam for me. Putting it lightly, folks don’t rise as early in Florence as they do in Vietnam. Not by a long shot. It made for some quiet, peaceful morning walks and completely confirms my feelings on waking up early and exploring a place while it wakes up is the way to go. Miss the chaos, catch the beautiful light, and watch the world wake up.

For my photography friends, these were all shot on the trusty little fuji x100v. Fast and light.

Travel Diary: Lucerne, Switzerland

From Zurich, I met up with my parents and headed down to the picturesque little city of Lucerne. Sitting on a the eponymous lake, Lucerne exudes that Swiss quaintness we all hear of. Old world charm in a nutshell. Medieval roads, towering old churches, you know, the works. Coupled with a trip down to a couple of Alpine towns, needless to say, charm was oozing. Epic mountain landscapes mixed with picture perfect little towns…what’s not to like? Specifically, Grindelwald is crazy beautiful. I bet snowboarding there would be ridiculous. Break out the apple wine and schnitzel, I’m here for it.

I shot all of these on the Fuji x100v with some of these with the telephoto lens adapter to get me to a 50mm equivalent. I’m posting a few more of these over on instagram as well, so go have a look and if you like what you see, feel free to give me a follow for more shenanigans like this.

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Overpower

Another chapter in the Chronicles. A blend of local staples and couple of bands from Indonesia, this show felt like a party. Something’s changed in the scene here over the last couple of years and it really does feel like a proper hardcore scene these days. Kids be wild and mosh like it was their job. As I’m in no position to be participating in that shenanigans, I chose to keep to snappin’ photos. The line up consisted of Saigon’s Under Pressure, Kinh, Elbowdrop, Empathize, Cut Lon, Denpasar’s Kenya and Fraud coming out of Surabaya. I didn’t catch everyone, you know school night and all.. but the bands I saw all brought the heat. Rather than going through every band, just click on their links and go give them a listen. Now for the visual proof.

Travel Diary: Basel, Switzerland

Home of Art Basel, Basel sits around an hour by train from Zurich, so I figured it would be a nice little jaunt to head over before meeting family back in Zurich in a few days. Not knowing a whole lot about Basel except for the association with Art Basel, the only thing I really expected is maybe seeing some cool art, so off I went and wandered the city for a few days. Decidedly laid back and chill, the vibe of the city mimicked the flow of the Rhine river through the city. Complete with essentially a party every afternoon on the river with scenes reminiscent of beach hangout days I’ve seen in the tropics, folks were sipping drinks, having a swim, playing tunes…living the good life. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

I had heard of a graffiti scene in Basel so after a quick google search, I walked across the city in search of a long stretch of wall near the train station. Tunes in the ears (Digable Planets, Tribe Called Quest, etc) and a bounce in my step, I caught myself dancing down the streets. I only realised I was doing this after catching smiles and laughs from passersby. It’s funny how contagious good energy is. Mundane strolls turn into moments of joy. I’m here for it. Graffiti pieces were scattered over the city, from commissioned to maybe not so commissioned. I’m a sucker for trains, so seeing the stretch of painted walls that stretched for kilometers between Zurich and Basel immediately conjured memories of that first time I saw Wild Style as a kid and fell in love with writing my name all over the place. I haven’t done that in a long time other than scrawling in the margins of my countless notebooks, but I’ll never not pause and check out handstyles, bombs, throw ups and full pieces on walls. Similarly, these days, I’ve grown a liking to finding little pools of light and watching what happens. Everything kind of slows down and the only thing that matters is what’s right in front of me. It’s not therapy per se, but damn is it a good exercise in being present. Chase the light and find out what happens.

For my fellow photographers, everything was shot on the Fuji x100v. I picked up the telephoto adapter back in Osaka, so I had the option between the default 35mm and throwing the little adapter and getting a 50mm frame. Super small, I could still travel light and fast.