Fujian Pt 2

Traveling with the OMD & G3

Hey fellow photo travel fans, welcome to the second part of the post on my recent trip to the Fujian region of China. Just to recap, I spent eight days on the road in the Fujian region of Southern China shooting with a pretty lightweight kit consisting of the Olympus OMD, Lumix G3, Fuji F600 and a good assortment of M43 primes along with the marvelous, inexpensive Lumix 45-200 zoom. The zoom saw a lot of service for the pattern shots that I mentioned in the last post and I got so much reaction to those shots that I decided to include some more and also add in the overall context so that you can get a better idea of how the shots work. To conclude on the trip I will also take a look at the Hui An coastal region and the stunning Earth Buildings at Tian Luo Keng. So lets get going......

The Pattern Shots

First up here is is the set up for the shots that I took of the boat in the 's' shaped channel created by the poles that protect the waterway and provide the support for the nets to catch crustaceans and shellfish.

The shot is taken from a vantage point on the roof of the local schoolhouse that we were lucky enough to get granted access to - again why you need a local guide. Here is a different variation on the shot that doesn't work quite as well as the others because the pattern and shape is not as strong in the composition. Hopefully you can now get a better idea on how the shot was created though and why a long zoom is simply essential. Most of my traveling companions shot with tripods but I found that the OMD IS worked superbly well and there was enough light to maintain a decent shutter speed. Just remember to switch off the stabilization on the lens if you are using a Lumix OIS version. Full marks to the OMD & Lumix 45-200 combo which worked a treat giving me nice crisp shots. 

For a final look at this set up, here is a shot that works better but I still prefer the vertical shot from the original post.

On to the next location and this was one of my personal favorites for a number of reasons; firstly, the patterns were fantastic, secondly, the boatman rushed back with his catch and also turned out to be a very fine chef who ran a little cafe (more later) where we had lunch. Anyway, here is the context shot for the setting and you can see quite clearly how the sandbanks sit from the vantage point which was a pretty steep climb up a hill behind the estuary.

As with the other location, I think I preferred the vertical shot that I showed in the last post but here is a tighter crop version that works well in Hi Key. Again, the huge pull of the 400mm equivalent on the long end of the Lumix is vital to making this work and while I was shooting with the OMD on a pistol grip with the relatively tiny Lumix zoom, my fellow travelers were all on tripods with 2X extenders on their 70-200's. That's a huge difference in weight to carry up these hills and to be honest I don't think there is much to choose from in the results.

I mentioned in answer to a comment that I got from the post that Steve Huff did that, for me these pattern shots are 'being there' takes, in that any competent photographer could get similar ones if they could find the same locations. Part of the technique on these shots though is timing and the one above is just slightly off as its better to catch the boatman pushing the pole at full extension. On the timing issue, I found the OMD to be highly responsive and much easier to move the focus points on than the G3. It was also capable of nice little bursts and the bracketing is relatively simple to implement although not in the league of the outstanding GF1, am I alone in thinking that the GF1 shooting dial should be copied on every camera? I mentioned previously that the boatman in these shots was a damn fine cook and he rustled us up a marvelous lunch in his little cafe before relaxing to enjoy his own work with his mother watching over. A quick point here, Steve Huff and others pointed out that the Jpg's in vivid mode can be a little over-saturated, particularly in skin tones and this is spot on. I had to use some Jpg's prior to Adobe releasing the RAW converter for Lightroom 4 and also found this to be the case. Vivid renders bright punchy colors that are useful in certain scenes but it doesn't work well on Asian skin so just be careful if you are using it. Apart from that, I thought the Jpg's looked great out of the camera.

Here is the final location and context shot and this turned out to be a very challenging shooting situation as it was wet and overcast. Much has been made of the water resistance of the OMD and its a pretty handy feature. Even although I don't have the weatherproofed kit lens I had the camera and lens in a ziplok bag and felt a sense of added confidence that even although my hands were wet, there would be no problem with the camera. Well done Olympus and its crazy to read critics complaining about the control buttons being a little spongy, that to me seems an obvious consequence of the water sealing and a small trade off to make. Personally, I think dust sealing is more important for the kind of travel work I do and I have never had a single dust related problem with any of my M43 cameras. The OMD looks to take that to a new level of robustness, a big plus in my eyes.

I left the negative space and blueish cast in this photo as I felt it gave a sense of the misty, damp morning and huge expanse of the scene. I tried a few different takes on this location because I loved the shapes and textures but in all honestly the light was just too bad, this is about the best of the efforts. 

Here's the final shot from this location and again, I just didn't have enough light in the misty conditions so went for an atmospheric shot instead. I think when you travel that sometimes you just have to make the best of what your given, although I must say I would love to go back here on a better day, its a great scene to shoot.

The next few photos are my personal favorites of all of the vantage point pattern shots and its mainly because we were eventually blessed with some decent light at this location. You can see the context below and get some feel for how high we were above the actual scene. Incidentally, these first two shots were taken with the Fuji F600 which I find to be a nice handy pocket camera.

As I hope you can see these two shots were taken in quick succession but look at how the impact changes when you zoom in and start to isolate the subject.

As I said, the light here was the best we had on the whole trip and it is just as well as, unlike the other pattern shots, there were no stakes or man made shapes to aid the shooting. This required the sunset light to make it work and give the required contrast. You can see from the following shot what I felt was the most interesting blend of the pattern and contrasty sunset light. This occurred in the area where the tide and waves had left a ripple pattern in the sand. At first I didn't think I was going to get the shot as none of the fisherwomen walked past that area until eventually, at long last I managed to catch one going across the best area. Like the other pattern shots its important to try to get a clean shot of the subject in good motion and also to get the full reflection if possible. I didn't quite make it with the reflection but I think there is enough there to make it work.

Ok, two non pattern locations to go and first up are the magnificent Earth Buildings at Tian Luo Keng.  The buildings in this complex are figuratively known as 'four dishes and a soup' because of their layout and there is a piece of local folklore that the American CIA located them from a surveillance satellite and believed them to be a missile installation from the unique layout. American visitors are therefore treated with humor as being 'CIA spies' come to verify. Either way, the buildings despite, being constructed from earth around a wooden skeleton, have been around for 700 years or thereabouts.

Again, the wet, misty weather followed us from the coast so it was very challenging to shoot anything meaningful. I did find that the drop down graduated filter effect in Lightroom can be a bit of a life saver for these kind of shots. This takes me to one of the few criticism's I have of the M43 system and that is that the lenses are too small to effectively use grad filters. I would much prefer to get the shot right at the point of taking it as, despite the advances in software, it always introduces a trade off of some sort when you start any kind of heavy manipulation. For this reason I find it best to keep use of the effect light. Interestingly on this subject, if you get a chance have a look at how the amazing Bert Stephani uses the Lightroom grad filter to give vignette effects in his portraits. All done with a GF1 and a tiny flash, great stuff Bert.

As I mentioned in the previous Fujian post, its always a good idea to force yourself to shoot a vertical as well and I am glad I did so here as I like the perspective.
Aside from the Earth Buildings, the main reason to come here as a photographer is to shoot the people of this area in their round village environment. Many fantastic street shooting style opportunities will come your way and I have to say that both the G3 and the OMD are great for this kind of shooting with their touchscreen focus and shoot, coupled with the lightening fast focusing. Here are a couple of good examples taken with the G3 and Lumix 20 F1.7. 

The subjects were a mother and daughter and, although they had no English, the universal tried and tested travel photography technique of patience, a warm smile and some simple gestures worked wonders. As did buying a small bag of their delicious tea :)

In the same building I also came across this superb musician who was carrying on the family tradition of making and playing these lovely wind instruments and flutes. He treated us to a virtuoso performance and was very happy to pose for these shots.

When I am shooting subjects like this I usually have two cameras round my neck, one with a widish angle and something like a 40 or 50mm equivalent to get tighter shots. The reason I do this is that I like to take a subject plus context shot first using the wider angle lens and then quickly tighten up with the standard type lens. This gives good variation and, as I have stressed before, don't forget to shoot both horizontal and vertical. For some reason I am a horizontal shooter by nature and I really have to discipline myself to shoot in vertical but it usually pays dividends.

This isn't a particularly good example of the point i am trying to make as it was very tight in the small shop but I did want to show the photo on the wall of what I assumed were the owners father or uncles. This helped a little with the story before going in tight to focus on him and the instrument.

Again, these were pretty low light shots and required faster lenses. This is an important aspect of the M43 system for me in that I find the lenses work great wide open with no compromise to the IQ. This is a major factor that is often overlooked and I read a lot about Nikon and Canon lenses working best when stopped down a little. This good IQ wide open appears to be a trait that the best M43 lenses share with Leica and its a huge advantage of the system. Here are a few final shots that will hopefully give some idea of what the earth buildings are like and also a couple of shots of the locals.

Shooting the locals was a bit hit and miss, with some being ok and others actively discouraging it. This nice lady was very happy to be photographed and one of my traveling companions from Singapore speaks Mandarin and was able to chat to her while I shot. We also bought a couple of her fried bread sticks which are ridiculously cheap and very filling.

Last up, this guy was laughing because the woman who was sitting with them started to berate me and moved off as soon as I raised the camera, he found this hilarious and graciously allowed me to shoot. 

Final stop for this post was at Hui An and we were lucky enough to be able to photograph some of the local women in their colorful traditional costume. These women are famous for their work ethic and they can be found fishing and even laboring on construction sites. In fact the lovely ladies we shot headed straight off in the rain to a local building site.

This nice tight shot was taken with the very nice Olympus 45mm F1.8 which I am finding to be a lightweight marvel. Its not a focal length that I am very comfortable with as I prefer the 24 to 40 zone but I am working on it and there is no question in my mind that it is an extremely capable piece of glass. It works really well in combination with the OMD because of the in-body stabilization and fast aperture which also works really well wide open. 

This is an nice example of the colorful traditional costume hat and scarf combination. Unfortunately it rained heavily again at this location so the light wasn't very favorable. In addition to being bright and colorful the costume also has intricate embroidered detail which is complemented by lovely silver belts.

As I said, the weather was not favoring us and frustratingly we had to call it a day as the girls (and photographers) were getting very wet. I felt a bit frustrated as they were very approachable and photogenic and I think I missed out on what was potentially a very nice and relatively unique travel photography opportunity. never mind, always a good reason to go back :) 

One thing you can do when the weather turns bad is head to a local market and I managed to catch a nice candid of the this stall-holder as the light was fading.

Well that's about it from Fujian folks but I would like to finish with a similar shot to the opener which is of course one of the staged shoots much beloved by Chinese photographers who seem to thrive on smokey scenes. Its easy to be disdainful of these set ups but personally, although I don't see much photographic merit in them, I do thrive on the technical challenge that they represent and its not that easy to get this kind of lighting right.

I was really surprised at how well the OMD and G3 handled the difficult lighting and when I got the RAW files into Lightroom it was very easy to get them to look the way I wanted. I know that Steve Huff picked up on the dynamic range available in the OMD RAW files and I can certainly confirm that there is a lot of leeway to work the shadows and highlights.

Anyway, that's it folks, I hope that this has been at least a little interesting and informative to anyone thinking of going to Fujian. I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Tibet and Nepal at the end of the month but the Chinese Government have closed the border to tourists following some local unrest. That was a bummer but by sheer luck I managed to get booked onto a Peter Turnley workshop in Istanbul, every cloud and all that......

More on this in my next post along with some thoughts on what kit I will be taking for what is essentially going to be street shooting with a photojournalistic edge. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to drop me a note or leave a comment if their is anything I can help with or expand on in relation to this post.

Cheers,

Colin

OMD - On the Road

China, Part 1


Hey fellow photo travelers and camera addicts, welcome to the first of a three part set of posts on my first trip to the Fujian coast of Southern China. This first post has two distinct themes; firstly, it focuses on my experiences on the road with the Olympus OMD, which has been very interesting, and secondly I am going to have a look at shooting pattern which is the primary reason to visit this part of China. I have had the OMD for two weeks now but this was the first chance I have had to travel with it to get to know it better in some diverse shooting situations. In some ways this was the perfect trip to try it out on as it poured of rain every day except the first and I got a chance to use it with a variety of lenses from my fave 14mm f2.5 to the 45-200 mm zoom. I also took along the new Sigma 30mm f2.8 and have a few shots and some thoughts on it as a newcomer to the M43 range.


Fujian and Pattern

The Fujian coastline is famous for its shellfish, fishing and seaweed harvesting, and all along the coast there are  intricate layouts of channels and bamboo poles along the beaches and estuaries. Its these channels, sandbanks and poles that create the much sought after patterns and all it takes is the right vantage point, some half decent light and you have hours of interesting shooting on your hands.  This leads me to my first observation on the OMD and that is that I found battery life not to be so great in extended use and I reckon it would take two to three batteries to get me through a full day of travel shooting. Unfortunately I wasn't able to source spares in time for this trip so had to stop shooting on a few occasions when the juice ran out. I don't see the OMD as any worse than similar cameras in this class but I did use the rear screen more than I thought and had several dawn to dusk days of shooting. Just pointing this out and I will be better prepared next time. As ever on a trip like this its always wise to have a back-up, particularly if you are using a small cam system like M43 and I took along a G3 and also a little Fuji F600 P&S.

Like many coastal areas, the weather in Fujian can be unpredictable and unfortunately for most of the trip we got caught in some really wet, misty weather. This is far from a show-stopper though, it just creates a different shooting environment and you have to get on with it. I think the second shot above is a very good example of this where the misty light forced a hi-key look and I think it worked rather well.


Before we look at how the OMD and M43 lenses worked in this environment a quick word about shooting these patterns from a technique and style perspective. Photography is hugely popular in China and there is a kind of style that is expected when shooting these scenes. For example, to the Chinese mind the landscape and nature should be large and any humans small by comparison. The conventional idea is to shoot down from on high, frame your subject entering from the bottom left and work to get the pattern interesting through either using the poles, sandbanks or waves. As I have written before in a previous blog, I think these location cliche shots are incredibly important but you should try to put your own unique take on it whether that be by varying the rules a little or using the light differently. Because of the poor weather I was forced to use a high key look and its worth mentioning here that its very easy to underexpose these so keep the exposures up to the right and don't be afraid to use a stop or more of positive compensation. On the shooting technique for these I didn't use a tripod but instead used the pistol grip I showed in the last post and this gave me an incredibly stable hold on the OMD which was mounted with the Lumix 45-200mm. I found this to be a really neat, stable shooting set-up for this kind of landscape photography and can highly recommend it. All you have to do is remember to switch off the Lumix stabilization on the lens and let the OMD's marvelous in-camera stabilization do its stuff. It goes without saying that you should try to stay at sensible shutter speeds for what is a pretty healthy 400mm equivalent max zoom but I had few problems at 1/250 and lower if I was careful. I can't recommend this set up highly enough, the zoom is a cracker and I enjoyed watching my travel companions lug there pro bodies, 70-200's and tripods up to the vantage points while I had the tough little OMD and the small M43 lenses to carry :)

Here is the OMD looking rather splendid with the pistol grip and my favorite lens the 14mm F2.5 Lumix. This shot was taken with the Lumix G3 and Sigma 30mm which I took as a back-up camera and I have to say that I found its overall performance to be not in the same league as the OMD, but more on that comparison in the next post. The Sigma lens is an ok performer and pretty sharp but I didn't find it as useful overall as I thought it would be. At f2.8 it sits a bit uncomfortably between the much more able 20mm F1.7 and lovely 45mm F1.8 Olympus.

Going back to technique for a moment, its also desirable to make sure your subject doesn't overlap the darker background areas and try to show the full reflection if possible, just good compositional basics. Incidentally, I managed to download the new Adobe Lightroom4-1 beta release which has the OMD RAW convertor so I had a go at the RAW files and I have to say they looked good and stood up well to the Hi-key work although the sunset shot above didn't need so much because the light was the best we had on the trip and I set the OMD to shade white balance for that nice glow. Here's a slightly different angle so that you can get a better idea of the overall scene from the vantage point.

One thing to watch out for when shooting late in the day is to milk the scene to its last as just when the light was going I thought the shooting was over but I noticed the fisherman going to spread the nets and managed to get a nice pattern as he moved into the arrangement. This is pretty low light stuff at a long zoom and the OMD 45-200 combo handled it with ease.

Returning to the flat, diffuse light issue for a moment, I see a lot of comments about M43 that criticizes the lack of DoF. I have to say that I am totally bemused by this and have found that I have 'lost' more shots (creatively) through having too little DoF than too much. I have many shots taken with my D3 and 50 f1.4 where I have nailed the closest eye but don't like how quickly the focus falls off on the rest of the subject. Narrow DoF is without doubt a useful technique but I find that for travel use in particular there is more advantage in the M43 sensors DoF range, so far from being a drawback, and in this lower light, it is without doubt a very distinct benefit.


In any case the shallow DoF is there anyway if your technique is right as this G3 shot with the Sigma 30mm at f 2.8 shows. This isn't even that fast a lens but any more shallow DoF and the photo would have completely lost its sense.

I don't want to labour the DoF topic too much, but it is my personal view that this is simply not an issue with the OMD, a good lens and decent compositional technique will give you shallow DoF if you desire it for creative effect.


 Shooting Vertical


I noticed that my travel companions didn't shoot vertically very often and it was evident in many of the local images that I looked at that horizontal view was predominant. I think you have to be careful when shooting these natural patterns that you don't get stuck in the conventional horizontal landscape view as many of the more interesting patterns actually emerge in the vertical. As always, its simply good camera craft to change your angle and view frequently and I developed a reverse shooting technique for vertical shooting with the OMD and pistol grip. I found that by holding the pistol grip in my right hand I could get a very solid hold and trip the shutter button with my left index finger. It sounds a bit awkward but if your are using a pistol grip give it a try and see if it works for you.

I personally really like this compressed vertical look that you get when using very long telephotos. It seems to look more elegant and interesting to my eye. You can compare these two vertical shots with the ones from the same scenes in shots two and three for contrast. I don't think either view is better but I do think they are nice variations.

Finally on the subject of view and framing, don't forget to try a different crop if it fits the subject, sometimes a 16x9 crop will enhance a scene for example.

Oh, and its also worth trying some variation on the editing technique, this is very de-saturated but somehow I like it.

Pattern is Everywhere


Since we are on the theme of shooting pattern, it's not only during the location shooting that you need to be aware and its worth keeping a camera with you always on these trips. This is a real benefit of the OMD, its small, discrete, fast and easy to work with in use. The only real issues I had with it were a couple of physical niggles and I will summarize those at the end. I saw the following shot while we were waiting for our driver and caught the subject passing through the shadow pattern.

I really like this kind of shot and in many ways find this more interesting than the vantage point formula takes. Incidentally, if you are using the Lightroom release I mentioned, it doesn't complete the conversion to allow the use of plug ins so I couldn't get this shot out to Silvereffex pro where I think it would have looked great. I ended up using a Lightroom plug in downloaded free and it gives a rather nice de-saturated look. I liked the scene so much that I had our driver take a portrait of me which is intended to reflect my frustration with the Chinese internet censorship that prevented me from getting to my own blog or any of the other photo blogs that give me my daily fix :) 

Anyway, the OMD handled all of the contrasty scenes I threw at it with aplomb and there is no doubt in my mind that the sensor is a cut above the G3, it handles higher ISO better to my eyes and the RAW files seem to have more to them. There is no science to this from me but if you want to look at the detailed testing then I guess the DP Review one will satisfy you, personally I think it might be better to try one yourself or wait for more 'real world' takes from Steve and others who are more interested in how the camera works in use.


OMD For Travel Summary

Lets cut to the chase, this is an absolutely outstanding travel camera, it's weatherproofing and sealing makes it ideal for the beach, rain and humid mist that is often encountered in Asian travel situations. It is very versatile and when coupled with the excellent Lumix and Olympus lenses can cover off everything from environmental portraiture to the long range pattern shots shown in this post. I just love the above portrait of Mr Zhang Han Zhong, who is chairman of the Hui An photographic Society and an extremely nice guy.  


The OMD is also very robust and well put together, the only minor niggles I have were picked up by Robin Wong and others in early use and relate to the misting up of the EVF in damp conditions. I don't really see that there is much Olympus could do about this and don't consider it a design flaw as such, just try to keep water off it if you can and when it goes you obviously have to default to the rear screen. I found it helped to use a ziplock bag which I had to use in the rain as I didn't have the weather-sealed kit lens. It also clears pretty quickly when it gets dry. On the subject of the viewfinder, be very careful with the rubber eyecup which comes loose easily and I nearly lost it a few times. I might pop a tiny spot of glue on the corner to hold it. I also took a S$7 small 7eleven umbrella with me and the OMD handles so well that I was able to hold the brolly against my shoulder and shoot at the same time. Take a white one and it can double as a diffuser or you can even shoot a flash into or through it.


I mentioned the battery life previously and it also takes a long time to charge the battery so I fully intend to get three as soon as they are available, just be aware of this if you are intending to travel with one.


Fujian Locations

In case you are thinking of making this kind of trip, the beaches shown are at Xiao Hao, Dong Bi, Sa Jiang and Qu Di. The trip I went on was with an old friend Vicky Yeow who runs her own photo travel company vickyphotographyworkshops and I can highly recommend her. Unless you are very familiar with the area you will never find the proper vantage points or interesting shooting sites, and its also critical to go at the right time for tides and so on. On the equipment front, a long zoom is essential and you may want to consider a tripod although I found my pistol grip set up and the superb stabilization in the OMD was just fine. I would suggest that the OMD Lumix 14 & 20 primes along with the 45-200 zoom and Olympus 45 make a state of the art travel set up that can take on anything.

Well that's about it for this first post folks, I will be covering off more people orientated shots at different locations including the fascinating 'Earth buildings' in the upcoming posts and will also look more closely at the Sigma lens and some shots from the G3.


I feel I have been a bit lightweight on discussing the OMD here but I think that is simply down to the fact that it is such a good travel camera that there is really nothing to comment on other than how well it does the job when coupled with the right lenses.


I hope the somewhat unusual shooting of the pattern scenes with it have been of some interest and as ever I look forward to any comments or questions that you may have.


Until next time, safe traveling.


Colin

Myanmar.......Minimalist Part 3

Myanmar, Some thoughts for Photographers


I had some comments on the previous Myanmar blogs from Kirk Tuck who writes one of the most intelligent photography blogs around and is a daily must read for me. Kirk suggested that readers might be more interested in the 'Myanmar Experience' as well as the photos and I fully agree. It has always been my intent with this blog to inform and give some insight into the destinations as well as to talk about equipment and the technical side of getting the shots. Well here goes...........

Why Myanmar?


Hmm, I travel a lot in Asia both on business and to feed my insatiable desire to photograph interesting people, places and cultures and for me Myanmar is by far the most interesting location that I have been to so far. Why do I say that? Well, firstly you have the diversity. Myanmar has everything from crumbling but colorful cities like Yangon, the mystical majesty of the temple covered plain of Bagan to the completely different, cooler and unique Inle Lake. Every type of photographic situation can be encountered; streets, markets, glorious sunrises and sunsets over thousands of temples and water born shooting of fishermen who have a totally distinct technique that hasn't changed for centuries.


Add to that the fact that there are very few tourists at the moment and its getting easier to get an entry visa, English is widely spoken, food and transport are cheap and you have a very compelling mix for the travel photographer.

I also find people in Myanmar to be amongst the friendliest and most amenable to be photographed of any of the Asian countries that I have visited and it would only take the purchase of one of the great value and extraordinarily high quality and original crafts on offer or a gift of some pencils and pads to kids and they will pose happily for as long as you want. Somehow or another there still appears to be a structure to the Myanmar society and it feels very safe to me and all of the places I visited were clean and had very tasty and nourishing food. Being close to the Indian and Thai borders, the food is very much based around mild but tasty curries and rice. Vegetables figure large and I have to say that I felt very healthy during and after the trip and even shed a few unwanted pounds from the waistline :)

Where To Go?


This is a little bit tricky to answer as this is very much a function of the time you have on your hands and the degree of adventurous spirit and travel experience that you have.  So, lets assume that you are a first time visitor (as most people are) to Myanmar, what are the best locations to visit and what should you look out for?


For me there are four key locations for the first time visitor; Yangon, which is the international point of entry, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake. All of these places have good hotels, safe food and have a different and somewhat unique, aspect to them from a photography point of view. Lets look at these locations in turn and in particular focus on the most interesting locations to visit at each separate destination. Just before we do that though, a couple of travel watch outs that might catch out the unwary. First up, its getting easier to get a tourist visa to enter Myanmar but allow yourself at least a week before travel to get it and don't leave it to the last minute. In some cases a visa can be arranged on arrival but I would advise against this as it can be based on your nationality and could be whimsical. Secondly, be very careful with the cash you bring. Don't panic. I am not talking about theft, what I am referring to here is the age and condition of your notes. Bring crisp, unfolded US dollars that were printed after 2006 or your money will not be accepted and there are no exceptions. 


Ok, having got these tips out of the way, lets look at the key locations I mentioned.


Yangon

As I mentioned, Yangon is the point of entry to Myanmar and it has a nice clean and modern airport. Surprisingly for Asia its pretty quick and easy to clear customs and collect your luggage, just exercise normal travel diligence and you wont have any problems. Incidentally, always travel with a photocopy of your passport in your case and keep 2 passport sized photos with you. The must see location in Yangon is the fabulous Shwedagon pagoda which is visible from many points in the low rise Yangon city. Most photographers carry a tripod to capture the magical period between sunset and the golden temple being illuminated and there is no problem bringing or setting one up. It's definitely worth coming late afternoon and exploring the side alleys adjacent to the four entrances to the pagoda. Some of these are book sellers who specialize in Bhuddist texts and you will always find some monks hanging around. There is also a nice relaxed feel to these passages and a there is no shortage of subject material in the nice contrasty light.

The second location worth a visit is Botatuang Pagoda which is famous for its golden corridors and Bhudda hair relic.

The courtyard here is also open and is a nice place to wander around and if you shoot discretely its easy to blend in.

As ever in religious centers your manners need to be considerate and a degree of politeness is required as these are functioning Pagodas and not tourist sites. You may want to consider that its best to travel with very light flip flops that you can stash in your bag as footwear is not allowed inside the pagodas and its just safer to carry them with you in case they disappear.
  

The other benefit of Botatuang is that it is adjacent to the main Jetty and I wish I had spent more time there in the late afternoon as you can get some great shots of the still manual process of unloading the boats. It's also a nice spot for the sunset and you are assured of some interesting subject matter.

As I mentioned, time your trip to the pagoda so that you can get to the jetty for the last hour of light, its only a five minute walk from the pagoda and you will encounter all sorts of interesting subject matter along the way.

I think that if you are on a shortish trip then Yangon should only get a couple of days of your time at either end of your trip, that gives you two evening shoots for Shwedagon and the jetty and a morning to catch either some street shooting or visit the railway station or Scott's market. Incidentally, one unique feature of Myanmar that you will quickly notice is that people wear a form of make up which is made from grinding a kind of sandalwood into a paste, its designed to protect the skin from the sun and has the benefit of making the subjects highly photogenic.

Finally on Yangon, I stayed on both of my recent trips in the excellent Traders hotel which is in a great location for all of the pagodas and next to the market and railway stations. It's also easy to wander out and quickly find yourself in fascinating street shooting territory.

Bagan

I think that keen photographers of all types develop a thirst and style that aligns with the places, people and situations that interest and stimulate them. For me when I travel, I enjoy spectacle and grandness and I particularly seek out contrast and shadow, and above all, as a European, I am fascinated by the culture and people of Asia. This is why Bagan is one of my very favorite destinations.

Bagan is just such an intoxicating blend of grand landscape splendor and captivating pagodas and markets that I am convinced that if you come here you will wish you had stayed longer and will be itching to return. The range of subject matter is huge and it takes nothing more than a polite word, small gratuity or purchase to have people like this gentle old cheroot smoking lady patiently pose for you.

The vistas at sunrise and sunset are extraordinary and its so easy to find a vantage point from which to shoot.

These shots were taken from Myengon Pagoda or you can simply shoot at ground level to get some interesting silhouettes or backlit pagoda towers.


Somehow I like this simple shot more than some of the grander landscapes that are on offer. It was taken in the very last light of the day, handheld on the magical little Nikon V1.

There are three locations that you must visit in Bagan and the first, and my personal favorite, is Shwezigon Pagoda which has a long, grand walkway leading via market stalls to its lovely golden pagoda.

I would strongly urge that you try to make time for at least a full morning here as it has everything from the contrasty, pillared walkway to the golden splendor of its magnificent pagodas. Just ask any local and they will scare up the birds for you by throwing a harmless tennis ball onto the roof. 

There is no shortage of interesting people to photograph either, just take some time, wander around in hunter mode and the shots will come to you. There is good advice about photography that you can do one of two things; find a great stage and wait for actors to come along onto the stage, or, you can follow interesting actors and wait until they are on the stage you want. This location lends itself perfectly well to either approach, I could happily sit for hours in the pillared walkway waiting for subjects to come into it or simply track down or follow one of the many fascinating people that you will find here.

The second must see, is Shwe San Daw where you will find the giant reclining candlelit Bhudda. A fisheye is a good idea for this one if you have it. I will come back to this later, but a fixer is pretty much essential for you on a first trip and they will easily organize some novice monks to pose for you to get the cliche shots. This is also a great location to climb the pagoda and shoot sunset so its probably best to leave this to later in the day.

Finally, of the three pagodas to see is the Htilominlo pagoda complex. I have a nice story about this when I left my camera bag, complete with passport and money on the roof of this pagoda only for the little girl in this photo to show up at the bus with the complete kit intact and untouched. I willingly bought the wind-chime from her for $20 and she was delighted. I also felt great with my faith in human spirit intact, so much so that I give the chimes a good luck ring every time I enter and exit my apartment. The chimes she chose for me were inscribed with symbols for my favorite days, Friday and Saturday.

For accommodation on this trip I stayed at the marvelous Bagan River View hotel which is superbly located for all of the sites and also backs onto the river where you can find interesting shots like the one below which was my personal favorite from 2011. Like all of the locations you will find in Myanmar, they are functional and active, not tourist centers. This was the case with the shot below which is of poor people who carry stones dredged from the river bed and haul them up the river bank on their heads - and you thought your job was tough some times.

Additionally, you will find very nice sunsets at the Ayeyarwarddy River side as the sun sets on the opposite bank. It's worth visiting the village first if you have some gift packs for the people and kids and then proceed down to the river. You will be a little like a pied piper as the kids will follow you but they are very polite and will either help you get some shots or stay out of your way if you ask.

The fishermen and people in this locality live in a simple little village on the river bank next to the hotel and it's a nice idea to take along some small gifts, torches, batteries, soap and any old clothes you have, and of course some pencils and pads and balloons for the kids. You will find this kind of gesture will be greatly appreciated and respected, and of course there is always the possibility of some lucky photographic karma to enjoy....

Just to close out on Bagan, there is also a very nice working market at Nyaung U where ancient buses lurch through the town which has local crafts, 'wet foods' and every conceivable necessity on show without the usual tourist tat you will get elsewhere in Asia. At the end of a hard days photography, for dinner and evening entertainment I can strongly recommend the delightful Queen House restaurant complete with cultural music and dance show as the perfect way to round off your day.


Mandalay

Mandalay was one of the ancient capitals of Myanmar and was of course immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in has famous 'road to Mandalay' poem. It's a short and easy flight from Bagan and its main point of interest for photographers is the U Bein bridge which is most frequently shot at sunset from a boat on the Ayeyarwarddy river. In all honesty, I have never spent a great deal of time there and, given that it is the main centre of industrialization in Myanmar, I would advise not hanging about and giving it a day of your time only. There is no doubting however that the U Bein bridge is a very interesting photographic location, problem for me is that many other people think likewise and it is probably one of the most iconic and photographed locations in Myanmar.

The bridge itself can be shot in a number of different ways and I have included a few here. It's also possible to go underneath the bridge to photograph the lone tree on the other side but you will pay the penalty of having to find a good position for the sunset when you get back to the other side. The other locations in Mandalay that are worthy of a visit include the Mahagandayon monastery where you can photograph the hundreds of monks and novices queuing and then eating their dinners.

There is an interesting protocol about all of this in that apparently the monks wont speak to each other and its forbidden to look at anyone else's food. Full focus should only be on your own meal and these manners are strictly observed.

As usual, its also worth wandering about and getting away from the main activities, this will more likely reward you with more interesting shots and a better opportunity to talk to the monks, some of whom speak excellent English and have a thirst for learning. I had a great laugh with a monk who asked me to explain what 'Lovely Jubbly' and 'Trouble and Strife' meant !!! He had apparently been listening to some BBC radio where these Cockney terms were used.

Incidentally, it's also worth hanging around at the kitchen areas as there is always lots of activity and I was lucky enough to get this shot on a previous trip there. Just make sure you don't get in the way and remember at all times that this is not a theme park and most of the people there will be mystified as to why you find these mundane tasks so fascinating.

Having visited the monastery, the other location I would recommend is the U Min Thonze cave temple at Sagaing Hill. Inside the temple is a startling row of Buddhas and the lighting is nice if you can get the right subject. I had a very near miss with this shot as I stopped shooting at this point not realizing at the time that one more shot frame would have got me a nice reflection of the monk in the mirror on the wall. These little details are what makes a photo different and unique for me and I continually search for them to try to make my photography that little bit different and unique from all of the others that will shoot the same location.

 Finally on Mandalay, I stayed at the Ayeyarwarddy River View hotel and again learned the lesson of always keeping a camera handy. I took the V1 with me to a very early breakfast in preparation for the flight to the last destination at Heho (Inle Lake) and saw one of the kitchen staff having a quiet moment on the balcony. It's a nice serene shot in the morning dawn light and it seemed to me to evoke an atmosphere that is often missing from my shots. I am so glad that I carried the little V1 everywhere. I really like the negative space of the sky and I know that if I took this to a photo critique I would get advised to 'loose the empty space' which for me would destroy the tranquility of the shot.

Inle Lake

This is the final recommended destination for a first time trip to Myanmar and for me its a close second to Bagan for interest and photographic opportunity. It's again a short domestic hop from Mandalay to Heho and then on by bus to the head of the lake. One nice thing about places like this is that the light is generally wonderful and, given some decent blue sky and clouds, you will be guaranteed some fantastic shooting opportunities. En route to the lake you can stop off at Shwe Yan Pyay Temple which is famous for its oval windows which are usually shot with novice monks framed in them. Unfortunately, I have been there twice and the light has been far too harsh to get this shot and its no great loss as its one of the very cliched Myanmar shots and I am very doubtful that I could have added any new interpretation to it.

You can however mingle with the monks as long as you don't overly disturb their studies and its possible to get some nice relaxed shots of them once they are used to your presence. The head monk also makes an interesting subject and I have shot him a few times. I quite like the most recent one from this trip for that rather nice context of the table, books and bell and his contemplative posture.

As an added bonus you may be able to get some of the novices to pose for you in the old pagoda which is adjacent to the main monastery, it's small but wonderfully colored and detailed. Please leave a reasonable donation to the monastery if you do this, it will be small money to you but mean a lot to sustain them.

Once you arrive at Yuang Shwe town its very simple to charter a long tailed boat down the lake to your destination. On the way you will confront all sorts of shooting opportunities as the daily life of the lake unfolds for you. Keep your camera on hand at all times set on a high enough shutter speed to give you half a chance of a steady shot from the fast moving boats.

I commented on a recent  post on the blog that DP Review had suggested that the V1 was the ideal camera for 'soccer mums' hmmm, well if you are a soccer mum zipping along on Inle Lake in a long tailed boat you will be very happy that you brought a V1 as its snappy focus, lightening frame rates and stellar stabilization system absolutely shine in this kind of shooting environment.

The lake itself is a whole floating ecosystem and the local people never leave the water. They live, fish and even farm rows of tomatoes, cucumbers and other moisture loving plants all on the lake itself.
I stayed at the Sky Lake resort hotel which, like the other hotel I stayed in on a previous trip, is a series of chalets on sticks perched on the lake. These hotels are pretty basic but have a real charm about them and the setting is simply extraordinary, I am sure you wouldn't be disappointed and its hardly roughing it.

Get your boatman to take you up the side canals and as the afternoon light comes up you will get really nice reflections and textures. I am particularly fond of the white, wispy marsh grass that looks amazing with the sun lighting it. It's not easy to frame your shots as you whiz along on the long tail boats which are very fast and anticipation is, as usual, a very valuable photographic skill in these situations.

Once the day starts to come to an end try to get close to some of the fishermen and for a small gratuity they will maneuver into a sunset position or simply look for the more natural shots on offer as the fishermen ply their trade in the late evening light when they seem to step up their efforts.


I like to get shots the way I want them in camera as opposed to spending time in Lightroom or editing so I will sometimes play about a bit with the white balance and I found the 'shade' setting on the V1 produced very nice light golden tones on the lake at sunset.

Here is a different tone with a more daylight effect, shot on a G3 that I was using in parallel with the V1 but with the lovely 20mm prime.

As usual, never stop shooting until all of the light is gone, it's possible to get some very atmospheric shots as the last remnants of twilight fades and you can of course hold a fisheye steady at ridiculously low shutter speeds anyway.

The other aspect of shooting on the lake is to catch the earliest light as well as the latest. Mornings on the lake are usually misty and this of course is as much of an opportunity as it is a drawback. If you tail some of the boats on the lake you can usually catch the trailing gulls. Just be very careful as you will probably need to stand up to get this kind of shot and it doesn't take much to tip these shallow boats so it's usually best to ask the boatman to slow a bit and warn your fellow passengers about what you are doing so that they don't move while you are up.

Finally from Inle Lake, always remember to look behind you, there is nearly always something just as interesting there as in front. I got several very nice shots of my boatman who was spectacularly well color co-ordinated with his boat !!! 

What Else.......


Lets be clear about my intent here, I am trying to share some insight into what I find to be a fascinating country to visit and show some examples of how you might want to approach some of the locations and subjects with one or two useful pieces of advice thrown in. This is not Lonely Planet and I am not into the minutiae of every city and location, I have unfortunately only spent a couple of weeks in the country myself so do not feel qualified to go into that kind of detail.


What I can do is give some advice to the photo traveller who is considering a visit to Myanmar:


1. It's best to go as part of a structured, specialist photography trip for your first visit as these guys will know the best locations to shoot, value for money places to stay and eat and very importantly will always have a local guide who can arrange any scenes or subjects that some of these photos simply don't work without. It takes all of the logistic thinking out of your first visit and leaves you free to shoot in this photographic paradise. The best people I know for this kind of trip are Singapore Trekker and Eyes on Asia they are both run by the nicest people you could hope to meet and both will give you a hassle free and insightful trip. 


2. Best time to go is probably around January to get the best weather and least tourists (although its hardly overrun by tourist hordes)


3. Food is very good and just exercise the usual travel basics and you will be fine. I personally liked the cuisine very much and its a much more healthy diet than you will encounter in the West being predominately mild vegetable curries with chicken and fish. A bit of a hybrid between Indian and Thai as you would expect from the location. It goes without saying, drink only bottled water and avoid ice.


4. This might be a little controversial but make sure you leave your politics behind, you are here to take photographs and gain some insights into a fascinating blend of cultures. You will do neither yourself or the local people any favors by agitating in any way. This is a mantra of mine, I seek to show what I see and my understanding of these countries, their people and cultures and I leave my politics and religion out of it. My experience of Myanmar was far superior to that of many other countries in Asia that are not perceived as having political strife and at no time did I feel unsafe or at risk of robbery. The people I met welcomed me and treated me very well and that should be reciprocated. It's easy in Asia to make a career out of showing people in poverty and in desperate situations, like bad news this is often much more stimulating to people and 'sells more' however, I personally prefer to see things my way and show the more positive aspects of life if I can. To me Myanmar is about color, the light, diversity, the deeply religious life that people live and the fascinating places that are, as yet, largely unspoiled. This is not a cop out, if I see something that has to be shown as a reality then I will do so, but my primary aim is to immerse myself as much as I can to show the country and people as I see it and I would urge you to do likewise.


5. Travel light, by that I mean take only what is essential to your photographic approach or style. I do not carry a tripod unless I know in advance that it will be essential to have one for a particular location or shot. My standard travel kit is a Nikon D3 with 24 & 50 f1.4 lenses although I took the tiny and lightweight Nikon V1 twin lens kit on my most recent Myanmar trip and only once or twice missed the D3 and very fast glass. The reason for this is that I knew from experience that many of the shooting situations in Myanmar require a longish zoom or telephoto because of your shooting position. This is particularly the case when shooting the vistas on Bagan plain, the magnificent U-Bein bridge at sunset and fascinating fishing and village scenes at Inle Lake, you simply wont get the shots you want without a well stabilized longish zoom.

This is my standard travel kit and pretty much what I took on my first visit to Myanmar (you can read my thoughts on this kit here if you are interested D3 travel kit ) It all fits very nicely into the Think Tank bag and is reasonably portable - thats all I have to carry. What I did notice was a bit of a change in my shooting style with the V1 but I did get the shots I wanted - horses for courses? I found the V1 made me look at things differently and I used it to get shots that I normally wouldn't take which is great. If you are going to Myanmar on any kind of itinerary similar to the one I suggest then you wont go wrong with a V1 or M4/3 camera with a stabilized zoom that gets you around 250 - 300 mm equivalent. Apart from that, unless it's intrinsic to your style, I would leave the tripods, flashes, filters and all behind and stay unencumbered, learn your camera and push it beyond what you think its limits are :) One of the reasons I urge you to stay light is that to fully explore Myanmar you will do a lot of internal, domestic flying and these smallish turboprop planes have minimal storage space in the cabin and its a real pain to cart a lot of gear through these small airports. 


Here is a quick summary of the locations and suggested hotels which are the ones I used on this trip which was organized by the wonderful guys at Singapore Trekker

Yangon: This is the best point of entry for International flights and we spent the first and last nights here in the very comfortable and well located Traders Hotel which also had the luxury of an albeit very slow internet connection. Incidentally, there is almost no mobile coverage outside of Yangon and even there you need to buy an expensive SIM and rent a handset - I would give it a miss and revel in the luxury of being out of contact :)


Bagan: Traders Hotel in Yangon is not far from the airport and we caught a short internal domestic flight to Bagan on Mandalay Airlines (all domestic flights on same airline) and stayed at the Bagan River View Hotel which is really well located and very nice. Breakfast in particular is a real treat on the river bank.


Mandalay: Another short flight takes you to Mandalay and we stayed at the Ayeyarwarddy River View Hotel which was good value.


Inle Lake: We stayed at the Sky Lake Resort Hotel which was basic but very well located and friendly. 


I hope that this post was helpful to anyone considering a trip to Myanmar and hopefully it will stimulate some thoughts on how to approach it photographically. I am personally planning to return and if possible visit the coastal region which I have not yet been to.


You can read on the blog about similar experiences in Bali, Lombok/Gili Meno, Chiang Mai along with some views on travel photography equipment and I also have plans to visit Central Vietnam in February so keep an eye open for that update.


Finally, I make no excuse for finishing by another vista from the magnificent Bagan, hope you enjoyed this and found something of use.


Colsteel