I was sent to Egypt to photograph the country and it’s people by Oil Tools Limited, a company based in London. The company was going to partner up with the Egyptian government to begin drilling in the coming year; I had pretty much a free hand which made it all the sweeter.

Whether it was the country, the people, or the historical monuments, the company really didn’t care as long as they had enough of each to use for the next couple of years. In those days we called these kinds of assignments Plums.

Early one morning I went out with a group of Egyptians to take their portraits…my transportation? A stubborn, uncomfortable, smelly camel. It didn’t take long for my new friends to figure out that I wasn’t keen on the idea of spending several hours trekking across a very hot desert that even Moses wouldn’t have willingly done; especially when he had to do it for forty years!!!

 Getting to the locations wasn’t too bad, at least it was cool since the sun had not come up. I had a real band of comedians that laughed at everything, and would not give each other one second of peace as I was photographing each of them; In the photo above the model kept turning away from the camera.

Finally I told everyone that if they would give me just a few seconds with him I would jump on my camel and shoot while riding…they did so I did!!!!

FYI, the shift in color of me on the camel is what happens when the sun had been up for twenty minutes.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2017 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Sign up for one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, and come shoot with me sometime…but not on a camel.

Sign up for my online class with the BPSOP, and I’ll show you how to incorporate the elements of visual design into your imagery.

Send me your photo and question to: AskJoeB@gmail.com, and I’ll create a video critique for you.

JoeB

I was shooting the annual report for Apache Oil and Gas, and the company sent me to Egypt to pretty much shoot whatever I wanted that represented the people and country. The reason being that they were going to enter into a partnership to begin drilling there.

The one photo they did want was a photo of a new tower that was recently built in Aswan; a city just south of Cairo. When I got to Aswan, I was driven out to somewhere close to the middle of nowhere, and there was absolutely nothing around except this tower.

As the sun was getting ready to set, I was doing the best I could to try and create an interesting picture out of basically nothing but a tower and some rocks.

In my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, never give up! There’s always something you can do and whatever it’s going to be, it’s going to be better than what most people would shoot…why?

Because not only do I show people how to incorporate the elements of visual design into their imagery, but I also give my Did It Do It list for good composition out to my fellow photographers; on that list is pre-visualization.

Btw, I also send them a link to one of my favorite quotes said by Eddie Adams.

As I was thinking and scratching my head, this man appeared out of nowhere and came up to see what we were doing. I thought to myself, “Did I just get really lucky or what??? I told our driver to ask him if he would be willing to be in my photo, and that I was willing to pay him the equivalent of ten dollars in his currency.

Even though that was more money that he would see in several months, he was simply to shy to pose for me; and the money wasn’t really a factor. We finally got him to be in it providing he was far away from the camera…photo #1.

As he became more comfortable, I moved him closer to the camera, knowing where I wanted him to end up…photo #2

FYI, the featured photo above was what I had pre-visualized all along.

When I was done and gave him his modeling fee, his friends decided to get in on some of the action; they were also each paid, but just half…photo #3

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

Keep sending in your photos and questions to: AskjoeB@gmail.com and I’ll create a video critique for you.

JoeB

I was shooting a series of ads for Dewars Scotch in Edinburgh, Scotland, and one of the ads featured two men exchanging their secret fly-fishing spots to one another.

We scoured the city for an authentic Scottish pub that fit the layout that had previously been approved by the client…without any luck. It seems that all the old antique wooden bars, tables, and paneling had been bought up by entrepreneurs in the US to use in their new restaurants being built.

We found a room in the back of a boy’s prep school that fit the layout. The only problem was that it was an empty room and needed a lot of help to convert it to a typical Scottish pub. As I tell my online students with the BPSOP, and also my fellow photographers that take my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind”, if you’re going to use props and set things up (which I always encourage) make it look like you didn’t. It’s gotta look real to the viewer. Right before they click the shutter I have them ask themselves…”Do I believe it?”.

While we were dressing the room, my producer went out on the street to look for a couple of men we could use in the ad. Fairly easy since all the older men could have come straight out of central casting; everyone looked great. We picked out two separate men, total strangers, who agreed to play the role of the two fly-fishermen for a fee of $250.00 each.

I had a 12K HMI (a very large daylight balanced twelve thousand watt motion picture light) outside the window to act as the late afternoon light. To bounce light back into the men, I set up a roll of white seamless paper between us and cut a small hole in it to stick my 20mm lens through. That done, I couldn’t see anything except what I saw in the viewfinder. To make it more realistic and to get the men loosened up we use the real thing…a bottle of Dewars.

We had been shooting for quite a while and every time their glasses looked empty, my assistant would fill them up again. Finally, when I saw their glasses needed to be refilled I mentioned it, whereas I was told that the bottle was empty. They had consumed the entire bottle, drinking it ‘neat’ or in other words without anything mixed in it including ice.

It was over!

The two men, who never laid eyes on one another in their lives, were so drunk that they were laughing and falling over each other…and in a matter of an hour and a half had become close enough to be brothers. In fact, so drunk that they could barely walk and were in no condition to find their way home. It made us so nervous that we renting two private cars to drive each one home.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2016-17 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime and I’ll buy you a drink!

Keep sending in your photos and questions to: AskJoeB@gmail.com and I’ll create a video critique for you.

JoeB

Years ago I was shooting the annual report for Anderson Consulting, and they had me travel virtually around the world shooting their clients in action. A dirty job but someone had to do it!

One of their clients was Spain’s Social Security Department. Shooting in Madrid, Cordoba, and Toledo, I basically had a free hand to photograph the people in their environments; environment portraiture being one of my favorite genres.

We were there in February during carnival, and I was walking around looking for interesting subject matter in Madrid’s most famous square (packed with tourists and locals) The Plaza Mayor, and saw this local artist starting to draw this young girl’s portrait.

As I tell my online students with the BPSOP, and also my fellow photographers that take my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, always decide where you want to be in relation to the sun before you bring the camera up to your eye…and that’s just what I was doing.

In order to get the side light I wanted both on the girl and the artist, I needed to stand behind her; which is what I wanted to do in the first place. I wanted the artist drawing and the little girl looking over her shoulder at me as if she had just discovered that I was there.

To get her attention I would make the ‘psst’ sound and each time I did she would turn away from the artist to me, and just as she did I would click the shutter. It didn’t take long before the artist began to get upset, and finally he stood up, through his small piece of pastel on the ground, and started ranting and raving. He was yelling at me in Spanish and since I speak and understand the language just enough to get by, I knew pretty much what he was saying.

It didn’t take long before we had drawn a crowd, and as it grew people started laughing which made him more irate. He finally throw off his sunglasses, hat, and coat and “put up his dukes”…which made me start laughing;…which made him start jumping up and down.

Finally two local policia came up on each side and tried to quiet him down, and now he started in with them, which was not in his best interest. They picked him up by his elbows, and with him screaming what sounded like obscenities, carried him away.

That seemed to be a good time for me to make an exit from that side of the plaza. That was a very long time ago and for all I know he’s still locked up in Spain’s “ho-ho” house.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and watch for my 2016 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. The end of July marks my twenty-eight year at the Maine Media workshops. It’s a wonderful way to immerse yourself for a week and think about nothing but photography. It’s the same week as the Lobster Festival down the road in Rockland, and offers a completely different set of photo ops than the beautiful Maine coastline, amazing lighthouses, and quaint fishing villages. The full description is at the top of this blog.

I have added a new workshop to my 2016 schedule. On September 21st, ten photographers will get together with me at my evening “meet and greet” to begin a fantastic five-day workshop in New York, New York. Check out my description at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me.

Keep those photos and questions coming it to: AskJoeB@gmail.com, and I’ll create a video critique for you.

JoeB