Photography Course

I’ve already written an article about George (click here). Just to remind you he is the humanitarian photographer. In it, I said that he also runs photography tours, on behalf of Angkor Wat Photography. I had the pleasure of going out on just such a tour. Here’s the story. I’ve changed the format of the pictures. Normally I would put small pictures to the sides, but for these pictures that would really be a shame. You can find many more at the end of the article – after all I took nearly 400 and here are around 30 of the best.

Anyway, we set out at the god-forsaken hour of 4.40am, from a hotel where some of the participants were staying. This is George’s normal morning start time. There were 5 of us on the course, plus George. Two tuk tuks set off for Angkor in the darkness, with the promise of dawn ahead of us. The day before it had been solid overcast and raining on and off. I’d packed a raincoat, as well as camera, spare batteries, walking trainers, shorts that covered my knees and a shirt that covered my shoulders. The last two items to show respect to the temples and the Khmer culture.

We got to the Angkor ticket office as dawn was cracking in the sky. It was looking good. Virtually cloudless, with just some lines of cloud where the sun was rising. At least the rain had stopped. By the time we got to Angkor Wat itself, we were not alone. An estimated 1,000 people were already there waiting for the sunrise. But we didn’t join the throng immediately. George took us to one side and we started snapping. He told us how to set our cameras up. I’ll not go into all the technicals, because if you want to know in detail, you’ll have to do the course. Basically it is three steps – set the ISO, set the aperture, and then set the speed to get the right looking photo in the viewfinder. We snapped away.

After a few practise shots, George took us to the best place for photoing the temple – in front of the reflecting pool. We had to be ruthless. The crowd was already 4 or 5 people deep in places, and we would not get anywhere without “sharp elbows”. I got myself a reasonable position and George dodged between all of us offering advice. With me, it was generally make the picture darker. You can always bring it up in photoshop, it’s hard to darken over-exposed areas. Composition is important too, and I took around 80 pictures as the sun rose, getting to the perfect position. Illuminating the cloud, turning the sky orange, purple, pink and blue at the same time. Talk about luck. George said this was the best sunrise he’d seen in years and we were there taking the pictures.

At last, we deemed the sun had risen and we stepped to one side for breakfast, just getting a cheeky shot of the sun’s rays through the far distance. We said, as we waited for the food, that here we had got our money’s worth already. The sunrise had been that spectacular, and it all made up for the ridiculously early start.

After a quick breakfast, it was off into Angkor itself. More lessons on choosing the correct aperture to get the background to blur (bouquet as George called it), and one or two more classic pictures.

We also had lessons in low light shooting and other skills we had to master. One thing George did share, and this he had off pat. A great picture is all about being at the right place at the right time. I’m not talking about coincidence here. I’m talking about getting the sun in the right place to illuminate the picture. It is almost always better to take pictures with the sun behind you (unless you’re actually snapping the sunrise of course). So George knew which temples would be good to picture in the morning (Easterly sun), noon (Southerly) and afternoon (Westerly). His tour round was designed to be exactly at the right place, at the right time. Sometimes virtually to the minute.

We went to Prasat Kravan and got some interesting pictures of the carved writing on the door posts. Here is Sanskrit, over 1,000 years old. Perfectly illuminated by the sunlight for taking photos.

Then it was on to Ta Phrom. The “Tomb Raider” temple. This was our last major encounter with tourists. We photo’d the main entrance tree as the sun was right. Unfortunately so did about 1,000 others, and after having a very quick look around we scooted off.

After that, temples tended to blur into one another. In all we visited around 10. George knew exactly the right places to stand, often to the inch, and the right time to be there, almost to the minute. Well, considering his pedigree, the places he has had his own pictures published, and the number of time he’s done this route, it’s not surprising.

Not all the shots were outside. This is at Banteay Kdei, and there’s this sweet old nun who will bless you for 1,000 Riel and “whoosh” your bad luck away. She knew George and greeted him like her own son. She had no problems at all sitting while we twiddled knobs, set the cameras for pictures and snapped away. There’s no using auto settings with George, no using flash and nothing by accident. He watched each photo being taken and offered suggestions about the camera settings and composition of each. When he was satisfied, and so were we, we moved on.

Some shots we found ourselves, such as this on at Preah Roup. A quick stop to take one picture from a particular vantage point, yet a flower in the path provided a chance for me to try out the new skills.

After lunch, it was mainly a longer visit to Preah Khan. By now the sun was due South, and this Northwards pointing finger of moat provides the perfect setting for a great shot. We were introduced to graduated filters, and really appreciated the extra contrast this brings to sky. Another great tip thanks.

Through the middle of Preah Khan, we were shown many hidden nooks and crannies, many places the average tourist wouldn’t find, and many superb places for pictures. And amazingly, as if by magic, the rain had held off and we’d had a gloriously sunny day with the perfect cloud cover. I never once even thought about taking the raincoat out. George obviously has connections in all the right places.

Then it was on through the North Gate of Angkor Thom, to our final temple of Bayon. Here, despite the tourists, we managed to find some peace and calm in the inner sanctum. Despite being there to photo the many faces of Bayon, I did get this picture.

Finally it was all over. Almost 13 hours of tuition, temples and tricks, and I promise never to put my camera on auto again. George had previously seen some of my photos and commented that these were 100 times better. George, it’s all thanks to you. One thing I did promise him was I’d get a snap of him to illustrate the article before the day was out. He did offer to send me one, but this just had to be my photo.

I’d like to end by saying a huge thank you to George for putting up with all my dumb questions, and taking me round the temple. I hope future photos will be a LOT better than past ones. Thanks George.

For all the details of the courses, check out their website – http://angkor-wat-photography.com/