I hope you are all having a good weekend and you are doing interesting things with your photography. Today we are heading off to Fes in Morocco. We’ll be in the country for several weeks travelling around, exploring, meeting people, taking photos and writing. We would love to share our stories with you along the way.
Photography is my passion, and it really helps connect and reveal the world around me. I hope it offers doses of inspiration to you, whether that is seeing the world around you in a new way, to explore new places or to delve into the process of creating even more.
I was incredibly inspired by Hong Kong (I’ve just added a gallery to my site of photos) and I’ve made a 2 minute film all about Hong Kong at Night. It’s a follow up to my first How I travel like an artist I made a few months ago.
Music is another passion of mine. What I love most about editing video is the soundtrack and timing of imagery and how an intital idea can evolve into an artistic concept. That is also part of the journey for me. If you have some headphones I highly recommend wearing them. I hope you enjoy it.
I would love to know what you think of this little film. Please comment below. It is so amazing hearing from you all.
Plus if you have any must-see tips for our Morocco adventure please post them on my blog too.
If you do a bit of research on where to take cool photos in Hong Kong you are bound to find images of Montane Mansion estate. It’s an Instagram favourite. Regardless of that fact, I needed to see it for myself – like a tourist!
I found that there is the one great view looking up and to find something else as good takes a bit of work, but just getting that straight up view has a bit hard on the neck (for the first time in my professional life I was jealous of screens that swivel on cameras).
So to do something a little different I visited in the early morning. Which do you prefer? Morning or night!?
Photos
Montane mansion estate Hong Kong
Night at Montane Mansions
Morning at Montane Mansions
A different approach
Outside the Estate in Quarry Bay
Sliver of light on a bus
Very exciting photo on the road
This was down the road from the Estate in Quarry Bay
Victoria’s Peak is the must shoot place for any photographer visiting Hong Kong, actually, anyone must visit! It is a stunning view; sublime and warm. You get a real sense of the place and it’s structure from this view. One of a kind for sure. Below are two videos I made before and after shooting on the Peak. Below the video are the images I made from the adventure.
Photos
Victoria's Peak
This is the view on the way up to Victoria Peak
This is the view on the way up to Victoria Peak
This is the view on the way up to Victoria Peak
100mm captured something different
On the walk down several hours later. Totally worth it!
I was hoping these would come out better - there was not enough ambient light for my tastes
Vlog: shooting blue hour in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is an wondrous place to shoot in the evening. There are few cities I’ve been to that have such a palette of mixed and natural light at blue hour. Just about any colour you can think of is emanating from the buildings; combined with the heavy clouds of early Autumn – a truly fun shooting experience!
This is a photo from my workshop last week. The busyness of a city like Hong Kong gives you so many opportunities to play with long exposures.
Good day to you,
I hope life is really super good, and that you are happy, nourished, enjoying life in all the many places that you live.
Today’s post is inspired a little by Vangelis, the composer who scored films such as Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire. He composes quite spacey, evocative music – melodies that seem to often grab you by the emotions (see Conquest of Paradise, although I love his more sedate, laid-back music like Blade Runner Blues).
I read an interview with Vangelis in which he was asked:
Many of your fans might have expected a synthetic, ‘Beaubourg’-style score for Blade Runner, rather than the rich and emotional tapestry of themes that you came up with. How concerned were you with disassociating the Blade Runner score from the bombast of Star Wars and the ‘artificial’ style of many previous sci-fi themes?
Vangelis – In order to answer your question I need a special talent that some people have to talk about their work endlessly, something I find very difficult and boring to do. So, I will just say that I did what I felt like doing at the moment I did it.
Awesomely funny! But as well as making me laugh – it made me think that really this last point is the essence of creating and photography.
Creating anything happens in a moment by moment basis – and it is dominated by the choices you make and how you feel.
Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field – Peter Adams
What is happening in the moment that you take the photo?
You may think by that I mean what’s happening outside of you. But what I really mean is what is happening inside of you?
Now – the biggest problem I’ve seen for most photographers is actually – they are not in the present moment.
Most photographers are being distracted by the place they are in, the thoughts running through their head about things in the future, thoughts about their camera and things like ‘am I doing this right?’
But what we need to be aiming for is being totally and fully present in the moment. Totally there in the place, totally connected to what we are doing. Almost pretending there is no past or future, because, actually, is there? All we have for sure is now.
So when you have anchored yourself in this magical present moment you want to figure out how you feel.
How do you feel about this place that you are in? Alone? Excited? Exhilerated? Nervous? Unsure?
Because all of those feelings will translate into your photos.
A very common emotion in photography is nerves, especially when photographing people and street photography.
Nerves lead to people ‘holding back’ and not truly jumping in and embracing the moment.
And I can see when people are holding themselves back, I can see it in their photos. When they are not giving the experience everything they want to give.
To fully embrace the experience, the moment you are in. Surrendering to what is happening now, and pulling yourself away from anything else that will distract you.
You will see in my photos of Hong Kong how I felt about the city. What my dominating emotions were.
Life is fleeting. We get obsessed with the little things – the day to day when we are running around so don’t forget to fully embrace the times when you get to do all of this wonderful creating. Don’t forget to fully embrace the moment.
So those are some thoughts about photography and the essentialness of being ‘in the moment’. I hope you enjoyed them (as well as some of my new photos of Hong Kong).
That’s it for now. Any thoughts, questions or queries – just comment below.
I hope you are all having a great week. Today I got an email from someone that started in the same way that many many emails to me start.
“I have been so rubbish, I haven’t picked up my camera in months!”
And it really struck me because it was so self-judgemental. I should be taking photos, I haven’t, so I’m being a rubbish person.
That is no way to treat your creativity!
And to be honest – why is it so important that you take photos all the time if it’s so difficult for you? If you can only manage to fit in once every few months then so what?
Being judgemental about ourselves – in any way – actually leads us to do the things that we love even less (I believe).
If you are saying – I should take more photos – I think it creates such a bad feeling inside of us, such a sense of judgement and thoughts of I’m not good enough – that we end up doing the exact opposite and taking no photos at all.
This shows the amazing light here in Hong Kong. The sun is behind my subjects and the light is being reflected off onto a green wall. I stood here for about 20 minutes just shooting people in this amazing light.
Same light. I think I prefer this photo to the one above – what do you think?
“If we demand perfection from ourselves we are not living in the real world…The inherent problem in the relationship between the ideal & the real is that the ideal judges the real as unacceptable and brings down condemnation and wrath on the real. This sets up an adversarial relationship between the two and like all adversaries, they move further and further apart.” Henry Cloud
So instead of telling ourselves that we should take photos – why not just wait until we are inspired and feeling good? Make it a time of fun and celebration! Enjoy it as and when it fits into your life.
Di is writing a book at the moment – very very slowly. She works with me on our business, we are ‘world schooling’ our two kids and she also is writing her book. When she started out she created a ridiculous schedule for herself that was impossible to maintain without creating stress. And we definitely didn’t start this world-travelling-working adventure so she could be all stressed out!
I love this shot! The light! Amazing! What do you think?
So she decided to pull back a bit, and lower her expectations. The top priority for both of us now with our creativity is to enjoy it! To allow it to bring us the intense incredible pleasure that making things with our very own hands and minds creates.
“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” Neil Gaiman
Being creative makes us both feel amazing, and in total awe of this planet. Being around other creative people makes us feel amazing too. Of course we’ve got lots of work to do too, but we’ve decided not to force our creativity. We have decided to just let it flow when it feels good.
And you know what? The more allowing, the less judgemental we are about our creativity and stopping all that negativity – the more we actually create. Because it makes us feel good in all ways! It’s no longer a should.
Of course right now I am in super insane inspiration mode because Hong Kong is INCREDIBLE. As you hopefully can see from my photos from this past week .
It still feels a little raw to show my photos straight away like this – before I’ve had the chance to mull them over – but I am not giving into my fear! I am putting them out there to see what you think, to get feedback and to show you how I work putting together a project.
Now help me here solve a marital dispute. Di thinks there is nothing special about this picture below – it’s just a load of poles, and some buildings! Said she.
Whereas I think it has a deeper narrative about the relationship of progress and environmental impact.
Now who is right?! Is there a deeper narrative or not!?
I would LOVE to know what you think of this batch 🙂 Please comment below. It’s always great to hear from you.
Plus some news!
We have just a couple of spots left on our Palermo, Sicily workshopnext May!
So exciting, because Palermo is another truly photogenic city. We’ll photograph the city at first light and as the sun settles at the end of the day. We’ll photograph the people, capture the atmosphere and the city so rich in history. I will lead numerous photo walks, feedback sessions and critiquing.
Have an amazing week! Thanks for reading – and please share with anyone you know who loves photography. It’s so helpful!
Happy photographing,
Anthony and Diana
This is a real cow. I had to queue up to get my photo taken with it. Cows are just wandering around on Landau Island, and being a sacred animal here, lots of people wanted their photo with it.
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes
Thank you to everyone who replied to my last post on our plans to be location independent. We’ll be travelling now for at least the next year – in part to run workshops in our favourite places around the world, and in part to see new places and create new projects.
Di and I have been blown away by your emails – so, so many of them – it just means so much to us to hear your kind and encouraging words. It makes all that we do feel so worth it! We will reply personally to everyone this week, thank you, thank you 🙂
Lots of people have asked where we’ll be going and what we’ll be doing. So that’s what I’m going to talk about today. We are most certainly going to be taking our time in each place we go – a month in Sri Lanka, 6 weeks in Kerala, 5 weeks, 5 or 6 weeks in Mexico, a month in Cuba etc.
For me it’s not about jumping from place to place. What Di and I always want to do is stay somewhere and really absorb the atmosphere and life of each spot we’ve chosen. That’s what feeds us creatively.
This is how I get my very best photos – I take my time really getting to know an area and all the best places to shoot (and when you join me on one of my workshops I make it easy for you by taking you to all the cool spots I’ve found :))
When I go somewhere new I always look at the photos people are taking of a place, and I make a little list of spots that look interesting – but really to me it’s all about wandering, getting lost and figuring out how to photograph the place when I’m there.
We were in Paris for about 6 months, spread over a few different trips, for my book, and that was awesome. My kids got to know the city, we tried all of the well-reviewed patisseries to find the best chocolate eclairs; we got the feel and vibe of the city into our beings.
One of my very favourite things about travel is this –
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” Bill Bryson
The feeling of being in the unknown, of being surrounded by the unfamiliar – makes me feel so alive. Just the process of having breakfast in a brand new place is an exciting and curious-making experience.
Di and I have been working for several months now on creating some amazing new workshops and I’m finally ready to share what we have planned. We are so excited about these!
All of my workshops take different approaches to creating images which are completely appropriate for their subject.
This workshop is all about stimulating your senses with a host of different subjects and the spirit of adventure. Although I will still take the no-rushing approach – that’s a non-negotiable for me – we will be taking in multiple subjects, in three different areas – with an exciting exploration of misty mountains, rural village life, backwater lagoons, city street life, the Arabian sea, lots of intense colour and verdant nature all around us.
This workshop will provide inspiration aplenty – giving you the chance to explore and play with your photography and subjects. Great fun and tonnes of adventure. Info & booking here.
This workshop is all about removing unnecessary stimulation and planting ourselves deep into the incredible tranquility of a remote part of Southern Mexico. Bacalar is on a vast blue lagoon of ‘7 colours’, with white sand that edges onto the jungle. We’ll be staying in a small eco-resort on a stretch of nature between the lagoon and the jungle.
Here we will work on creating a portfolio of stunning images (which I’ll then have professionally printed for you), using simple subjects of deep colours, textures, nature, water, Mayan ruins and the vibrant natural life that is all around us.
This workshop is all about going deep with your creativity and using the beauty of the environment to create unique images. Info & booking here.
I am offering early bird prices on both of these workshops at the moment.
So my calendar for the next 12 months looks like this:
London at Dawn, August 5th & 6th – this will be my last workshop in London for at least a year, maybe longer! I won’t be running many of these going forward – just the occasional one when I am in London.
Arles photo retreat, Aug 21-25th – I held my first photo retreat here last year and it was amazing. Arles is an incredible city in the south of France – home to the world famous photography festival. This is for you if you want to immerse yourself in getting to grips and really developing your technical and creative skills. Although we will be doing lots of shooting, I’ll be offering more advanced teachings on technique.
Hong Kong, October 2017– Only 2 places left. Here we’ll be photographing the plethora of shiny high rises, epic urban landscapes, intense street markets surrounded by rising mountains in this sub-tropical climate. This will be an amazing city adventure – shooting dawn from Victoria Peak, the intense colour and light of the sub-tropical climate, mixed with the brash loud lights of high commerce. I can’t wait for this.
Havana, March 2018 – Cuba could not be more inspiring to me as a photographer. Complex, vibrant and awash with incredible subjects. When I came back from my last Cuban trip, I was positively enlivened with excitement from the experiences I had and images I took (some of my best I think!) Why not join me for another great adventure in Cuba.
I would love to see you in any of these awesome places. They are all very different, but will prove intensely amazing – promise!
And I’ve got some cool thank you gifts too – for everyone booking this week. You get all these!! How cool is that? I love giving gifts.
Elliott Erwitt’s book ‘Personal Best’– one of my favourite photographers and a collection of his best photos! I love giving away my favourite photo books as a way to inspire!
Free year-long membership to my Online Light Monkeys group – (which I’ll still be running whilst travelling). An awesome group where you get free monthly classes, enter the challenges and get feedback on your work.
Free 1-2-1 online session with me – this can be taken at any time over the next 12 months. We can discuss anything you’d like – camera skills, composition techniques, critiquing your images, Lightroom etc.
A package of goodies of my work – my books & some lovely images/cards from my dawn projects. Little bit like a lucky dip!
If you have any questions – big or small – please just email us (info@anthonyepes.com) or comment below 🙂
We can also arrange a time to chat over Skype. Sometimes that is easier than email. Especially if you want me to look at your images. Drop Di a line and she’ll book in a call for us.
This shows the amazing light here in Hong Kong. The sun is behind my subjects and the light is being reflected off onto a green wall. I stood here for about 20 minutes just shooting people in this amazing light.
Same light. I think I prefer this photo to the one above – what do you think?
I love this shot! The light! Amazing! What do you think?
