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To be a good photographer you need to live the vast spectrum of human experience

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To be a good photographer you need to live the vast spectrum of human experience

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Hey folks,

How are you doing right now? I hope things are good wherever you are.

This is Diana today, hello!

The more we are in lockdown the more Anthony and I are asking ourselves, what are we learning from this experience? What can we do with this time to help us live and create things in a deeper, more fulfilling way?

How can we draw something from it that makes us more aware and more in touch with the vast spectrum of human experience?

Being human means that of course we naturally get to see and feel so many different types of experiences – incredible joyous moments, times laced with sadness and fear, long hours of boredom.

Everything is available to us.

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

But I think so many of these experiences that we have, we throw away. We discard as unimportant or insignificant.

Because we are so used to thinking of our lives in terms of being either productive or pleasurable.

But when we are creative people, everything can feed our imaginations.

We escape the long moments of daily domesticity in our minds by thinking of other things – work, pleasure, dreams of travel and wild riches, perhaps.

We discard the gentle poignant moments of quiet at night to escape into our phones or into a book or the latest sensational news.

I read an article on Brain Pickings about the writer Rainer Maria Rilke, that brought the spectrum of human experience into the ideas and the awareness of life that we can use as creative people.

He wrote that in order to be a writer (but let’s substitute photographer or any creative pursuit) we must allow all of the different experiences that life can be.

“For the sake of a few lines one must see many cities, men and things. One must know the animals, one must feel how the birds fly and know the gesture with which the small flowers open in the morning.

One must be able to think back to roads in unknown regions, to unexpected meetings and to partings which one has long seen coming…

To childhood illness that so strangely began with a number of profound and grave transformations, to days in rooms withdrawn and quiet and to mornings by the sea, to the sea itself, to seas, to nights of travel that rushed along on high and flew with all the stars — and it is not yet enough if one may think of all of this.

One must have memories of many nights of love, none of which was like the others, of the screams of women in labor…

But one must also have been beside the dying, one must have sat beside the dead in the room with the open window and the fitful noises.”

To me this awareness and connection with the big and small moments of life is so very essential to our exploration as creative people.

Both “the gesture with which the small flowers open in the morning” and “to days in rooms withdrawn and quiet”.

And to know “mornings by the sea” and “to nights of travel that rushed along on high and flew with all the stars”.

As creative people we can use everything, every single thing that we experience to see what ideas, what thoughts, what things our imaginations and our minds do with this plethora of things.

We can soak it all in.

Let us choose to live in our life, not push it away from us – let us embrace everything that our life is and what we choose to do with it, or whatever is thrust upon us.

And now we are having a collective time of isolation – that perhaps feels terribly lonely, or wonderful in it’s solitude or strange in the time-emptying-out of activities. This can spur us deeper into ourselves to find new realms of imagination and thoughts.

It’s perhaps obvious to say, and too simplistic really, that to create something, anything, you must have experienced both the good and the bad in life.

The light and the darkness of life feeds our minds and creates ideas.

But it is also saying that there are many other experiences between those highs and lows. The hundreds of train journeys we’ve taken, the nights we’ve held our sleepless baby and looked out onto the street, the darkness punctuated by warm globes of light; the endless washing up and cleaning of our dwellings.

All of our experiences are nourishment for the creative spirit, because:

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.” Rainer Maria Rilke

Those are the thoughts and ideas I wanted to share with you today. I hope they provide something interesting to mull over.


We’d love to know what you think of these ideas, let us know in the comments below.

We have heard from many of you over these past few weeks, telling us how you are getting on in the places that you are in. And we love hearing from you.

For us it’s incredibly special to us that we have met so many of you – either in person or online on one of our many live sessions, webinars or classes.

We are always here – so if you feel like saying Hi we’d love to hear from you and see how you are doing at this strange and interesting time.

We are hoping you are all safe and well, and managing to use creativity for a way to explore all that this experience is bringing to our lives.

Sending our very best from our family to yours,

Diana and Anthony

 

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Photos: Tulip Festival in Istanbul

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Today I leave Istanbul. Saying goodbye to this beautiful city after 2 weeks of photographing, exploring and running a wonderful workshop.

One of the most exciting things for me to see in Istanbul in the spring is the tulip festival, where an incredible 30 million tulips are planted all over the city in different displays.

As the city awakens from its deep dark winter the celebration of spring, colour and life here is just gorgeous.

Here are some of the photos I took of these beautiful blooms.

The history of the tulip is pretty fascinating. Although you might think of tulips being of Dutch origin, they are actually native to a band of land running between Southern Europe and Central Asia. Tulips were found growing in mountainous areas with temperate climates.

Wikipedia states that – “While tulips had probably been cultivated in Asia from the tenth century, they did not come to the attention of the West until the sixteenth century, when Western diplomats to the Ottoman court observed and reported on them.”

When tulips were cultivated by the Ottoman empire they created such an impact the era is called Lale Devri –the Tulip Era.

They went on to become a highly sought after commodity when imported to Holland, and this created a tulip mania.

Wikipedia also states: “The name “tulip” is thought to be derived from a Persian word for turban, which it may have been thought to resemble.”

Here is a great little video showing some of the magnificent blooms around Istanbul.

Video: Istanbul Tulip Festival

Happy photographing,

Anthony and Diana

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Photos: The Cats of Istanbul

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“Without the cat, Istanbul would lose a part of its soul.” from Kedi

One thing you notice when you arrive in Istanbul is the abundance of stray cats and dogs. This might sound a little off putting, but in fact these are some of the friendliest animals you will meet.

Locals feed and look after the strays, sometimes creating little homes for collections of cats in the neighbourhoods.

These are just a few of my snaps of cats in the city.

If you love cats – and Istanbul – you’ll love these stories too:

In Istanbul the Cats are King:

Cats of Istanbul on Instagram

Crazy cute photos of the adventures of felines in the city. And hey, Istanbul, what a background!

Kedi – documentary about 9 cats living in Istanbul

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Lessons from legendary photographer Ara Güler ‘The Eye of Istanbul’

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© Ara Güler

”Art is something important, but the history of humanity is more important, and that is what press photographers record. We are the eyes of the world. We see on behalf of other people.

We collect the visual history of today’s earth. To me, visual history is more important than art. The function of photography is to leave documentation for coming centuries.” Ara Güler

Last night I watched a documentary about the Turkish photographer Ara Güler, called The Eye of Istanbul. He died recently at the age of 90 and I wanted to reflect a little on his life today, as he had much to teach us about photography and living life with passion and purpose.

© Ara Güler

I truly admire Güler’s work, particularly of Istanbul in the 1950’s and 60’s. He has a particular style of capturing the feeling and atmosphere of a place that I find exciting and compelling.

When I was in Istanbul a few years ago I bought Vanished Colours, a beautiful book of his early colour photography, again all photographed around Istanbul (the documentary is called after his nickname, as he spent so much of his life photographing the city.)

I also love to share the work of people who have lived lives that have followed a deep and meaningful passion. Of people who have chosen a different path in life, and worked hard to make it successful.

© Ara Güler

As the only child of a pharmacy owner, Ara Güler could have stayed safe and taken over the family business. But he chose to follow an interest for theatre, into film and then finally photography.

He makes me want to work harder and go deeper with my photography. I feel encouraged when I see the range of his work, as he travelled all over the world, photographing everything from ancient ruins, film stars to war zones. But I love that he had this constant subject: the changing city around him.

I admit Istanbul is one of my favourite cities on earth. I find the place endlessly fascinating and could spend many more months of my life exploring it.

© Ara Güler

As someone who also photographs cities Güler is an obvious person for me to explore,  although his approach is very different to mine, as his interest is people within the city, and the city is the backdrop. So much so that he said:

“A picture of a landscape is not a photograph. A photograph is not the capturing of a beautiful sunset or the like. When I look at a photograph I should be able to see what it is telling me. Does it have a story? That’s it. A photograph starts from there.”

His interest is the human condition, the lives that people are living. You can sense the ease with which he was able to be with people, make them feel comfortable, his patience and ability to engage people so he captures authentic emotion.

© Ara Güler

“I am not actually a landscape photographer. I am a photographer of living breathing people, of workers.” Ara Güler

He describes himself as a visual historian. And I like this, that we can record and share stories of the life that we see all around us.

“How valuable will the thing you find be for the history and future of humankind? Finding that is the issue at stake. That is the starting point of photography.”  Ara Güler

Look for the quiet moments, the signs of life in the world around you

© Ara Güler

Professor of Photography, Mehmet Bayhan, describe Güler as:

“Looking for social layers and traces as much as any sociologist.”

I like that he uses the city in his photograph as part of the story. He is photographing people, but within the context of their location, to tell us more about who these people are and their experiences of life.

A famous quote of Güler’s is:

“When I’m taking a picture of Aya Sofia, what counts is the person passing by who stands for life.”

© Ara Güler

The fishermen in their tiny boat contrasting against the monumental mosque behind. The grandeur of the mosque, and the epic sunlight are not significant when you have fish to catch.

Güler talks about when he is standing at a big monument or mosque he will be looking for signs of human life – the person selling the flowers, the man cleaning the steps.

It is how the people are living that is important to him.

Bring sincerity to your photos of people

“Sincerity is perhaps the most basic concept that brings Magnum and Ara Güler together. People-focused, but also entailing sincere emotions when approaching people.” Kimar Firat, Mimar Sinan University

© Ara Güler

I really like this point – that the incessant curiosity he brought to his photographs of people was coming from a place of sincere interest. Not voyeurism or superiority. But a desire to connect with his subjects and show a moment of truth about their lives.

In a world that feels sometimes so intensely divided, it feels imperative for us photographers to use the power of our medium to connect people – rather than separate them. To tell the unique stories of people’s lives, which are really universal stories for us all. We are not all that different.

© Ara Güler

There are stories to be found everywhere

“There is something going on around people at every moment. To be able to capture that moment, one needs to be a good musketeer.” Güler

We are limited only by ourselves. Watch and be curious. Patience helps too.

“I waited an hour and a half once for a cat to pass me.” Güler

Capturing atmosphere and feeling

Güler’s photos contained such intense atmosphere. Look at this photo. What do you think he needed to do to create such feeling in this image?

© Ara Güler

“We could say that photography is the only language in the world that everyone can understand. You look at a picture and you get the message. Ara is one of those photographers who connected the whole world to his photographs.” Photographer Bruno Barbey

There is something very beautiful about the look of old colour film

The colours are different to what we see in film now. Combined with the subject of a city that has so dramatically changed, it gives such a wonderful quality of feeling to the images.

© Ara Güler

Look deeper into life

“Since we are men of the heart we are looking for something else in life.” Güler

To me I feel to step away from the ‘normal life tasks’, even if it’s only for an evening or a few days, is to release yourself from the things that seem to propel us into living life on autopilot.

I have been thinking about this recently. I had a conversation with a friend who told me that weeks of his life seem to run endlessly into others, to be so similar that time seems to pass without being noticed.

That made me feel sad. I know that I have had such times in my life, but to succumb completely to routine and habit is to dull the senses so much that you could argue you are barely living.

© Ara Güler

Moving beyond what feels easy and normal will awaken your mind and spirit, it will put your brain on high alert to the new situations, and that slows down time. When you are really, deeply, truly concentrating on something – life seems to come into sharp focus, so that you are totally  present, totally aware of the task or new place you are in.

What brings you deep satisfaction? And how can you do it more?

© Ara Güler

Letting your imagination run free

Güler describes in the documentary an imagined scenario of when he once saw two chairs on the bank of a river, which happened to be facing over the water in opposite directions.

He imagines a story of lost love, of lovers being separated, of ships sailing past taking people away. It was fascinating because the photo is simply of two chairs, not facing each other. But there is another sense, another feeling about this photo that makes it more than just a photo of chairs.

That is because, I believe, of the feelings that Güler had whilst taking the photo. They are somehow imbued in the photo itself.

Güler said of the photo: “This is my most romantic shot.” And that after imagining this sad,  romantic story, that yes, “you can photograph sorrow.”

© Ara Güler

This all about engaging our imaginations in our photos. It’s not just photographing things at face value.  It’s allowing your imagination free reign to create scenarios and ideas so that your photos have other dimensions that are maybe not obvious to the viewer, but create a deep feeling within the photo.

When I talk about my photos I often say things like: It looked to me like a post-apocalyptic world and so I shot it with those ideas in mind or It reminded me of the light I would watch when laying on my parents’ bed as a child.

The resulting photos are then imbued with some of the feelings I had – maybe of wonder, nostalgia, fear – about the stories I had created of what I had seen.

© Ara Güler

Photography is simply a mechanism to capture light

“What are you going to find with that light?” Güler

I like this thought – this simple, clear thought and if you remember only this, it will serve you incredibly well in your photography.

Look at the light, find interesting light and go find a subject that will be served by that light.

To me that is the absolute essence of all photography. Find the good light, then find something interesting within it!

© Ara Güler

Photography can be a form of poetry

“Ara Güler is one of the philosophers of our era. We can see this in his images that have a poetic quality.”  Actor, Şener Şen

Photography can be a form of visual poetry. It can take us to magical, faraway places. It can provoke day dreams and ideas, it can take us back in time to the feeling of somewhere we knew well…or not at all.

Photography is an incredible medium, because regardless of if you agree with my or Güler’s ideas about photography – you can always create something of your very own with it.

© Ara Güler

There is always something new to see, new stories to tell, and that I find ridiculously exciting.

I hope you have enjoyed those ideas and thoughts about Güler’s work. I loved spending time going through his images and evoking my experiences of Istanbul.

Here are some interesting links to explore more of Güler’s work:

My Istanbul

© Anthony Epes

I have been photographing Istanbul four years. I exhibited some of my work of the city a few years back in London, but I am continuing to build my story of the city. It will soon become a book, and at the moment I am also making a short film about my impressions Istanbul, as I continue to go back year after year to explore and see more of this mesmerising city.

You can read about my experiences over the past few years:

My photography workshop in Istanbul – April 2019

Each year I run a photography workshop for a small group of people in Istanbul, the next one coming up this April. I love to take people to all of my favourite spots to shoot – to explore hidden neighbourhoods, to watch the sunrise over the city, capturing the majestic mosques and views at dawn.

I love to take people wandering through the narrow streets, meeting people as we go and photographing the busy, bustling city that has layer upon layer of history embedded in this magical place.


I love to show people the amazing hospitality and food of the Istanbulites, the friendliness and welcome of the locals. Its a workshop full of long walks through diverse neighbourhoods, a lot of fun, beautiful food and of course incredible photography.

Journeying up the Bosphourous, capturing the sunset on the Asian side of the city and standing in awe at the majesty of the Blue Mosque at dawn. Come join me for an adventure for all the senses.

We will be there during the Tulip Festival in spring when 30 million bulbs are planted all over the city, and the vibrant colours and displays fill Istanbul with incredible colours.

This workshop is now 6 days, so we can see even more. Limited to 6 people. You can find out more and reserve one of the last spots on this workshop here.


From my last workshop – exploring, photographing and critiquing our images.

That’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed this little sojourn into old Istanbul. Let me know what you think below. It’s always fantastic to hear from you.

Happy photographing,

Anthony and Diana

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How to capture the feeling of spring

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I was up very early this morning. In the streets of East London I watched the pre-dawn sky change colour, from the magnificent midnight blue to ever lighter shades of blue. Colourful ribbons of pinks and yellows burst across the sky, and little wisps of purple and blue clouds appeared and disappeared at random.

There is some warmth to the early morning air now, an exciting sign that spring is here and we are entering my favourite period of life in London. Warmth, sunshine, and it feels like everyone is opening up as they come out of their winter hibernation.

Today I am not offering any big challenging teachings – today I want to give you something easy, something light and joyful. We have to be light and joyful sometimes right?  Especially with the thing we love so much – taking photos and being creative!

Warm spring sunrise Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul

First thing – today I want to focus on the subject of spring. What could be more joyful for us creatures who are emerging from the dark cold of winter into this light-filled nature-filled spring time? I know not all of you are in a springtime area, but I think you can sympathise, right?

Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’
Robin Williams

Second thing – as you know, photography is not just about the aesthetics. It’s about capturing and evoking emotion. How many ‘pretty’ photos have you seen in your life that have created no lasting impact. ZILLIONS. Even if your subject is gorgeous and wonderful, you still need an additional element – lighting, an interesting expression or something that will invoke emotion.

My challenge today is to encourage you to go out and capture the feelings of spring – ebullient, hopeful, sorrowful…whatever they may be. And if you’re not in a spring-zone, then you can capture any mood created by a season.

I thought this is a perfect challenge for people who struggle to get emotion into their photography. If you start with something pretty simple like this, then you can build up your confidence to capture some more complex emotions.

Now – let’s explore some themes that we could bring into our spring photos.

Hope

Tulips of Gulhane Park, Istanbul

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.
Pablo Neruda

Spring is a pretty hopeful time me thinks. Light pouring into our lives after a time of relative darkness. That’s why I think this photo of the daffodils feels like a ‘hope’ photo.

Renewal

I am definitely up for some renewal right now!  In fact, I believe in having regular times of renewal and rejuvenation. But unlike that feeling of renewal at the beginning of January that seems to come, I believe, from a place of guilt or panic (Must improve my life! Must get fit and start saving!) the feeling of spring’s renewal feels fun and frivolous, and very creative. A time to play with your photography, a time to experiment and explore.

Desire for adventure

In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move.
Henry Rollins

Having grown up in a different era where I could go out and play unattended for hours at a time, in a place that was basically summer and spring-like all year, there is something incredibly evocative for me seeing my kids in nature. But don’t we all have that nostalgic feeling when we see kids playing in nature; even my London-born wife who didn’t have the kind of outdoor adventurous life that I did feels wistful at the sight of our kids muddy and playing with sticks.

Even if it’s not about kids there is an opening up of the spirit when spring arrives. You stop hunkering down in the cold, and possibilities, ideas, thoughts of adventures start to flow. So adventure feels like a good theme for your photographs.

Joy

This photo below could be called ‘young love’. To me it is all about that feeling of beautiful weather and being finally outside, being with someone you like a lot, plus that playfulness that young couples have.

To get these kinds of shots you have to (respectfully) really look at, and notice, the interactions between people. So not just what they look like, but the dynamic they are creating together. You have to look, notice and then step forth and be brave and click when you see something interesting.

Atmosphere

Spring has a definite feeling to it; the air somehow changes, people’s mood changes, and to capture not just an individual mood of something, but the the mood of a place is a great thing to practise in your photography.

I mean think about it, right.  Every day you go out of your house and there is a mood or feeling created by the time of day, the weather, and any other extraneous events going on. Like when it’s dark there could be a sinister feeling, or an earthy atmosphere at the beginning of autumn.

For me there was a palpable mood the day after the Brexit referendum, for example, or the day after the US elections. When there is a collective contemplation about an event that also seems to change the atmosphere.

 

The sheer vitality of life

Sometimes it can be displaying the sheer amazing aliveness that spring brings into our lives. Waking up the soil, bringing millions of flowers, plants and trees into a dazzling life-affirming display.

Sacred Coeur, Paris

 

Tulips, Istanbul

 

 

As with everything, though, there is always an edge, an opposite

To all of this life and vitality there is also the reminder that darkness, loss, winter, are also part of life. I think this photo hints at that edge, the darkness that is looming after the burst of colour and life.

 

The delight of spring light

Gotta love all that light in spring. Especially as our days get longer. Here is a very typical shot for me. Light and shadow – the shadow creating a nice contrast to the beautiful light, and that contrast makes the light more intense and more delightful.

I also love interesting lines. Can you see the horizontal lines which, although not straight, are creating structure in the photo? Then the last element is the contrast of the old crumbly wall and the beautiful delicate flowers, which is another ‘typical’ thing I do. Contrasting old and new, fresh and decaying, light and dark. The contrasting elements always help to enhance the other, making them more ‘decaying’ or more ‘fresh’ looking.

The play of light and shadow, though, is what makes it a good shot, as you can see here. This is a similar composition but not as good.

Can you see how the set up in the two photos is almost the same – the ancient crumbling wall contrasted with the pretty vibrant flowers. I ‘organised’ the elements of the photo along horizontal lines, almost rule-of-third-ish. But of course the difference with the last photo is the absence of incredible light!

As if I need to tell my regular readers how important light is! You guys totally know don’t you?!?.

So I hope you enjoyed that! I hope it makes your feet itch and you want to get out and take photos.

I am wrapping up a very exciting week where I launched my new book. It arrived from the printer on Monday (you can see me ‘unboxing’ it here.) It was super thrilling to see all this work we’ve been doing come to fruition. Can I say too that it is an awesome, awesome book, really my best yet?

You can still get one of the last books that I have of East London at Dawn right here. But they won’t be available for long as my stock has almost run out!

Have a great day, and happy photographing! As always let me know what you think! Comment below, I love hearing from you.

Anthony and Diana

 

Istanbul at Dawn exhibition

Istanbul at Dawn exhibition

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Photography project by Anthony Epes, Part of the East End Film Festival

June 22nd-28th 2016

Spitalfields Market, Brushfield Street, London E1 6AA

Further details/exhibition link here.

Dawn, particularly in the spring and summer months, brings something incredible to our cities – beauty, serenity and emptiness. Even in Istanbul, home to over 14 million people, 4am on a May morning finds you wandering through empty streets as the colours of dawn break through a midnight blue sky.

As part of his series on Cities at Dawn, American photographer Anthony Epes spent several months in Istanbul photographing the city in the hours around sunrise. Anthony has captured the exquisite beauty of the light at dawn and the historic majesty of this ancient city – as well as the odd person he encountered on his travels.

Fog Over the Golden Horn - Istanbul

Anthony says:

“I photograph dawn partly because I love the combination of the incredible, almost ethereal light at sunrise and the fact that without the people dominating the city you get to see Istanbul as it is, just the buildings, the streets, undisturbed by the crowds. It’s almost as if the city takes on a serene and peaceful life of its own.

Dawn brings a deep, almost primal excitement at watching the rebirth of the day. There is a feeling of hope and possibility. Life is ahead of us. The mistakes of yesterday are long gone; the mistakes of today have yet to be made. It’s almost impossible not to be excited by the potential of the day.

It’s funny too – that dawn is a very inspiring time and yet most of us miss it. Yes being in bed and sleeping is great – but how about waking up a few hours earlier and watching something so breathtaking it changes how you see your city and makes you feel great just to be alive.”

See BBC World  clip of Anthony talking about why he loves photographing dawn.

anthony-and-kids

About Anthony Epes

Originally from California, Anthony has been living in London since 2000. Istanbul at Dawn is part of an ongoing series of projects on Cities at Dawn, and follows London at Dawn and Paris at Dawn (exhibited at St Pancras International and now both books) as well as Venice at Dawn. In 2014 Anthony exhibited his project on the Homeless World Cup, shot in Mexico City and Poznań.

Anthony’s projects have been covered on BBC World and CNN,  in Condé  Nast Traveller, Time Out, Atlas Obscura, Digital Photography Magazine, Hyper Allergic, French Photo Magazine, The Economist and many other publications.

Inspired by the Cities at Dawn series Anthony runs a series of photo workshops, taking intrepid city dwellers to explore the early morning streets of his favourite cities including London, Venice, Istanbul, Havana and Hong Kong.

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citiesatdawn.wpengine.com

Exhibition is part of the East End Film Festival, and kindly supported by Spitalfields Estate

Spitalfields logo

Warm sunrise Sulemayne Mosque

Fear and photography (it happens)

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I’m sitting at my computer and having a one-sided argument. The computer is not doing what I want it to do and all I feel is despair. I am organising my files that will eventually become prints, that will eventually be the exhibition that will be on show to thousands of people next week. And things aren’t going my way. After several hours of snail-like progress I leave my little studio and get the train home. My body feels so heavy and I am seriously freaked out. When I get home my wife and son immediately fall on me with hugs – I must have looked really miserable!

And in those wonderful dark hours of night, when there is no light to reassure, I think about the commitments I’ve made to sponsors and supporters that will be destroyed if I don’t get this right. The project that took me several months of shooting to create, that so many people have got behind, written about, supported, cheered on …. it will all be for nothing.

The next morning I’m woken by my daughter loudly proclaiming she needs me to get up so I can take her to school so that after school she gets to go on a playdate with a new friend. She is commanding. I enjoy her confidence. As we rush through the morning rain to the beautiful little hippy-school she goes to, in acres of green that is so relaxing to experience on a daily basis, I start to think through my computer problems in a different way, and slowly the pieces fall into place – so that by the time I am back in the studio I have come up with the start of a solution.

The goal of perfect prints is getting closer. I can take a small breath.

This is just one of the many, many moments in this life of being a photographer – artist – creative entrepreneur even. I find myself often walking on the edge of a precipice on the far reaches of my comfort zone. Everything that happens in this work is created by Di and myself. And if I mess it up, there is no safety net, no one to bail me out. We are living by our wits alone.

I am talking about this because maybe you are not facing the exact same challenges with your creativity as I am – but many of us get gripped by fear and don’t move on with our photography because, consciously or unconsciously, we are afraid of taking the step into the unknown.

And I am here to say – the fear may never go away, so if that’s the case, just get on and do it. Maybe you want to:

  • Ask for feedback on your work
  • Enter the competition
  • Ask that interesting looking stranger to pose for a portrait
  • Make that book
  • Be reminded of how to shoot on manual – again

It doesn’t matter what the goal is, the overwhelming fear of failing, feeling stupid, not being good enough – etc. etc. is the same. But if you don’t take that leap off the cliff – do you know what will happen? Something way, way way worse than fear.

Regret.

Regret is a thousand times more powerful than fear. Because fear is temporary. It’s like a gust of wind or fog. You’re in it, you do what you’re fearful of and it magically blows away. Like it’s never even been there. Regret, though, burrows into your soul and infects your bloodstream, and is almost impossible to get rid of. Let’s not go there!

A shadow on Galata Bridge

So I am back at my studio, I am plugging away, bringing all this work that I’ve done over the past year, taking my photos from my computer and camera – and I am bringing it out into the world for the start of a journey. More exhibitions, a book etc. This will bring much exhilaration and satisfaction, I know – when it’s done.

My wife always suggests that instead of fighting fear I just let it hang out and be there. And so for the next several days it’ll be me and fear, sharing my studio, until it gets bored by my acceptance and goes off to haunt some other establishment.

Have a wonderful day.

And happy photographing!

Shooting the streets of Istanbul: some ideas

Shooting the streets of Istanbul: some ideas

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“A city does not mean a couple of windows and a door frame. A city means a place where people love to live, where people get a certain flavor out of living. Those are the places I love to photograph.” Ara Güler

As a photographer of cities, Istanbul has everything I could ever want. I am completely and totally in awe of this place. The incredible light, the complex history, beautiful buildings, the seas, the people, the culture, street sellers… it’s packed with incredibleness (a technical term).

In this post I wanted to pick one theme of what I like to shoot in Istanbul – with the hope that if you make your way over here it will give you some ideas on how to get a handle on this intense and bustling city. The two easiest things to photograph in Istanbul are the monumentally beautiful vistas and the people. Because Istanbul is laid out over seven (very steep) hills it’s easy to capture epic views over the city. And the people here are stunningly friendly and warm, so ditto very easy to photograph. But I will pick up those two themes later in another post.

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 What I want to do with this post is go a little off the beaten track. I want to bring together some of my photos of the streets of Istanbul. Some of the details, the scenes that I saw that are away from the epic and grand and impressive. My aim here is for more of the every day. I want to find some of the flavour of the city, the city that people live in and give you some ideas on how to photograph those parts. Most of these shots are from my dawn wanderings, but a few are from later in the day.

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There is so much to shoot here. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by all of the potential, and to go at shooting like a rabid bunny. Don’t shoot like that. I guarantee, my friend, if you are shooting too much, then you won’t be able to truly get into the vibe of the city – slow down and pace yourself. Shooting a city, especially this city, is not the same as feeling a city. Work with all of your senses: really look at it, smell it, listen, and look again.

It’s good to remember that interesting light can make most subjects look interesting. Boring light can make even the most compelling subject look dull and flat. A semi-interesting wall brought to life by the light and shadows:

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But it doesn’t have to be intense light. Here we have some much much softer light and it works to beautifully enhance the building, just look at all of those textures!

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For me the things that I am aiming for in my photos is clarity and simplicity. I am always looking to remove things from my photo, break down the elements even further so that I can create something appealing to the eye.

Now that’s my aesthetic. I am sometimes a bit too austere – we should always be pushing ourselves and developing our style – but the concept of simplicity is very useful in a place like Istanbul where the city is just so packed with complex backgrounds and interesting things to photograph.

Look for elements that interest you and build your photo from there.

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The photo below was shot in Tarlabasi, where I stayed for a few weeks earlier this year. It’s a very run down area, lots of poverty and considered quite rough. It’s worth wandering through though, particularly on a Sunday when there is a great market (This is a great blog post about the market and area). The area is a mass of historical buildings and is undergoing huge, controversial redevelopment. Lots of people are battling to keep their homes, so it’s going to be changing dramatically soon.

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In many neighbourhoods that I visited, next to a new building there could be one that is abandoned, windowless and rotting. That could sound depressing, but it actually makes the city feel very ancient and in constant flux.

When you want to capture depth: think in layers. The camera can’t distinguish depth in an image, like the human eye can, and if there are too many things going on within the image it will look flat and messy. A good way to think of it is in layers. Each layer should be distinct from the previous layer, and therefore allows the eye to mentally build up the depth. This photo below has several distinct layers, but it feels very simple doesn’t it? At the front it’s the green, then the building, then more green, then the clouds and finally a wash of blue sky.

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The elements that make the photo below work are the mixture of natural and artificial lighting; the contrasting colours and shapes of the buildings. Between the green building and the ones behind it there is a subtle layer created by the tungsten lights of the shops. It’s not a great feature of the shot, it’s just something that adds another layer and a feeling of depth so that it doesn’t all blend into each other. And of course the last element is that it’s bathed in the soft blue light of early morning.

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 The photo below has more layers. First I’d like to say that if the photo didn’t have the man on the balcony it wouldn’t have the great sense of scale that it has. The buildings would look quite flat.  The man is almost the first layer, then you have the buildings, then the sea, the boat and the far shore. A mixture of people and landscape/buildings are really effective if used simply and purposefully to create depth.

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I wasn’t sure about this photo below but my wife loved it. Much of the city is filled with tall buildings and apartment blocks where the dawn light only barely enters, and so there is not much dramatic morning light (which I love photographing). But this photo has a suggestion of it, as well as some artificial light which adds really nicely to the photo.

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Here is another shot that could have been too busy and therefore looked flat (isn’t it funny that when a scene becomes too busy it looks flat rather than chaotic). The three significant elements I focused on were the mural on the broken building (amazing!), the man’s head below (great expression!) and the contrast of the modern and colourful buildings behind.

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Istanbul is great for contrasts, and it’s worth looking for contrasting details when you are wandering around. Again – both of these photos below focusing on artificial lights’ are about simplicity in the face of busyness.

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Remember to strip out the elements that aren’t enhancing your photo.

In this photo the area around the street vendor was busy, but for me the crowds were too distracting, so I waited until there was a lull before taking this shot.

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A few more things:

  • Where to shoot: I will put together a list of my favourite spots but in the meantime I really like this. It’s recommendations from seven famous photographers from Istanbul and where they like to shoot in the city.
  • Ara Güler: I’ve mentioned Istanbul’s most famous photographer before (his book of black and white photos of old Istanbul is great), but I just bought a lesser known book of his colour work of the city called Vanished Colours, which is amazing. These photos remind me a lot of Ernst Haas’s feel for colour. Beautiful book. You can check out Ara Güler’s site for his work. He also owns a cafe, Kafe Ara, here in Istanbul, and I hear he’s often there hanging out. Generally I prefer colour photography because it’s more real, there is more feeling to me and it’s actually harder to capture something interesting.
  • Yildiz Moran: I was also happy to come across Yildiz Moran, an underrated but interesting photographer, one of the first famous female Turkish photographers.
  • Rule of Thirds: I just wrote a post for Digital Photography School on the Rule of Thirds – which you might like to check out. It was great fun to write, I love that rule! And it has over 4,000 shares already 🙂

I’d love to know what you think of this week’s post – what do you love to photograph in Istanbul? Comment  here or drop me an email – I love hearing from you.

Happy photographing!

Anthony & Diana

 

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Staying Motivated

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Yesterday I was watching my three year old daughter at her art table working on a picture. She had a shaker of glitter in each hand plus one in her mouth. She was shaking her little arms and nodding her head furiously in an effort, I suppose, to get as much glitter onto her page all at once.

Afterwards, when I was clearing up, I noticed that there were sheets of tissue paper methodically scrunched up and placed into the glue bowl and a little pile of fabric roses covered in glue and glitter that she had carefully arranged, on the table. Neither had been used in her picture.

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For my daughter the joy of making pictures is mostly about the process and about feeling – the sensations of looking and playing with the materials, seeing what happens when you shake glitter into the air and watch it fall gently onto the carpet. The feeling of scrunching up tissue paper and pouring glue on little roses – even more wonderful.

“Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realise that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.” Maya Angelou

This story is really a little reminder to all of us (including me), underneath our incessant doing and planning, to just take a moment to remember that this joyful, creative force is still alive in us, even if it gets buried in emails and to do lists more often than not. Let’s remember that the doing of the work is just as exciting as seeing the results.

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So – a few weeks ago I sent out a challenge to you all to take 50 photos a day for 15 days. I heard from a lot of you that you were taking it up. Awesomeness. (For those of you who emailed me about the challenge, I will be setting up an invitation for a public edit of your work in the next few weeks)

The reason I set this challenge was because I am often told by people (who love photography) how they forget to take photos. However enthused and inspired they are about photography, it is all too easy to get distracted by life. This is true for me too.

And yet, we have a deep urge to create. Why? I like what Brene Brown says:

“We are born makers, and creativity is the ultimate act of integration – it is how we fold our experiences into our being.”

(Small aside, Brown’s little RSA video about empathy was amazing, really blew me away when I saw it.)

I also like what Jason Silva says – that we all have this urge to create, it’s like a knot in your stomach. And when you do finally make something, when you do finally output, then that knot, that anxiety goes and you feel a rush of feeling that is euphoric and connects you suddenly with the universe. You go from being alone in your bubble to being totally connected. Beautiful.

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So we want to create, we know it makes us feel amazing (or makes us feel something more than what we are feeling right now). How can we keep this thing that feels amazing in our every day (or even every week) life?

Creativity is about balance, it’s the ever-important concept of discipline and excitement and joy in the process. Let’s conjure up the ying and yang symbol as an explanation? Both are the drivers here.

So – what do you want to do now?
Regardless of if you’ve taken the challenge and have lapsed, completed the challenge or not done it at all. I thought it would be helpful to suggest that you think about the idea of committing to your photography in some formal way, keeping discipline in the back of your mind.  Especially as we head into the autumn, a time that is usually very busy and distracting.

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Be committed
Take my 50/15 challenge, details here, or do something smaller or more long term – have one day per week, or a couple of days per month that are your photo days.

Some questions (for you)
And how about asking yourself a couple of questions to get yourself on track so you can make your photography and creativity really significant in your life over the next few months:

  • ·         What does photography give me?
  • ·         How do I want to be creative in my every day?
  • ·         Which of my photos or projects am I really proud of?

I ask these kinds of questions because we all know how to make rules for ourselves, rules that generally don’t work or frustrate us or make us feel crappy for not following them. But when you think about the benefits of what a photographic practise brings to your life, you are more likely to stay motivated and on track with this thing that brings you so much joy. (I know my daughter will stay fully committed to using up all of her glitter in the ten glitter pots that my wife bought over the next few weeks). Finding what is as motivating for you as glitter is to my daughter is the key to keeping up a fulfilling creative practise.

But what if you find it hard to get started? Or create enough momentum to keep you going? I think what holds some people back is a little bit of fear of being, well, rubbish. Producing work that is mediocre. We all want to be great, don’t we? But the vision of greatness, that tendency we have to lean into perfectionism is a trap; it’s a dark hole that we can fall into and struggle to emerge from.

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“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” Anne Lamott

So you know what – just start small:

“You may never know exactly what you need to do, or exactly where you’re going. But if you are willing to start taking tiny steps, and keep going, the dots will connect over time to create something beautiful and fulfilling.” Lori Deschene

And let’s remember this:

“Human resources are like natural resources; they’re often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they’re not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.” Ken Robinson

(Another aside – I love Sir Ken, whose Ted Talk ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity’ inspired my wife and I to totally transform our kids’ education. It is completely amazing if you haven’t already seen it.)

So let us commit to our creativity.

Now something else to motivate you…
I see so many wonderful photos and projects every day from the work we do in our workshops, my Light Monkey’s Photo Collective and from people who share their images with me. I have been thinking for a while now what a shame that it’s just me, or a few other people from a workshop, who get to see the photos that you take.

And so I’d like to curate an online collection of images of some of the best photos that you are taking. And we’ve love you to submit your work, whether it’s from doing the challenge or from another time. I would like to send me your very best 5 images from 2015 (and only 2015 I’m afraid, we are not resting on the laurels of past success. It’s all about the now, right now). Deadline is November 30th, so get thinking and snapping, you’ve got time.

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Last words from me….

Is there anything that you would like to see me cover in our blog? Any burning questions, pressing interests, subjects you’d like to see me explore?

I really really want to know what would be helpful or useful for you.

It would be great to receive suggestions for posts. I will look at them all and see if I can bring an interesting investigation to the subject.

I really appreciate you reading my blog – please comment with any feedback on my site – and send to any friends or people you like/love if you feel the urge. That would be super helpful.

Happy photographing!

Anthony & Diana

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The above photo of me was taken by the very wonderful Monica Fritz, who is a photographer based in Istanbul. She ran a great photo walk for our group on my last workshop in the city. 

All the of the photos in this post are of Istanbul.

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Greetings from Istanbul

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I arrived at my hotel last week in the dark. It was late and I didn’t see much in the cab ride. All I knew as I stared out over the Sea of Marmara from my third floor balcony was that the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia were just 200 meters behind me. Waiting for me.

When you are this excited about a place and getting it through the lens, a 5am alarm is like sweet music.  Really.

I remember coming upon the Eiffel Tower for the first time in a gorgeous indigo twilight.  I was enraptured, just captivated, and feeling that this was somehow a very special moment in my life.

It happened again here in Istanbul. Just, wow. An indigo twilight with the last of the evening stars, the moon sinking into the sea, cloud cover just perfect – the colours soon to come to the Blue Mosque before me.  I felt total awe, it was wonderful. And I was ready.

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There is a lot of juggling, a lot of hustling and a lot of unreliability in the life of a photographer (or any artist/freelance creative).  It’s intense. But at moments like this, I feel so completely alive, feeling new experiences run electricity lines through my life. I feel so lucky, as though this city were here just for me to explore.

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I had a birthday recently.  After so many I am pretty sure I am a grown-up.  But that is not how I feel when I’m in awe of something.  I feel like a child. A child completely oblivious to tasks, responsibility, habits,etc.  I just want to wiggle and say woohoo!  I like it.  I like it! Luckily I also have discipline and the skills to be effective at what I do and still be in awe.  It kind of reminds me of meditation: a free state of thinking and being. Letting go and going with the flow.  This is my juice.  This is my creative state.  I shoot as a child sees.

Istanbul is a huge city.  More like London than Paris. I must have walked close to 30 kilometers already (a lot of it to and from the kebab shop).  I have found the iconic places and discovered quiet corners laced with mystery. The condition of the buildings varies from sparkling gold towers to dilapidated wooden ruins, all occupied.  Definitely a city of contrasts.

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The locals in Sultanahmet where I  stayed for the first week are very joyful and glad to help with directions or to offer you tea.  They do spend day in and day out with tourists, after all.

Istanbul at Dawn

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I am now in Beyoglu outside of the main tourist area and life is quite different  Recently while reading Orhan Pamuk’s lovely book Istanbul: Memories of a City I came across the concept of huzun, which I found really intriguing:

“To feel this huzun is to see the scenes, evoke the memories, in which the city itself becomes the very illustration, the very essence of huzun. I am speaking of the evenings when the sun sets early; of fathers under streetlamps in the back streets returning home carrying plastic bags; of the old Bosphorus ferries moored to deserted stations in the middle of winter; of the children who play ball between the cars on cobblestoned streets; of teahouses packed to the rafters with unemployed men; of ship horns booming through the fog; of crowds rushing to catch ferries on winter evenings; of the city walls, ruins since the end of the Byzantine Empire; of the markets that empty in evenings;

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“…of the seagulls perched on rusty barges caked with moss and mussels, unflinching under pelting rain; of crowds of men fishing on the sides of the Galata Bridge; of the busses packed with passengers; of the little children in the streets who try to sell the same packet of tissues to every passerby; of the underpasses in the most crowded intersections; of the overpasses in which every step is broken in a different way; of beautiful covered women timidly bargaining in street markets; of the view of the Golden Horn, looking towards Eyüp from the Galata Bridge; of the simit vendors on the pier who gaze at the view as they wait for customers; of everything being broken, worn out, past its prime; I speak of them all.” Orhan Pamuk

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I like how Pamuk is painting a picture of the city with his words and I am seeing it in photograph after photograph.  I feel I know what he is talking about now. He goes on to say that all happy cities resemble each other, where melancholic cities each have their own type of melancholy.  Exploration isn’t just looking at the architecture and the people, it’s exploring the feeling and sense of a place. Being a photographer and someone who is always trying to find gems under the surface, I feel this concept very alluring.  I think in my own way I am searching for this huzun in the people and the places here, I haven’t captured it to my liking yet but I don’t want to go too fast. I have time. I want to see it, and feel it, all.

I know I am in an exotic local so seeing interesting things feels a little easier, but I would still like to encourage you find something interesting to photograph in your life today. Sometimes I like to ask myself –

What will I see today that I’ve never noticed before?

I’d love to know what you think of my photos and what your experiences of Istanbul are. Send me an email or comment here. I love hearing from you guys!

Happy photographing!

Anthony

PS: I really love this photo book on Istanbul by the photographer Ara Guler. His photos of the daily life in the city were taken from 1940’s to 1980’s and are an incredibly evocative and intriguing exploration. The photos are accompanied by commentaries by Orhan Pamuk, both of which are a great inspiration for me to push myself further with my work.

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The Wonders of Exploring the World With Your Camera

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“One’s destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller

A few evenings ago I left my office in Waterloo to head home to see my rambunctious kids and have dinner with my wife. The evening had an interesting feel to it, a misty, wintry fog hung in the air but around the edges there was a burning glow of spring light. It was an intriguing clash of seasons and so I diverted my journey to go explore the river and take some photos. I got a few nice shots but my brain was not playing ball, it felt disturbed.  Running through my mind was a blog my wife and I had been working on for another website, all about the art of seeing. I kept looking at things and seeing the words clash in front of my eyes. Compositional rules started to play out in front of me, like a mad cartoon replaying over and over again on my eyeballs. It was almost too much.

I wanted to start with this because for me it’s so important to hold the ideas and suggestions that you are absorbing in your photography learning, very lightly. Too much thinking can make you, as I was, stilted and stiff. What I am always trying to encourage people to do with their photography is to loosen up, relax into themselves and their own creativity, enjoy the process. Nothing I have to offer is so weighty that it needs to be adhered to like dogma. It’s just small ideas, small prompts, small inspirations.

So, with that in mind I wanted to offer some thoughts and suggestions on finding your subject when you travel.

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Venice at Dawn, © Anthony Epes 2015

What are you looking for?
I am not a travel photographer or photojournalist, and so I am not looking for a comprehensive vision of a city for my dawn projects. The prep for that kind of photography is totally different. I am an artist, so I am looking to capture my vision of a place or of the city. Of course I want to photograph what makes a place iconic – there is a reason that the view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero is well photographed: it’s awe inspiring! In those places I am looking for something different. A different light, a different angle, people…something that will be just mine.

Unless you have a very specific assignment or project you are working on, here are some questions to ask:

  • What kind of things am I interested in about this place?
  • What kind of things do I want to capture?
  • What drew me to this place?
  • Is there anything I hoping to find here?

And then, allow for that but not be too confined by the answers. You are on a journey, an adventure, you want to discover new things as well as making sure you get what you came for.

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Venice at Dawn, © Anthony Epes 2015

  One insanely important thing to me when I plan my Cities at Dawn  books is that I don’t want them to have a touristy feel – that I only captured the ‘surface’ of the city. I want them to be picked up by a local who then says – yes, this is my city!  For instance, like how I photographed the water that is incessantly pumped out of the gutters in the morning in Paris. It’s not something you may notice but when you see a photo of it, you are reminded: of course! This is what it is to live in Paris, seeing these thin streams of water cleaning the streets. Looking not just for what is photogenic, but what it is to be there.

How much to prepare
I am a big fan of just going off and exploring and seeing what I can find. I don’t want to limit new discoveries by a pre-organised shot list. But sometimes arriving in a new place can be overwhelming and trying to get a grip on it can just be too much. So I like to get a bit of a sense of some fall back places that I want to photograph. I use Google Earth a lot,  firstly to explore and then pin a bunch of interesting places onto a map.

The picture I am trying to paint here is one of balance. You need some organisation to keep you feeling sane and focused, but you need to also have a relaxed attitude so you are open to the new experiences that travel will present.

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Venice at Dawn, © Anthony Epes 2015

Start taking photos before you go
I like to start a new photo project when I am in the middle of something really good elsewhere. Perhaps it’s like that salesman maxim:  the best time to make a sale is when you’ve just made a sale. Or (another one from my wife): how Ernest Hemingway would try to finish his writing for the day in the middle of a really good piece of writing so it was easy for him to get started the next day. If you are trying to start fresh every day then the blank page / empty memory card can feel overwhelming intimidating. But also when we are feeling creative, when we are in the flow we are more likely to have interesting ideas.

So, if I am not already working on a project back home I like to make sure I get one started before I leave. Or at the very least have a few photo walks to new places. Gets me in the mood.

Going beyond the exotic
The challenge with photographing in a new location, particularly one that is massively different from where you are from, is you can get completely distracted by what’s new to you (but not new to the world, we are no longer living in the age of exploration), and you end up taking tons of boring photos. What will give you the ability to create unique photographs of a location is how quickly you can get into the feel of the place and see it in a fresh, true and honest light.

I really enjoyed this podcast with photographer David du Chemin, who explains this issue really well – he talks about ways to combat your excitement in being in a new place so that you don’t just take all of the standard shots (look, elephants!) He suggests getting your intrigue at the exotic things you see out of the way quickly (more elephants! men with interesting headdresses!) so that you can then start seeing what’s really there, what’s really going.  When you can see the place in an objective, fresh way you will find something unique to you.

To take great photos, first you must feel
I read this is a great interview with photographer Steve McCurry by travel photographer Oden Wagen recently and I love a couple of the points that McCurry makes. First:

“A picture of a guy in the street in New Guinea, with a bone through his nose is interesting to look at. But for it to be a really good photograph; it has to communicate something about what it is like to live with a bone through your nose. It is a question of the moment to reveal something interesting and profound about the human condition.”

Ansel Adams talks a lot about the feeling behind your photographs, and I think a lot of photographers forget that. Photographer Joey L (his surname doesn’t seem to appear on this site) in his tips for travelling as a photographer talks about not being a looky-loo and just snapping away, particularly in developing countries. Spending time connecting with your subject, travelling slowly, and most of all being human is the best way to get good portraits. (Joey L also has some great other travel tips, like make your fancy, expensive camera look old to limit possibility of theft).

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Venice at Dawn, © Anthony Epes 2015

Follow what fascinates you
When Wagen asked McCurry the question of how you can create original work in this heavily photographed world, I thought it was a great response –

“In time, you start to develop your own way of seeing and then it’s your own personality coming through the camera. We are all unique individuals; we all have our personalities. We all have our own voice, and our own style. If you look at the photographers whose work we admire, they’ve found a particular place or a subject, dug deep into it, and carved out something that’ll become special.”

This makes me think of Irving Penn’s ethnographic studies of tribesmen and workers around the world and Sebastian Selgado’s work on the forgotten communities around the world in Genesis (great Ted talk by him here where he talks about the project.)

You know the pen in some form has been around for quite a long time and yet writers always seem to have something new to say. And think about fashion, I mean, jeez, how many different styles of trousers can you make? A lot it seems…

I particularly like the concept of ‘digging deep’. You know you don’t have to come back from a photo trip with 1,000 photos of everything. 200 photos of one or two subjects, where you have dug deep into a subject that has really caught your imagination will reap more fruit for you long term than lots of photos that you (or anyone else) are unlikely to look at again. Quality not quantity.

Go off the beaten track
In my work I have noticed that I am drawn to the juxtaposition in cities of beauty and grittiness. It was particularly obvious in Paris, such a beautiful city but with lots of stark contrasts – graffiti (which I like to photograph) and dog poo (which I do not). So I find it’s always worth while digging a little deeper into a city and finding alternative views on what you will find there. When I make it to Berlin I want to go on this night time, underground art tour. For several of my trips to Paris I stayed in the area dominated by north and west African communities in Barbes Rochechouart. It’s quite a rough area in the city that few tourists experience, let alone visit (this is an interesting perspective on the area) but I really liked exploring. It gave me a totally different perspective on the city, the country and its history (great North and West African markets, amazing food like tagine and kebabs in the cafes and restaurants). It reminded me a bit of Dalston in London (although the latter is fast being taken over by the hipsters, so it’s unlikely to stay like it is for long.)

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Venice at Dawn, © Anthony Epes 2015

Push yourself
This is where the practice of seeing is really powerful. And you need to push yourself on this one. What’s on the overpass up there? Is that an abandoned building? Where does that little alley go….? You have to work harder than the tourists, harder than the other photographers who are also wandering around, you have to be more relentless in your search. Don’t settle for a few nice shots, go for something no-one has ever seen before. And I am here to tell you that it’s possible.

Think about doing a project on people
The easiest way to get involved and to get to know a culture is to talk to people. Maybe you have an idea before you go, or you get one when you are there, but having a subject to focus on is a really awesome way to dig deep and develop your photography.

The whole journey is the trip
I think sometimes we can get a little anxious about achieving things in our grown-up lives and in our productiveness-obsessed culture. We think OK – I’m off to Rome. We pack our bags, get on a plane, get to the hotel – rush rush rush –  we have breakfast, and then off we set to take our photos. But by then you’ve already missed so much. As soon as you’ve made your decision to go on a trip you’re on the journey. The thoughts of the place, the ideas you come up with on where to shoot, your investigation of the culture, that is all setting you on the path of your journey. Your vision of your world at home has already changed as you start to mentally prepare for what is coming. Today I am London, playing in the park with my kids, chatting to my neighbour, but deep in the recesses of my mind I am wandering through the streets of Istanbul listening to the voices as I get lost in the back streets. I won’t be there until the end of the month but I have already started my journey. And so I must always have my camera with me.

Every experience you have, everything you see becomes another filter on your camera. That’s how you change as a photographer.

Don’t take crazy amounts of photos
I know the temptation to always have camera in hand, or even to spend more time looking through your viewfinder than being in a place, or being in the moment, as they say. But that really limits your potential for great photos. Firstly, it’s like a barrier between you and the place, it’s much harder to fall into conversation with people, to notice things when your camera is out, right there.  Have your camera available but not always stuck in front of your face.

Secondly, you can’t absorb the culture when you are just thinking of it as a series of photos, and having  an understanding and a feeling for the place will be communicated through your photos. That will be what creates the power of the image and evokes feelings with the viewer. As Maya Angelou said:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Thirdly, and this is shocker: life isn’t just about photography! Enjoying yourself, relaxing, having a good time also need to be part of the trip (and if you really need an excuse then think the more relaxed you are, the better your mood, the better the photos.)

The photos in this blog post are from my Venice at Dawn project. I chose this selection because I like how they show the more unusual views of the city. The abandoned building I found whilst wandering along the eastern edge of the island, the brilliant little gas stations that appear on the shoreline, the main tourist drag eerily empty of people.

So there we go, some of my thoughts to get you in the mood for travelling with your photography. I have a bunch of photo workshops coming up that you are always welcome to join, in Istanbul, Rome, Venice, Paris and of course my wonderful home city of London.

If you have any questions about them, myself or Diana are always happy to answer.

Happy photographing!

And if you need any advice please do email me . I love hearing from you. Or comment on my blog 🙂

Anthony