This month my travel photography holidays have been featured in Practical Photography magazines Holidays & Courses Directory. It was great to see the portrait of the Hmong girl from Vietnam on the front cover.
The travel photography holidays that I host to Burma, Vietnam, Angkor Wat Cambodia and Marrakech were in the directory.
Also my UK landscape and flower photography workshops.
I also run private 1:1 photography workshops throughout the year, both in the UK and abroad.
The first of my UK workshops starts in April and May 2016 with the Bluebell Woods in the Forest of Dean.
This is one of my favourite times of year when the beech woods come alive with carpets of bluebells.
I hope everyone gets time to go out with their cameras and capture the beauty of our planet wherever you are.
NEW DATES FOR APRIL AND MAY 2016 are on the website:
Join me on a photography holiday to awe inspiring locations that I have a great working knowledge of, getting you to the best locations at the best time of day for stunning photographs.
The photographs on this blog are from last years photography holiday guests.
Burma I call photographers gold at the moment, a country that is starting to open up to the outside world after years of isolation. My photography tour to the Golden Land is unique as I have secured permits to travel overland between Mandalay and Lake Inle in the Shan State, a truly memorable experience as we travel through different landscapes on the way and getting to places tourism hasn’t hit.
We also travel by train from Bagan to Myingyan on a classic rail journey full of photo opportunities.
From Myingyan we take the ‘road to Mandalay’, made famous by Kipling.
Between Yangon and Bagan we fly as we also do between Lake Inle and Yangon. There is a full itinerary for the Burma photography tour on the website: http://www.digitalphotographyholidays.com
Cambodia is one of my favourite places for photography, a place I have been returning to since 1999, since then I have forged very strong friendships with local people and also NGO’s. This photography holiday is not just about photographing the magical temples it is also very much about the people too.
This photography holiday supports organisations that help street kids, disabled people and the rural poor, enabling them to receive education, training and skilled work.
On the photography holiday we spend a day with the floating village community on Tonle Sap lake, which helps to support their community handicrafts project and also the local nature reserve.
At the time of year we visit the water level is 10 – 12 metres above ground level, exposing only the tree canopy above water.
Last years guests in the tree canopy above the swollen Tonle Sap lake. Photo: P Lawson photography.
Release your Indiana Jones as we explore and photograph the magical temples at the best times of day for the best light, beating the crowds, literally having the temples to ourselves for an hour or more every morning.
I have had the pleasure of photographing in both Marrakech and Venice many times over the last twenty years, this year for the first time I will be leading photography tours to these destinations. Join me as we explore these great short haul destinations for photography.
The International Garden Photographer of the Year awards have just been announced.
‘Sarracenia Flava’: Finalist, Macro Art
For the shot I wanted to give the plant an air of mystery and a fine art feel. I decided to minimise the depth of field and only focus on the nearest part of the plant to the lens. By doing this it would knock all the rest of the plant out of focus. The lighting was chosen to only have the highlight at the nearest point to the lens leaving the rest of the photo to fade into shadow, which gives the air of mystery.
Finally I converted the image to black and white and then split toned the colour in Lightroom.
The photograph was shot with a 180mm Canon macro lens, at f8 with 0.5sec shutter speed at 100 ISO.
‘Watering my allotment’: Commended, Plants & Water, photographed on my allotment Old Bisley Road, Stroud.
The photograph was first taken to illustrate a review I did for the Manfrotto Pixi tripod
I had pre-visualised the shot using the mini tripod as I thought it would be able to get to places I couldn`t, in amongst my bean, pumpkin and sweetcorn bed on the allotment. The summer of 2013 in the UK had been a particularly long and dry one and watering became a routine part of visits to the allotment in order to keep my plants alive.
I was after a shot that would convey the feeling of warmth, heat and watering. I chose an evening when the sun was low in the sky, placed the tripod amongst the veg and shot the photo into the sun for a more contemporary feel to the image.
With a cable release I tried a couple of test shots to get the exposure spot on (this can be tricky when shooting straight into the sun.) Then I watered the veg with my watering can, the result I was really pleased with, not only had the Pixi tripod held my very weighty Canon 1Ds Mark II but the streaks of bright backlit water added a beautiful pattern to the resulting image. The only problem I encountered was keeping the water off the camera, which was ironic after such a long hot dry summer.
Woman at the Market, Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma): Highly Commended, Bountiful Earth
This image is one of my crossover images, in that I am a travel & garden photographer. I was away on a travel shoot in Burma, whilst also looking for great locations for the photography holidays I run there. Markets are always a great place to visit in any country, especially for travel photography. I had in my mind some of the different categories for IGPOTY and Bountiful Earth was an obvious one at this market in Mandalay. The woman with the bamboo hat, the colours of the scene and the big bags of shallots drew my attention. The market in Mandalay was full of fresh produce and a photographers dream, a place I visited over several days.
Canon EOS 1DS Mark II 70mm f6.3 1/160th sec, 100 ISO
Join me next week, back home at WordPress, for behind the photos, a deeper look into some of the photographs shot in this amazing country, I hope you can join me.
In Cambodia as many as you can fit on, though the law does require the driver to wear a crash helmet.
How many boxes can you fit on the roof of a collective pick up truck bus in Myanmar – the skies the limit
How many Buddhist monks and Buddha statues can you fit in the back of a pick up truck in Bangkok? Just one of each.
I will be travelling in Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangkok by many modes of transport including Shanks`s pony, later in the year with my photographer guests on travel photography holidays. If you want to be the first to find out the latest news from my company Digital Photography Holidays why not sign up to the free newsletter, which includes pretty, un-watermarked photos too and you will also find out how many people I`ve seen on a Honda125 http://www.digitalphotographyholidays.com/466457/newsletter/
Myanmar (Burma) is the pot at the end of the rainbow – photographers gold.
Myanmar (Burma) Lake Inle fisherman
After spending 28 days in the country I can honestly say that I haven`t had such an awe inspiring photo shoot in quite some time, there is such a wealth of subject matter to photograph, from street photography through to luscious landscapes.
Myanmar, Mandalay, U Bein bridge woman watching sunrise
I have teamed up with my friends from Manfrotto tripods and every Tuesday in May they will be publishing a travelogue on their website following my journey around Burma http://www.manfrottoimaginemore.com/ starting on May 7th.
I also host Digital Photography Holidays to Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Venice, Marrakech, Prague & Paris, plus photography workshops: www.digitalphotographyholidays.com Join me for the trip of a lifetime.
At present I am in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) on a 28 day photoshoot and fact finding mission for the photography holidays I will be hosting later in the year. After arriving here from Angkor Wat in Cambodia, there are certainly some striking similarities.
Old colonial building in Yangon, Myanmar, (Burma), still in use
This old colonial building in Yangon is still in use. Nature really does want to spring into life everywhere it can if it is given the chance, these trees have certainly taken hold to the building.
It is always good to be on the road travelling and Myanmar is an amazing place to be, despite the 40C heat (in April). In these kind of conditions it pays to travel light, if only!
camera kit photography kit in Myanmar (Burma) on photoshoot
My trusty Karimoor back pack that has travelled the world with me for over 20 years and still going strong has a clothes allowance of 5 T Shirts, 1 shirt, 2 pairs of trousers, 2 pairs of shorts, 5 pairs boxers (better in the heat), 2 pairs of socks (not needed in the heat), 1 jacket (incase it gets cold!), all packed into a small compression bag so it doesn`t take up too much room. Footwear; 1 pair of flip flops and 1 pair of shoes for when I get home to the cold! The shoes are always a pain to find a place for.
There was a miscalculation on the T Shirts, need 2 or 3 a day in the heat of April in Yangon, evening spent washing them in the sink, dry time less than half an hour. Now I truly know the meaning of `It ain`t half hot Mum`
UPDATE 2014: My travel photography tour to Burma is now live with dates in 2014 & 2015, for further details please click here: http://www.digitalphotographyholidays.com/516995 (these are held in cooler times of the year for the tropics).
As I am on the move again tomorrow, thought I would post the equipment list as I am ticking off the tick-list to make sure nothing is forgotten.
Equipment list comprises of;
2 x Lowepro camera bags including 1 which has a pouch for my computer and is on board baggage allowance size and has wheels.
1 x Manfrotto tripod and Manfrotto head (would be lost without it, my oldest piece of equipment been with me since my old Mamiya RZ days) Plus Mamiya riser for long lenses and spare camera mounts.
Canon 1Ds Mark II, a dear old friend.
Canon lenses, 17-40mm; 100mm macro; 24-70mm; 70-200mm; 100-400mm and Tilt and Shift lens and lens hoods for each.
Mirror lock release (plus spare as v important piece of kit.
2 spare Canon batteries and charger.
Various Lexar CF Cards and Lexar pro card reader.
Sandisk memory sticks for essential back up and DVD`s to be on the safe side.
Various Lee filters and mounts, including ND grads (hard & soft), ND`s, polariser and Big Stopper.
Toshiba computer (fits in my Lowepro camera bag pouch for flying.)
The essentials; Multi socket extension plug, plug adaptors, phone, plugs, more plugs and cables, screwdrivers, Swiss army knife, torch, hotshoe spirit level – got to keep those spirits level, elastic bands, safety pins (for a bit of punk rock nostalgia amongst loads of practical uses), yet more plugs and cables, pens, pocket book for writing info about locations and my very oldest piece of kit the trusty compass, oh yeah and a guide book.
Finally the most important thing as a photographer which is the lightest bit of kit; bags and bags of patience.
The photography holidays that I am hosting featured in Digital Photo magazine.
Photography holidays to Angkor Wat, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma). Plus travel photography city breaks to Venice, Prague, Paris and Marrakech You can sign up for the newsletter here; http://www.digitalphotographyholidays.com/466457/newsletter/
Stephen Studd Photography 
