Trinidad Carnival

And now for the conclusion… Part III brings it home with Alex’s insights on the creation of his book, a breakdown of his kit, and some really excellent advice on how he makes his subjects comfortable with the camera.

If you haven’t read Part I, or Part II, click the links below, if you have, read on!

**Read Part I

**Read Part II

You now live in Trinidad, where you published your first book. Why Trinidad?

Alex’s first book, “Trinidad & Tobago – Carnival.Land.Water.People"

“…every day was different, I met so many people from all walks of life and society, and traveled the entire country.”

My mother is from here so I had been here several times before. 2000 was a kind of turning point as I had started coming to the Caribbean to start the process for the book. My initial trip was a fund raising trip on which I raised… nothing. I did cover the Millennium from Tobago and on the back of a tourism job and brought over a mate from UK as my assistant. I sent it to Sygma and miraculously NY Times bought the shot for their website of pictures around the World. The head of Tourism at the time was pleased so I ended up staying for 6 months and my assistant for 3 months.

Note: Alex’s book was one of the things that inspired me to get into DSLR photography. It’s simply awesome, and I highly recommend it. Buy it from Amazon.com to show your love!

How did a book deal come into the picture in Trinidad?

It was the start of the War in the Middle East. I was in Pakistan for Out There News and a week after I got back to UK they asked if would like to go back to Kabul this time. In the same week the book deal and an advance from the publisher came through. In short, I funded myself on a UK bank loan, a few odd jobs and moved to Trinidad in 2001. All in all, I spent 2 years photographing and then a year of editing and design and layout done by Gareth Jenkins from Above, a really good designer.

Could you tell us a little more about your experience creating the book?

It was a long-term project that needed a lot of planning. I had sent a brief to 3 researchers beforehand and they drew up schedules and a contact base for me of what festivals, religious days, and cultural elements were going on.

I drafted several shot lists and schedules to try and form some kind of day or week planner to get everything I needed. I talked to a lot of Trinis, got a feeling of what was important to them, what had to be in there, what sensitivities I needed to be aware of. From that I would have my week’s work and Monday morning I could be found up a tree in a harness in the rain forest or checking out an old plantation house or just hanging out with some sugar cane farmers.

It was amazing time, every day was different, I met so many people from all walks of life and society, and traveled the entire country.

Some things I got in one shot and just had a feeling that they would reach the final cut, some things only happen once a year so I managed to go back twice to improve on it as I knew what to expect and where to place myself.

With tens of thousands of images I got contact sheets made. From these I scanned in some low resolution edits and got a couple of editors in involved and they made a first cut without me being around using a ‘must haves’ brief. Trinidad is a very sensitive place and multi-racial so it was very important to have a balance on all issues for it to be accepted. Then I did another two edits with a couple of great photographers Abigail Hadeed and an Italian who owns a hotel called Peiro. That was really important to get artistic opinion on the images versus a ‘must have’ clear image. A further critic Zac Ove, a Trini/British filmmaker convinced me to go more for the stylish photography rather than trying to please everyone.

So then Gareth and I literally did a final cut using color laser copies laid out across our studio floor. It was fun and heart breaking but the storyline and layout slowly came together by itself. We did 3 layout versions each with just slight tweaks. Another friend Steve Voss a German designer, did the final color corrections on the high resolution scans and we sent it off and never heard anything back until a first print came off the press several months later. It was obviously an amazing feeling. The work on the book led to where I am now. Gareth Jenkins, Sam Clement and I formed a partnership and created abovestudios.com a creative company comprising of our three disciplines, design, tech and photography.

At CameraPorn, as you know we are obsessed with gear. Tell us about your kit – camera, lenses, lighting, accessories etc.

My basic kit bag consist of a Canon 5D and a Canon 10D back up both with battery grips.

Before continuing, let me explain being based in the tropics. First there is 40 % duty on buying new kit. They even charge you if you send something to be fixed! There are no stores here, there are no maintenance technicians, and there are no Canon service centers.

There is however, 90% humidity, 6 months of torrential rain, dust, mud, robbers and a 3-day alcohol fueled Carnival. All of which decimates my kit at least once a year. So now I embarrassingly stick to cheaper semi-pro lens like Sigma and Tamron f/2.8s. I know they will just last a year or two but half the cost of Canons and kind of disposable. So my lenses include an off-brand 17-35, 28-70, a 70-200 which was just soaked in tropical rain. Also an old, battered Canon f/3.5-5.6 35-350mm L. I just got a Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L Tilt-Shift as I do a lot of architecture and interiors.

As I do more commercial work now my studio lighting is very important and run up to, 3 Elinechrome, 6 Bowen heads, 2 are a travel battery pack as I am actually on location more than studio. I still have an odd Metz and on-camera flash knocking about somewhere.

Could you tell us a little more about the challenges associated with the lack of high-end equipment?

It is obviously an issue not having the best of the best at your disposal, but then I look at my end use for commercial work here. First it would be press ads which is only 175 dpi so you can get away with a lot from that, although it also demands that you get a high contrast, stand out image so its not lost on crap print. Medium end would be editorial magazine work up to a double page and my 5D and decent 2.8 can handle that once you are in RAW. Larger size would then go to billboard, which here are only 150-170 dpi and viewed from afar so there is little difference in quality.

Saying all that, I did recently loose a campaign for the States of the launch of a local product they wanted to shoot here. I was pegged for it due to my style, but because we didn’t have a 30-40 megapixel medium format kits, I lost the deal. Obviously, I would love to have that but there is no rental services here and if we invested in it, it would end up being wasted on small ads here. It just does not make it financially viable to run Canon 1Ds Mark IIs or Hassleblads with digital backs.

It is in the books and high gloss magazines that I would love to have the higher end equipment to work with.

The basic fees that ad agencies here pay are usually less than Europe and States. Remember local viewership is only around 1.2 million people, equivalent to a small suburb in the US. When it goes regional across most Caribbean islands, we can usually command rates comparable to a Miami commercial rate. Sometimes we can get NY or even UK rates.

But a positive to limited equipment is that it does not allow you to become lazy, you can create stunning content by your skills as a photographer. Its an age-old argument how its not the equipment you have but the images you capture.

What’s your favorite camera/lens/accessory?

I always use Calumet radio triggers, which I love. A bit tricky and fragile when using a few at a time, too many plugs and connections that can go wrong they are a bit tempermental for such basic tools and prone to wear and tear. But when they are running they are just another solution that you can think less of and get on with shooting great pictures.

What’s your favorite subject to shoot?

“I am in my element when I have found an interesting subject to document…”

“People will recognize me and give me free reign to shoot in often awful situations”

I am in my element when I have found an interesting subject to document. Being based in an interesting place gives you the luxury of relationship building with your subjects. Before, i was used to flying in and out and only grabbing a few days for a feature where a good photographer can get a story out of it, but nothing beats spending real time with people. I have a little corner of a ghetto here that I have shot all the time for past few years, everything from gang killings, wakes, Sunday afternoons, school kids activity days, people will recognize me and give me free reign to shoot in often awful situations.

Commercially, I actually love shooting food and lifestyle. Working with chefs and food is really hard, but I love showing the chefs after and seeing their creation captured beautifully. I also love food so it’s a great combination.

What do you use for post and why?

Used all of the above, mostly beta versions and was happy with them but nothin,g stunning really. We recently installed CS3 through out our studio so I use Adobe Bridge for everything now.

Could you share a little bit about your workflow?

I will return from a shoot. Delete what I can from camera. Download to the hard drive. Open in bridge, do a ratings edit; my fist cull will be to delete more. Then I will do a 1-2 star-, which are usable. Switch to a rating order and view the rated ones. I will bounce back and forth until I rate 2-3. 3 star will be ones that I can show the client. I may convert all of those or do another round of cuts.

I open them up, do a batch sharpen. Then tweak the shadows and contrast mostly. And give the client a jpg version, high resolution tiffs and a RAW file just in case. I try not and do too much post-procesing. I am a firm believer in trying to get a good image from the shoot stage. It comes from learning on transparency where you have very little room for errors. We used to practice at school in just getting a whole roll of perfect exposures in different conditions.

From there I burn DVD for client, instruct them it is there responsibility to archive them. If I think I can use them in future and I have arranged rights to use, etc. I will then do a final cut, transfer them to our studio server where we just installed an automated backup. The advantage of working with a tech freak. And so I would then delete from my hard drive keeping my laptop free of space.

Film or digital and why?

I still have an old film 6×7, sold a 5×4 ages ago, a beautiful panoramic Hasselblad, which I used to love, and 2 Canon EOS1 bodies collecting dust. I was thinking the other day about incredible the rapid demise of film, which had been around for 100 years. It is gone in 5 years. I just have a few blocks of film left I’m experimenting with, letting them age and get exposed to heat. After being used to storing film in dark dry cool places, I just thought I would see what happens if you do all the things they tell you not to do.

I have a feeling after digitals search of perfection, like vinyl records, there will be a retro phase at some point in the future. People will want to see scratches, over exposure, film grain. Its like all the little imperfections of life which keep things familiar. Hell, I may not even be able to develop them! …and will have to mix my own chemicals… the horror! Imagine that!

I do not miss film really. I love the volume of images you can shoot digitally, just working your subject, I love the in-between moments that spring up on a more consistent ratio than film. Unless really doing set ups and fixed lighting, I used to use maybe one or two shots from a 36 exposures, where as I will bang off a 4gb card on raw, and have endless usable images, almost too many and more editing time is needed. But I edit tight and try and delete as much as I can just keeping the final edit. I use cards like a painter would use a sketchbook, make a whole set of mess and pick something out of it to produce a final image.

What i do miss about film is long exposures. I used to love tripod in dusk and dawn and also in urban areas using fluorescent and street lights and getting the crazy unpredictable colors. It was exciting and still had that magic of what photography use to be. Now I still love working in those times and also off tripod now with a 400 iso hand held, I love shooting the ghetto with that and just a bare bulb and getting hard light and black black shadows on dark skin. But with long exposures you get noise with digital.

Do you have any quick and dirty tips for our users you frequently use when shooting or post-processing?

I’m still working on my workflow, but mine is out of fear when on jobs really. Just back up as soon as possible post shoot, I even try not and erase cards until after shoot, in case of the random disasters.

Describe your "dream shoot"

Maybe working with a luxury brand of hospitality that have several locations where they all want the same style in their marketing collateral. So it would mean travel and an assistant, usually a hot one. The brand would have to be high-end to afford the shoot but also have modern corporate ethics. Maybe the resort has a small footprint on its environment and has used its surroundings as part of the ethos. Maybe it buys locally grown coffee and chocolate for its gourmet chefs to work with. It would also have to have cool staff to maybe sneak off to their local for a cold beer after.

What are you currently working on?

Meiling a fashion designers retrospective book, one of my favorite shoots this year. Worked with a talented group of people.

Digicel cell phone campaign, art directed out of Ireland.

Just finished a report for BG Gas Company.

Carib, a local beer calendar with models

Our own (Above Studios) marketing material and plan for rest of year.

When we shot together in Trinidad, I was amazed by your ability to make random subjects comfortable with the camera. Could you share some of your methods?

“I try and see what it feels like from there view…”

I try and see what it feels like from there view. Especially as modern street photography’s role has changed and has slightly different connotations. It has so much more rapid impact. It can be distributed and on the web within minutes. I learnt from being in difficult situations where things are bad and people are suffering and often would want their story told, are pleased to have a witness and at least someone interested in their issue. Nowadays people usually half joking ask if you are Paparazzi and almost always demand money because you are making thousands of dollars from that photo of them.

But now a days I like shooting the normalcy of things, everyday stuff that happens in the Caribbean. So that means I come from a different angle. I try and get them interested in me first. Even if I know exactly what I want from them.

Like the time we stopped at the side of the road. There was a set of country guys drinking rum. We stopped asked directions, which made them hear our accents. They knew we were visitors and were curious, so we stopped and bought food- often a conversation starter as they will then tell you about there cultural delicacies. In their case stewed squirrel. I don’t know if I believe them but I have seen seabird stew once so it could be possible. So then we had a few beers etc and hey! Why not get a snap of us all. So we pulled out a camera and so what if it was a huge 30D with kick ass 24-70 L on it? So I jumped in shot with them and you got a shot of me with them, this dispels a kind of fear or evidence gathering. It’s really interesting working in ex-soviet or dictatorial lead countries. People still have an ingrained fear of photos, taking notes, gathering names info etc, like in Haiti people still have a fear of the Papa Doc years.

A positive about digital is you can show them straight away. So also, they are men, so they are interested in gadgets so you have another conversation opener. Within 10 minutes we are getting tight head shots, moving them into the light and shooting from my lap with out even looking through view finder, which is another way of getting intimate. It means you can continue talking and have eye contact. You just need to compensate angle and learn to adjust etc.

Often if I am trying to get action on the street I won’t ask or disturb them, will turn my back to them make my settings and turn bang off a few and drop camera and walk about a bit, do a few more different angle etc, then I would try and make eye contact and give a little a shrug like a question and usually if they don’t mind you can continue shooting what ever they are doing. You will know pretty quickly if they don’t care for it.

There are many ways to get the best out of the situations and people, just try a few and learn what is best for you. The results in your images will be apparent immediately when you look back at them. You will get that feeling of the viewer actually ‘being there’ without the intrusion. Or people suddenly grinning and posing for you.

Any suggestions for aspiring photographers

Go back to the basics. Research the history, the great masters, modern contemporizers. There is often a blasé attitude that has evolved with the digital revolution and the lower costs of image capture with, high resolution phones or half decent point and shoots.

Now anyone can make and sell images. There has been a global lowering of the value of images with the stock giant wars and 1-dollar photos from iStockphoto and such like. All of this although impacting the living of photographers, has also opened a world of opportunities, fun and experimentation. It has kept people on their toes and change is good. There is some excellent work being done out there and often it starts to influence new trends and styles that will enter the commercial sphere. Such as that snap shot look and ‘mistakes’ like shooting into the sun getting flares and bleaching etc. But there is still a difference when viewing what is going on. You can tell a Corbis or Getty shot over a cheaper version.

My secret is a combination of all of the years of experience above but here’s a quick list:

• It all about knowing your subjects well, understanding what they do and what you are about to shoot.
• It is being able to work your equipment with a second nature like driving a car.
• It is all about knowing human behavior. Knowing how slight adjustments of a face or direction of eyes will communicate something different. Also, communicating with your subjects, wither on a fashion shoot or negotiating an army roadblock. Trying to predicting that behavior and positioning yourself where you will be able to see it.
• Lastly it is about light. You need to be able to see light. Live in a world where you are seeing it in highlights, shadows and contrast. How color temperature works and where it mixes.

So all you need to get that stand out image, is a combination of all of these. Then remember all of that has to be rolled into 1/60th of a second. There you go, easy!

]]> http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/18/live-in-a-world-of-highlights-shadows-contrast-interview-with-photographer-alex-smailes-part-iii/feed/ 2 http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/17/welcome-to-hell-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-ii/ http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/17/welcome-to-hell-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-ii/#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:00:22 +0000 rygood http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/17/welcome-to-hell-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-ii/

 

Bosnia, 1998

We are back with Part II of our interview with photographer Alex Smailes. If you haven’t read Part I yet, we suggest you do. Part II brings us further along in Alex’s journey as a photographer, where he shares more amazing stories and insights on how he survived the crazy life of a conflict photographer…

**Read Part 1

How were you able to come into contact with these aid agencies?

“…although they had just started throwing grenades into bars and cafes we took a gamble…”

Again, it was all about meeting and making connections, jobs never come to you. I had lunch one day with a director of an aid agency who had seen my work somewhere and he offered me a trip in Bosnia. The war had ended but the reconstruction, reconciliation and the clearing of landmines had started. At the time Belgrade wasn’t issuing visas to Americans but as I was also working for the aid agency called CARE. I got a visa for Kosovo at the end of 97.

Could you share some of your experiences?

It was New Year 1998, I went for vodka with a girl who was working at an aid agency for my birthday, although they had just started throwing grenades into bars and cafes we took a gamble. Later, I was awakened by shooting outside my room, I peeked out and saw loads of cars filled with Serbs driving around letting off machine guns in the air in the Albanian neighborhoods trying to scare everyone. January 98 the war started again. We knew things were going to get bad, one early morning we tried to reach a remote village with a Doctor, it was all gray and misty and all of a sudden masked gunmen stopped our convoy, they made us turn back even though we we’re aid workers. They had surrounded Pristina during the night.

I remember there were field and fields of these massive black crows that just sat there staring. Locals say that they were there since the times of the great Balkan and Ottoman battles where they would feast on the thousands of dead and dying, they were also hanging around WWII where Sarajevo played an important role, it looked like they were ready for another feast.

I wanted to stay, but they kicked down the doors of journalists in the official hotel evicting all the press saying, “We cannot guarantee your safety if you stayed,” I managed to get on a bus full of refugees across the border. I hid my film when a bunch of soldiers came on the bus. Theydragged a man off, leaving his wife and children crying, it was awful. I couldn’t do or say anything. I slowly made my way back to Bosnia by plane. I was pissed off I had to sell a camera just to buy an air ticket back. A few months later I watched the footage of thousands fleeing across the border and wondered if any of my old friends were among them.

Seems like it was a pretty close call. Sorry about losing the camera, that must have been a tough one. Where did you go from there?

“And so he opened with; ‘You have generation Pepsi, we have generation Jihad.’”

My next major job after that was a weird exclusive. I’d been working a Chechen contact at The Hague. He had made contact with Shamil Basayev the rebel leader at the time. I flew into Moscow, then south to Ingushetia with the aim of getting into Chechnya, but more importantly safely out. Being that at the time, it was the kidnap capital of the world and a basic no-go zone for anyone.

The agency made me understand they did not have ransom insurance. The French magazine said they would buy the story if I got back. The Telegraph journalist based in Russia called me a ‘bloody idiot’ and didn’t want to write another story about a stupid foreigner being kidnapped and killed. So I had to stay hidden for two weeks in an old hotel room. Kidnapping was a big problem everywhere in the south, so i was only coming out for food and a bit of fresh air at night.

I was going crazy cooped up and I finished reading the one book I brought. I started to want to go out until one night there was shooting outside the hotel. I had been assigned two armed soldiers by the local government. I jumped out of bed, put on shoes in case I had to run and was waiting to hear if my guards fired back, thinking they where coming for me, it was silent though. My guide didn’t even trust our security really.

That’s one thing about these trips… the waiting was awful and you start to wonder if you’ll pull it off or it was a waste of time an money. At night we would watch the news an they showed footage that was sent to kidnapped relatives of people being tortured, one young soldier had his fingers shot off, another was lying naked and skinny and covered in shit in a small animal cage being hit with iron rods and the worst was of an old man getting his head chopped off by an axe.

While waiting to get in Groznyy I grew a big beard to blend in. On the day I snuck in to Groznyy I hid in the back of a old Lada car, crossed over the border easy enough as there were no border guards and we got through 3 different warlords areas. It looked like a movie set… a burnt out tank, a guy with a balaclava and a RPG on his back and a woman warming her hands over the fire. The city had been completely destroyed over the last two wars that took more bombs per hour than Stalingrad in WWII. Crazed kids ran wild in the streets, a guy in a nice black suit walked briskly past with a gun in his waist- it was scary as hell, but the sun was shining and I was about to interview Russia’s most wanted man.

My guide had instructed me how to behave in his presence. He said “do not to ask any provocative questions or he will take you outside and get one of his men to shoot you in the head as he won’t be bothered to get his boots dirty.”

Nice to know this just before I go in to his secret hiding place- and what the hell is a provocative question when you are about to meet the man accused of blowing up several Moscow apartments, helping to beat the entire Russian army and with known Islamic militant links to Saudi, Pakistan and Al Qaeda several years before main stream press even knew what they where.

And so he opened with; “You have generation Pepsi, we have generation Jihad.”

Soon after we arrived, Russia started bombing Groznyy again, so we sped to a village that had been struck. There was an empty lot full of rubble where a house used to be, a car was pitted and twisted with shrapnel, trees were shredded, even the light pole was full of holes, it was very ire and scary we didn’t know if the village would turn on us. There where women crying, I was told not to speak and they told the people I was deaf and dumb from the last war.

We also went to a children’s hospital that had been recently hit and met these poor little kids and exhausted Doctors who had no medicine, electricity half the time or water. They sat me down and thanked me profusely for taking the risk to show their plight outside world, it was really awkward wondering what if anything I could make an immediate difference. A few days after I left, I read that the hospital had been hit again by mistake; several Doctors, staff and patients had been killed.

When heading back across the border a long line of tanks rolled past! We headed straight for the airport out. A one-armed camera man approached me and begged me to take out some video footage. I agreed and was met by the Reuters guys in Moscow and they aired the first footage of attacks on Groznyy even as Russia issued statements that they were not going to attack. I sent my images and text over, and the agency sold it to le Figaro, probably one of my most prestigious sales. I did the usual sales pitch myself when I got back and had a conversation with the editor at GQ who I said he could have the first exclusive of this man, he snubbed it off saying they are always fighting about something and would probably blow over. It really amazes me how these people get in these positions, several weeks later it was the largest full scale war in Europe since Bosnia. And Basayev, he orchestrated the Beslan school massacre several years later. The images still sell today through Corbis. During the war they found a kidnapped French photographer in a basement who had tried to get in at the same time as me.

Dressing like a bird watcher, growing a beard, it seems “blending in” is and important part of surviving these adventures?

“I didn’t know if they would turn against the international press…”

“The police had to beat them back with whips, we were nearly overrun…”

Big beards also came in useful in the Middle East. A week after 9/11 I got a job with a group called Muslim Aid in Pakistan and an online news agency called outtherenews.com who, at the time were revolutionizing independent news gathering, we got some unbelievable stuff.

First of all, with my looks they thought I was Muslim, it wasn’t my fault no one asked me if I wasn’t. I always get a strange look in Islamic countries. My first name is Alex which is Christian, but Smailes gets translated to Ishmael. So my name gets changed to ‘ilex Ishmali’. But it got me into a lot of places like the Taliban Madrassa’s training schools for young volunteers and even a few from UK! At one place a young voice called out ‘alright mate so you from England as well?’ in a Liverpool accent. They also snuck me into Kashmir still another no-go zone for foreigners. There is actually a sign that says that! It’s actually very stunning place the mountains are mind-blowing.

So your appearance has helped you out in some situations. Where did you go from there?

So it was the day after America bombed Afghanistan. I had been lying awake all night after watching CNN with some old gentlemen. There was obviously going to be riots and backlash I didn’t know if they would turn against the international press. I made my way to the main mosque. After prayers all the men came running out shouting, all the shopkeepers lowered their shutters or peeped out from behind closed doors. It was running battle between the police and massive angry crowds and we were stuck in the middle. I found a finger in the middle of the road, then tear gas canisters were being shot, everyone was screaming and gasping for air and crying, we hid in a doorway and we covered our faces with wet scarves. My eyes were burning while I was trying to take pictures, an Italian photographer got shot with a canister in his lower back hiding in the doorway but he was OK.

Suddenly we came under fire from a hail of bottles and stones and I took cover with Jim Nachtwey from Magnum New York, I figured stick with him he’ll be alright, the stones hit a lit BBQ and showered us with hot coals and we all started laughing, that’s what’s weird about scenes like this there is always humor in adversary. He was later injured in Iraq when a grenade was tossed into the warrior vehicle they were traveling in.

After that the streams of refugees over ran the North west region and massive emergency camps were set up, these were pretty dangerous places there was a lot of hungry and angry people, even going in with the Muslim aid agency we needed armed escort and when they started giving out relief. I shot images of land-mine victims and old ladies who were being pushed over at the feeding centers. The police had to beat them back with whips, we were nearly overrun and the ones who didn’t get anything started throwing rocks at me and gesturing running their fingers across their throat at me! There was still a 15-minute drive out of the camp!

It seems like your experiences kept getting more intense. How did you cope?

“What really gets you is the people on the ground- the people you get close to, but leave behind”

Life was difficult on those early photo trips. I really didn’t know what was going on inside of me at the time but prolonged exposure to the horrors of any conflict or disaster zones obviously takes its toll. Constantly living with fear, the stress of ensuring you get the best possible image, trying to get film or scanned images back to UK under slow internet lines or just working in a foreign country with police, militias, rebels, war criminals or army who take pure delight in taking film off you or relieving you of cameras.

What really gets you is the people on the ground- the people you get close to, but leave behind. The translators, local aid workers, drivers, the people who helped you out. You go through their experiences with them, I will always remember a mother who was finally reunited with her daughter embracing because her daughter was trapped on the other side of the city and she did not know whether she was alive or dead. After you fly out you have this tremendous feeling of guilt.

Then coming home from those things that I had seen and experienced and no one around you really understands, its not really dinner conversation material. I would be overwhelmed when I walked in a super market and there was so much food and so much choice and crying spoiled kids made me so angry.

All my mates didn’t really understand either they were out partying and having a laugh but I knew I just had to fit in again and it was real exciting time. I appreciated being alive so much, I was 27-28, would get off a plane from Kosovo with a bottle of vodka, unshaven, tatty jacket and would end up in some magazine or model party in London! There are advantages too, I still rarely get stressed about the small annoying things in life, or traffic jams or life’s crap that people get so wound up about. Although I still hate fireworks. One night after drinking with a mate after a Balkan trip he hid and then set off a party popper at me I nearly died of fright and he died of laughter.

You were definitely in some pretty hairy situations over the years. What was the scariest?

“You just never get used to the clunk-click of a shot gun behind your head…”

“…pinned down for like 2 hours by a sniper…”

I had done 4 conflicts in a row and I felt my fate getting closer you only have so many chances, some have fewer than others, a lot of press are killed every year. Last time I was in Haiti for the revolution was awful it was free game against the press. Kids on scooters were driving around with Raybans and flip flops and waving guns at us. Everyone from the press was attacked at some stage. We got held up in a road block and you just never get used to the clunk-click of a shot gun behind your head, at some stage it will be the last thing you hear.

In Macedonia Wade Goddard a photographer also with Sygma in New York, a Reuter’s correspondent from Croatia and I, where pinned down for like 2 hours by a sniper.

Bullets pinged off the fence until a tank rolled up and blew up the house; we made it back down the hill to a building site for cover. Then all hell broke loose as a small car ran the military check post and they opened up fire on it, they were also shooting directly in our cover positions, on their own troops! Dust was flying everywhere, I saw that the Reuters guy managed to crawl under a truck, Wade was behind me and very experienced, he had covered the whole of Bosnian war. But the solider next to him was firing directly into the sand bank I was hiding in front of! One of my cameras ran out of film and I quickly changed one, I was cussing because so much dust was flying about, I only realize after, when I popped my head over that Wade was white as a sheet, he told me later about the guy firing straight at my head! He thought I was dead.

We all laughed about it as the three of us were pissing for ages against a wall in a little alley, recovering from loss of hearing and rounds still going over our heads into the hills.

Ok, Part II must now come to an end, but don’t worry, we will be back with the Part III conclusion first thing tomorrow. In Part III, Alex tells us about his book, his gear and his secrets for getting the shot. He also chimes in on the film vs. digital debate, what he’s working on now and where he’s going in the future.

**Read Part 3

]]> http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/17/welcome-to-hell-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-ii/feed/ 6 http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/16/ak-47s-arab-jails-and-animal-smugglers-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-i/ http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/16/ak-47s-arab-jails-and-animal-smugglers-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-i/#comments Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:00:27 +0000 rygood http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/07/16/ak-47s-arab-jails-and-animal-smugglers-interview-with-conflict-photographer-alex-smailes-part-i/ Indonesia, 1997

Hello there fellow camera nymphomaniacs! Today we are very excited to bring you part one of a three part interview with Alex Smailes, a Trinidad-based professional photographer. Alex began his professional career as an underwater photographer, but quickly found an obsession with photojournalism…to be more specific, conflict photography. A small disclaimer before you continue, some of the stories to come are a bit graphic, a little scary and for the most part un-friggin-believable. In Part one, Alex tells of his beginnings, and early experiences as a young photographer trying to make a name for himself.

So grab a a cup of coffee, close your office door and get comfortable, this one’s a doozy…

 

Alex Smailes in Trinidad – May, 2007

Where did you get your start in photography?

I first studied photography at Filton college in Bristol, UK, which has a strong reputation for producing students who go on to do many things in either getting places at degree level or entering the work place. They have a yearly internship with Magnum agency in London, which has helped produce many of the UK’s leading documentary photographers such as Stephen Gill.

I took a year off in between courses and shot in the Bahamas, Trinidad and the Red Sea. This started my love of traveling and diving. I was finishing off my degree in Falmouth college based in a south coast fishing town. Due to its proximity to the sea, I was able to continue my new passion for underwater photography. I left early after getting a job in the Persian Gulf in 1996. I got it by going to tea with a filmmaker who had a few links in BBC Wildlife, also based in Bristol and I left him a few slides. They ended up in the hands of a marine biologist, which then ended up in the UAE with a film producer.

What was your first memorable photography assignment?

I chose to leave school and ended up spending 13 months with the Arabian Seas Expedition, a documentary film crew making an underwater documentary film on the Gulf environment. It was an incredible experience that was my further education. We had been given a flat by the oil companies that was filled with; cameramen, marine biologists, film editors, graphic designers and other young environmentally conscious minded people. There were also some really cool technicians from India who could fix anything from an underwater strobe to a huge meal from a bare cupboard. We all lived and worked together, so as you can imagine it was a bit like an East meets West ‘Real World’ show.

We had a couple of Jeeps and a 100ft crew boat. We would spend weeks at a time driving off the Arabian coast, in mangroves, off shore islands on Tora Tora in the crazy old oil field crew boat we converted into a dive boat. It was smelly, dodgy plumbing and bounced all over the place in a 2 ft swell, the crew were Filipino who ate anything and didn’t speak English. The captain was color blind and the engineer prone to seasickness. But we loved it and lived off shore diving up to 4-5 times a day on the reefs and obtained the first footage of under the regions oil platforms. We got shipwrecked at night once in a storm and as I was gathering life vests, our cameraman was stuffing our footage into dry bags.

We had many visitors from all over the world one was Justin, a (Hugh Grant look-a-like and sound-a-like) writer from UK. He popped in to crash for a few weeks and ended up staying for months. He taught me about investigative journalism and reporting. We did a few pieces, as he got a job at a local newspaper.

What was your first real investigative project?

We started a story about animal smuggling. One of the guys we were investigating was a Sudanese businessman who traded in illegal live animals from Africa. He used to sell the Sheiks lions, tigers and orangutans for their amusement. We posed as ‘fixers’ for the new rich Russians that sprung up in the mid 90s. Made business cards and talked the talk.

After 6 weeks of dealing with one of them he showed us a piece of paper with a black and white photograph of a container with a whole bunch of scientific letters next to it. He told us it was weapons grade uranium stolen from a mine in Zaire!

We faxed it to friends at Cambridge just to check what it was. They called right away and said, “Where did you find this? Don’t go anywhere near it! Your balls would drop off!” We told the editor of the newspaper we were working for a regional newspaper. He basically came back and said, “Leave that alone.” The actual owner of the newspaper was a member of the royal family! So we put it in an envelope and dropped it off to the American Embassy. That was the last we thought of it until I started getting phone calls in the middle of the night saying Mr. Smailes can you come and meet me at the Sheraton Hotel I hear you are causing a big problem. I never went.

That must have been an insane experience as a young photographer… Did anything come of it?

The week after Justin hopped on a plane and left the country. While I was waiting to leave, I had a job at the other end of the country so I was driving through the desert, and suddenly this black jeep was coming up behind me flashing lights and hugging my bumper. It was night so obviously I was scared to hell. That happened for about five minutes till they overtook me and sped on. When I came into a valley there was a police roadblock and a queue of cars, I thought it was a speed trap or something until I saw the same car. A guy waved an AK47 in the air, jumped out and pointed at me shouting. The police came around in my face and took my passport.

Nothing was said in English everything was in Arabic. When I would ask questions they would say nothing, there was just silence. We were just driving in the desert at night on a pitch-black road. My initial impression was that I would be killed and left in the desert. I didn’t drink and didn’t socialize so I guessed it was because of the story we were working on. They did a blood test looking for drugs and then I was taken back to this square building with short turrets, a police station. They made me sign a document in Arabic and told me if I signed it I would be let out.

So, they just let you out?

Well… that didn’t happen. They then walked me out the back, handcuffed, and put me in a cell. Behind this door there was this dark, dank corridor and there were just bodies everywhere sleeping on the floor. When my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw some had swollen eyes and were bruised, and one Filipino lying on a piece of cardboard on a wet, filthy floor was badly beaten and bleeding from his nose and mouth. I later tried to speak a little tagalog to him that I had learnt.

There were about 10 cells on the left. They opened one of those and inside was just the most bizarre sight. There were about 18 people stuffed into a little cell. I just greeted everyone in Arabic and an Indian guy who could speak English asked me to take off my shoes and wash my feet and they made room for me on the floor. There was a Russian guy in there he worked for AEROFLOT the Russian airline. He was there because he was in a taxi taking him to work and the taxi driver was drunk and they arrested both of them.

There was another Sudanese guy in there with big Malcolm X glasses, and guess what he was listening to… Bob Marley… on a little pink cassette player! So at least I knew we had good music.

A little good music can go a long way, especially Bob… How did the situation end?

So in the end, I only did a long long night there, had a cup of tea and they just let me go. They did it just to scare me I think. I got the hell out of that country fast. With experience in the region I ended up returning several times to work on book projects for a book producer in London.

Wow. It seems that from the beginning you were very driven to make a name for yourself… Where did you end up next?

“Village disputes are sometimes settled with a bow and arrow, their ancestors used to eat each other…”

I moved straight onto Papua New Guinea and undertook a personal assignment, which took 5 months to document the effects of deforestation in the unique Rainforests in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

One of the people on the previous film crew’s parents were part of the British High Commission. They told me about what was going on there. So after a few drunken nights with some Samoans in Australia, I was in Papua New Guinea: a wild, wild place. It is one of the most undeveloped but natural countries in the world, which also makes it one of the most bizarre. You have to fly everywhere, there are few roads, little communication, huge mountain ranges that cut off whole communities, only accessible by a chopper. Over 200 different languages, the worlds tallest tree, largest butterfly, a huge ostrich type bird that has prehistoric talons that can rip a man in half, and a huge amount of poisonous snakes. Rivers teamed with crocs and the seas with sharks, sea snakes and amazing reefs. I once read about a magical cave that opens and closes. Village disputes are sometimes settled with a bow and arrow, their ancestors used to eat each other and they revere the pig that grows to the size of small car and has terrifying tusks. Oh, and they recently found the world’s first poisonous bird! I was in heaven!

Sounds like an awesome place to shoot. What stories did you go after while in Papua New Guinea?

A lot of Asian logging companies were going to local tribal chiefs and bribing them for logging rights and concessions for some of the world’s prime rain forest and turning them into chopsticks. It was obviously a controversial and dangerous place to be poking about with a camera. So this is where I learnt to start being sneaky about getting pictures. I dressed up as a bird watcher in beige with a pair of binoculars and a bird book in case they searched me and they actually ended up giving me lifts into the logging camps!

You also must remember I was still discovering myself and my mission, I was 25-26 just breaking through as a photographer especially in the UK is incredibly difficult. So I knew early on my stories had to be different, have impact and have a human angle so audiences could empathize.

I didn’t really know what I was going to do with the work but knew a lot of people should know about this. Luck played a part again whilst riding down the Sepik river in known for the crocodile tribes, I met the South Pacific directors of Greenpeace and WWF who commissioned some work from me. That’s what got me involved in environmental missions.

The images were used for a book on Papua New Guinea by the International Institute of Environment and Development, Greenpeace and also Geographical magazine and WWF.

On the same trip I made it to a secret eco-war in Bougainville Island over a copper mine in the South Pacific that I had actually heard about while in Papua New Guinea.

Could you tell us a little more about your experiences on Bougainville Island?

“Local tribes picked up arms against one of the world’s largest copper mining companies who were strip mining the island ….”

Due to my knowledge of the local pidgin language, I accompanied a Channel Four film crew and was one of the only British photographers to cover the Bougainville war ever. The film Coconut Guerrillas was nominated for several international media awards and the images have featured in magazines worldwide.

Local tribes picked up arms against one of the world’s largest copper mining companies who were strip mining the island and destroying the local environment. When Papua New Guinea Army started to lose to the Rebels, the Australian government helped them with helicopters and gun boats and blockaded the island for 10 years with no imports, no fuel, no medicine or food. Noone was aloud to leave or get in. It became a almost socialistic society, like a Pacific Cuba. The thing is, they were all trained in Australia by the mine so they were engineers and electricians and highly skilled trades, they could do and make stuff.

How did the island residents learn to self-sustain?

They just set about starting a new lifestyle. They invented a coconut fuel, which they made to run 4×4s jeeps on which they had stolen from the mines. Then they made their own hydro-generators out of car engines and tool workshops.

To get in and out of the island you had to sneak in on a speedboat and hope you don’t get spotted. We got half way and started sinking with faulty engines packing up. We had to dump our fuel and other supplies; it was getting to the pretty scary stage. It was dark and cold, and after ten hours lost at sea with the boat barely afloat, we spotted a fire on the horizon and headed for it. That single moment saved our lives; I had read enough about tragedies at sea to know how the next few hours would have gone.

But we ended straight into an Army base we didn’t want to be in. At least it was land. We were dehydrated, exhausted and just got caught. They were drunk with big guns which isn’t a good combination and questioned us, but a local who was a undercover rebel sympathizer fed us and put us up for the night. We escaped the next morning hidden under fishing nets as we had to pass the base again. But in the end we were some of the only foreigners ever to reach the island in 10 years.

How was the story received back in London?

The story did really well with the men’s magazines, alternative press and I did an exhibition that generated coverage in the Independent on Sunday – my first big press spread.

It seems you were well on your way to breaking into photography… Where did the success with this early work take you?

“Greenpeace flew me to Amsterdam to meet their photo-editor and he commissioned new work for me…”

“They told me to ‘Fuck off before they broke my knee caps,’ an old Irish favorite…”

When I went back to the UK, I was showing my work around London newspapers and magazines. I sold a lot of that early work, but two major things happened. The first one was; I got picked up by Sygma (now Corbis) a famous French news agency, and secondly Greenpeace flew me to Amsterdam to meet their photo-editor and he commissioned new work for me.

I started looking at huge industries and the beginnings of globalization and its effects on people worldwide. Like the mining, we needed these elements to produce products we buy. I was really interested at looking at the root of subjects. So in Venezuela I looked at the gold and diamond mines on the Brazil and Colombian border and how it’s linked with the civil and drug war.

Did these investigative projects lead to more work?

Yes, after slightly impressing my agency, my first real hard news assignment was in Belfast, which got me in interested in social conflict. I got some decent stuff, although I got my film taken off me by three masked men whist they were throwing petrol bombs at the British Army, they told me to " fuck off before they broke my knee caps," an old Irish favorite. The other photographers laughed at me when I told them when I got back to London.

In 1998 I undertook an assignment for International Rescue Committee of New York and CARE International in Bosnia, and stayed to cover the unfolding war in Kosovo in 1998 and early 1999.

Alright folks, that’s gonna just about do it for Part 1, but keep an eye out tomorrow for Part II, where we discuss Alex’s experiences in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Haiti and more. Also, Alex tells us a little bit about how he was able to cope with high-stress situations as a young photographer.

**Click Here to Continue with Part II

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Margaret Torgerson – one of Kris’s favorite shots

Alright fellow camera porn addicts, this is a good one. We recently had the great pleasure of getting together with Kris Krug, an up-and-coming Vancouver fashion and editorial photographer. Kris, also known as kk+, is the founder of photography studio Static Photography, an author, technologist, public speaker, designer and all around good guy. Kris is also a major Flickr pimp, whose photographs have appeared in JPG Magazine, ION Magazine, Business Week, Wired Magazine, and more. He has covered events such as SXSW, the 2006 Winter Olympics, and the Consumer Electronics Show. As a speaker, he has been organized his own events and been invited to speak at media and technology events, including SXSW.

Aside from being a technologist and web personality, Kris is a sick photographer with a kit we’d kill him for if he didn’t live all the way up in Vancouver…

 

Kris Krug

How did you get into photography?

I have been working on design projects for 10+ years, and always found it difficult to find images that I liked enough to use. I started shooting photographs primarily for use in these projects and soon realized that i enjoyed photography more than the actual designing. When one of the companies I was working for in California got acquired, I ended up with the camera that was used in the marketing department.

Would you consider yourself a photo pro, wannabe pro, or serious hobbyist and why?

I just love taking pictures.

I own a technology company in Vancouver, and such is my day job, but I am never without my camera and lenses… I shoot all the time, and often land paid gigs that help me to buy new gear and to travel.

At cameraporn, as you know, we’re obsessed with gear. Tell us about your kit – camera, lenses, lighting, accessories etc.

My primary camera is a Canon 5d… but, almost all of my favorite shots come off of my film camera. I bought it 2 years ago at a pawn shop in East Van for $150. I felt guilty having 2 nice lenses and only one body so I went out and got it and ‘reverted’ to film and am so eff’n glad I did.

I also tinker with a few other analog cameras. I have a Mamiya 645, a Lomo LCA, a Lomo Fisheye, and old Mamiya 35mm I got at the flea market with a ton of awesome glass, and about 4 various working Polaroids.

My lenses for the Canons are:

• Canon 24-70mm f2.8L
• Canon 70-200mm f 2.8L IS
• Canon 50mm f1.4

I also carry a Canon 580EX SpeedLite but have to say I barely know how to use it, so it almost never comes out.

My newest purchase and experimentation has been with a pair of Alien Bees strobes. I equipped them with a remote control trigger and one bounce umbrella and one shoot-through umbrella. Next up is softboxes.

Which is your favorite lens?

My favorite lens is my Canon 50mm f1.4. It’s so sharp it’ll cut yer eyeballs out and it’s short enough that it lets me get close enough to the subject to be a factor in the creation of the shot.

What’s your favorite subject?

I like shooting people. Big smile… bright eyes. I like taking photos of my friends and family. Lately I’ve been getting more and more interest in my work from the world of fashion photography which has put me in contact with beautiful people and clothes to shoot on a regular basis and I’m having (much success) and so much fun with it.

What do you use for post processing?

Ok, this is the part where the ‘real photographers’ in the room start throwing tomatoes. 95% of my photos I publish to the internet never go to Photoshop or Lightroom or similar. I use iPhoto on my Mac primarily to keep all my images sorted. I use iPhoto Library Manager to work with several libraries to keep the size down and make things manageable. I use PictureSync to get my photos to the web and Flickr for storage and sharing. My photography site is in Drupal and I’m currently re-working it to clean up the template and add a bunch of cool new features including integration with Flickr.

Formally trained or self taught?

Self-taught. I studied design and art, but never photography. I’ve shot pretty much every day for the past 5 years, looked at lots of other people’s photos to refine my eye, assisted photographers whom I respect, and read everything interesting I can get my hands on. My lack of formal training definitely accounts for my unique style. I think the art of photography has always been with me and the more i meet other photographers and learn, I am finetuning my natural ability.

Film or digital?

Yes please! Both.

Digital is faster and more flexible. And since I just shoot freely without worrying about shots remaining (like with film) I have often captured things that I would have otherwise missed.

Film is more beautiful and artistic. Film is awesome, a lot of my favortie portraits and fashion shots I have shot with film. Using each has its trade offs and it’s about using the right tool at the right time for the right job.

Your work has a darker, more urban feel than run-of-the-mill fashion photography. What’s your inspiration?

I wouldn’t exactly say that my style has been inspired… I feel that my photography is just a product of my surroundings, my eye for the world, and just overall the things that i find interesting and sexy. I live in cracktown gastown, and walk to work, walk around the alleys taking pics. I love all the historic brick buildings, alleys and grafitti. I find these settings cool to shoot in. I guess you could describe my photos as somewhat dark, but I find them more raw and real, and to me that is the beauty of it.

Who inspires you?

• Helmut Newton – amazing portraiture!
• Kevin Meredith – best of the planet with a Lomo-LCA.

• Merkley??? – the naughty Dr. Suess of the photography world.

• Wolfgang Tillmans – gonzo, available-light awesomeness.
• Jeremy Crowle – artist, hoodrat, friend.

Your "dream shoot"?

Music and fashion photography is definitely the stuff I enjoy shooting the most. I have this recurring dream that Bono calls me up on my cell phone in the middle of the work day or while I’m out partying one night and tells me to be at the airport in an hour… I’m going on tour with U2 and going to be their personal photographer. Since I carry almost all my gear with me all the time, I’m just pretty much sitting around waiting for the call.

What are you currently working on?

Oh man… so many things. I’m working on a conceptual creative shoot with my hoodrat buddy Jer Crowle. I’m reworking my Static Photography studio website as well as growing a newly launched photoshoot locations directory. I’m working on building my fashion and music books so I can go after the highest-end clients and projects. I’m trying to create lots of opportunities to travel and see new things. I’m trying to shoot as much as I can and not take it all too seriously.

Can you recommend any resources for people starting out?

There are so many good resources online for aspiring photographers.

ModelMayhem.com – a fashion photography site I spend a lot of time at. It’s a social networking site for models, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, etc. I’ve met a lot of people here that I’ve gone on to do creative shoots with. The functionality kinda sucks but there is an actual community of people working in the fashion industry on the site.

Flickr.com – shooting everyday, sharing your work and getting feedback, and finding other photographers whose work you like and can immitate are all very important factors in growing as a photographer. I do these things for the most part at Flickr. I have about 12,000 photos online there and about 2,000 ‘contacts’. It’s an amazing world of different styles and techniques of photography out there and I find Flickr a great portal into all that stuff.

Any quick and dirty tips for our users?

• Shoot everyday.
• Isolate the variables on your camera when learning to shoot with it
• Share your work and get feedback on it
• Find other photographers work who you like and imitate it

A Few of Kris’s Favs

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