Photograph from a walk I did around Kuala Lumpur last night, taking night shots.

I covered the iconic Petronas Twin Towers on my first night, so I was looking for the aesthetic, but not often photographed parts of KL.

The Convention Centre near the Twin Towers – which were right behind me – is just one example of a building you just don’t see photographs of.

While I never got into photography for building architecture, I must admit that I enjoy rounding out my photographic coverage of an area by finding the most aesthetic and interesting buildings to photograph.

[Credit where credit is due. I have to thank the good folks over at Luceo Images for the idea of the From the Archive weekly post. Something they have been doing for a while now with the Luceo Image Archive.]

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]]> http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/from-the-archive-convention-centre-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/feed/ 1 http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/is-to-unlearn-so-much-of-what-i-have-been-taught/ http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/is-to-unlearn-so-much-of-what-i-have-been-taught/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 16:24:21 +0000 Thomas Pickard http://thomaspickard.com/blog/?p=1827

There was something about the way I used the camera when I was 8 that I appreciated all of these years later. Something that came naturally. I believe it is imperfection. At 8 you don’t care if your horizons are crooked, if your exposure is off, if the time of day is right or about the rule of thirds. You simply point the camera because you like it. My goal now is to unlearn so much of what I have been taught, or been told about photography. Knowledge, politics, responsibility, your editors, it all plays a part in the way in which you approach your subjects.

Brown Cannon III | Intersection Photos via this blog post

If you are into travel photography or just beautiful photography full stop, then make sure you check out Intersection Photos, which has just opened it’s doors. Well worth a look.

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Portrait of a Chinese Medicine Man, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Chinese herbal medicine, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This was the second portrait I took yesterday, not far from where I photographed Mr Keong, which I discussed in my previous post below.

Mr Bin is a Chinese Medicine man and he has this incredible shop with one wall complete with these beautifully hand crafted wooden drawers that look like they had been made back in the day when things were actually made by a craftsman. Talking with Mr Bin, I learnt that the shop had been in his family for 50-years. Wow. Those beautiful drawers have been around for a long time!

Initially Mr Bin didn’t seem that enthused about me taking his portraits, but after I showed him the results on the back of my camera, he became more interested. While the first couple of photos were okay, I really needed something to connect him to what he does for a living.

Initially I envisaged a shot of him against the wall of drawers, but not only were they black holes for light (I was already in the ISO 1600 realm), he would just look like a guy standing next to some, well…old wooden drawers. Not much going on in terms of connecting him with being a practitioner of Chinese medicine.

Having him hold a drawer did the trick and the portrait above is the result.

Apart from the 10 to 15-minutes of conversation, the actual portraits we took lasted no longer than about 8 to 10-minutes. Not long, but then again, people don’t have all day for a total stranger to photograph them.

And in case you were wondering, the photo on the right is a remedy Mr Bin made up for a sore back that I have had for part of this week. Initially he reached for a packet of Panadol, to which I responded:

“Mr Bin, I’m in a Chinese medicine shop – I would like a Chinese remedy!”

As for what I do with my Chinese remedy, Mr Bins’ instructions were:

Take 3-cups of water and bring to the boil.

Add the contents (photo right).

Simmer until only 1-cup of liquid remains.

Let cool for about 1-hour, then strain and drink.

I guess there is a first time for everything.

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Photograph of a shop owner, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Today was portrait day for me.

A day where I went out into a foreign city, filled with people and tried to find interesting people, in aesthetic settings with good light. You need all three to produce good travel portraits, and honestly, it is harder to find than you may think.

Of course, you need one last thing too – the person in question to agree to your portrait request.

A lot of people said no to me today, but four individuals said yes.

Thank you Mr Keong. There are some prints coming your way next week!

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Aerial view of Bangkok, Thailand.

Unless you have been living in a cave in the mountains, you would have no doubt have seen this weeks footage of fighting between the Red Shirts and Thai Government soldiers in downtown Bangkok.

Only days before it all went down, I was speaking with a client saying ‘things aren’t so bad at the moment’. That quickly changed though. Living only 5-blocks from the action, I prudently decide to temporarily leave Bangkok for Kuala Lumpur, where I am now writing these words.

Fortunately I missed the worst of the violence and like many, was shocked to see the TV footage showing the massive fire that was lit at Central World Shopping Mall, in the heart of Bangkok.

While the violence has passed – for now – the question on most people’s lips is this: is it safe to go to Bangkok?

To answer that question, I advise you to read this well written article over on Lonely Planet. (The short answer is ‘yes’ by the way. Just avoid certain areas at present).

And if that wasn’t enough to convince you to not change your travel plans to Thailand, then consider this. The recent violence has turned away visiting tourists in droves and this really, really hurts the people on the streets that really rely on the tourism dollar for a living.

To put this in perspective, the day before I flew out of Bangkok, I was tooted by no less than 5 taxis, trying to get my business. That was a clear sign that local business is hurting.

What Thailand needs now, is for people to keep coming and keep injecting money into the economy. Not only will it help this country recover, it will help support all those people that rely on the tourism dollar for a living.

As for me, I’ll be back in Bangkok in the coming week.

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This weeks photo from the archive comes from the west coast of Greenland.

I first visited Greenland in 2007 while working a 3 1/2 month summer on the polar ice breaker the Akademik Sergey Vavilov. Arriving on the east coast of Greenland in 2007 really reminded me of Antarctica. Greenland has the same immense scale and the incredible vastness that I always remember from Antarctica.

Like most polar places, the best light during summer tends to be late in the evening and very early in the morning. If the weather was clear, I would typically stay up late to take advantage of the supreme late evening light. In this instance, I took this photo on a return trip in 2008, this time to the west coast of Greenland.

See more of my imagery from Greenland via Aurora Photos.

I will also be adding a lot more Greenland imagery to my Greenland gallery at my stock library in the coming months.

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]]> http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/from-the-archive-greenland-reflections/feed/ 0 http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/maldives-stock-photography-and-working-with-aurora-photos-getty-images-and-corbis/ http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/maldives-stock-photography-and-working-with-aurora-photos-getty-images-and-corbis/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 03:42:35 +0000 Thomas Pickard http://thomaspickard.com/blog/?p=1668

If you shoot and license stock imagery like I do, then one of the things you always seem to be doing is editing, captioning and submitting imagery to distribution partners. I used to think there was a way around this, but reality has set in, along with regular stints in front of my iMac prepping imagery.

Working with a good stock library such as Aurora Photos is a great way to get my imagery out into the world and in front of potential buyers. The speed to market with Aurora is incredible.

I regularly have my submissions reviewed within a day or two and once I have provided the high-resolution files, they are made live on the Aurora site within days. Pushing the photos out to distribution partners such as Masterfile and Corbis, takes a little longer, but not that much longer. Some recent portrait work accepted by Aurora is already available for licensing at Corbis. That all happened within about 8-weeks, which is fast!

Working with larger, well established stock libraries works for me as I photograph quite a bit of what I consider general travel photography. If you don’t have a large, niche collection such as Art Wolfe, then leveraging off a distribution relationship with a stock library can make a lot of sense, especially if you are starting out in stock photography.

As I have been developing myself a niche and a client base for unique Maldives photography, I have been busy this year populating my own stock library – Thomas Pickard Stock Archive – with my Maldives photography. Leveraging off technology providers such as Photoshelter, I can now license and deliver hi-resolution photos direct to my existing client base, through my own stock site. This works well, in part because I am developing a niche in Maldives photography and also because I have an ever expanding client base seeking Maldives photography.

Below are just a few examples of licensing sales in the last few months. It never ceases to amaze me which images are licensed.

Licensed via Corbis. Image #: 42-22229345

Licensed via Corbis. Image #: 42-22229424

Licensed via Thomas Pickard Stock Archive. Image #: 08710.

Licensed via Getty Images. Image #: 94979111

Licensed via Getty Images. Image #: 90880255

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]]> http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/maldives-stock-photography-and-working-with-aurora-photos-getty-images-and-corbis/feed/ 1 http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/save-the-waves/ http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/05/save-the-waves/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 06:20:32 +0000 Thomas Pickard http://thomaspickard.com/blog/?p=1634

“Why not have surf breaks, famous, great breaks like Jeffery’s Bay, Rincon and Malibu as [UNESCO] World Heritage Sites so that the whole world sees their value and wants to protect them?”

Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia founder and Save the Waves supporter, via Save the Wave Coalition.

I have been involved with the ocean through surfing since I was a teenager. I can still remember epic surf sessions I had twenty years ago on empty beaches on the North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Those sessions are as clear to me as more recent surfing sessions in the Maldives. For some, surfing may be seen as someone merely riding a wave. For me, surfing goes far beyond that.

Surfing is about watching the first rays of light hit the ocean surface as I’m paddling out for my first wave of the day; it is about sitting on my board chatting with fellow surfers between waves; it is about watching a pod of dolphins ride an empty wave and at times, it is about getting dragged across a coral reef and being reminded about the sheer power of the ocean.

Surfing and the ocean rejuvenates me. The simple act of surfing connects me to a part of the natural world that I love – ocean’s and coastlines.

Like many things of value, famous and not so famous surf breaks are often threatened by our development and an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach to the environment.

As individuals’ our voices are often lost in the crowd. As a united group we can influence and affect change.

If you are a surfer, an ocean swimmer or even a person that regularly visits your local beach, then I encourage you to become a member of Save the Wave Coalition, a body that is helping fight the good fight for threatened surf breaks around the world. Check out their Campaign page to find out how you can get involved in your local area.

Patagonia, a supporter of Save The Waves, has just released their 2010 Surfing Catalogue online. While the catalogue has some of the best surfing photos you can imagine, it also has a focus on Save the Waves. Well worth a look.

Patagonia Surfing Catalogue

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This weeks photo from the archive comes from the Great Wall Station, King George Island, Shetland Islands, Antarctica (phew…they have such long location names in Antarctica!).

Visiting an Antarctic station that doesn’t normally receive visitors is a big deal – I know because I’ve lived and worked at Antarctic stations and experienced first hand what it is like to have this huge influx of people into your life all of a sudden. While it can be a bit overwhelming, it can also be a pleasant change to the regular people you live with, day in and day out.

In this particular instance, I along with one other guide, took two zodiac loads of Chinese passengers from our ship, the Clipper Adventurer to the Great Wall Station for an afternoon visit. Great Wall Station isn’t used to visitors and the station staff do two-year stints, so let me tell you, they were pretty happy to see us!

So much so, they put on a big spread of afternoon tea and a tour of the station. Like our passengers, I find stations pretty interesting places. As a photographer, I always try and capture something about the place which sums up my experience.

In this instance, it was meeting this friendly young Chinese Weather Forecaster, who was on the last couple of months of a two-year stay. With excellent spoken English, he talked with me about his time on the ice and how much he was looking forward to going home.

Before we parted ways I asked if I could take a portrait. With a nod of approval I quickly found a prop – in this case the large carpeted wall with a picture of the Great Wall of China on it – and promptly asked my new friend to stand in front of it.

The result is this environmental portrait.

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]]> http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/04/from-the-archive-chinese-portrait-at-great-wall-station-antarctica/feed/ 1 http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/04/experiencing-male-the-capital-of-the-maldives/ http://thomaspickard.com/blog/2010/04/experiencing-male-the-capital-of-the-maldives/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:31:42 +0000 Thomas Pickard http://thomaspickard.com/blog/?p=1576 In November 2007, after living and working in the Maldives for two-years, I boarded a plane and left. Just like that.

One day I was a resident, the next I wasn’t.

The capital Male’ left a huge impression on me. For the two years that I called Male’ home, I became very fond of this tiny city and it’s quirks. I grew accustomed to the daily call to pray that would billow out of the nearby Mosque; I grew to love mid-afternoon surfing sessions at the local surf break, just four blocks from where I lived; I adapted to the heat, the culture and most of all, the sense of place that living in Male’ provided me.

Male’, the people and the Muslim culture opened my eyes in ways I didn’t expect.

Few people come to the Maldives to experience Male’. By a stroke of good fortune I did and I encourage all visitors to the Maldives to spend at least half a day (preferably from mid-afternoon onwards) walking the scooter clogged streets of Male’. In its own way, Male’ is a unique city. I hope it grows on you during your visit.

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See the full Male’ the Capital gallery at my stock library.

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