Namibian Expedition
Sesriem Canyon
This night the group climbed down into Sesriem Canyon for a Milky Way (MW) shoot. There was barely room for everyone and tripods were leg-to-leg. It wasn’t a great location as the MW was horizontal and the Canyon opening was vertical. The picture required a splash of light to illuminate the rocks, so exposures had to be timed to the staff person with the light. There was plenty of time to split the group in half and have two shoots rather than one. There were also other interesting formations nearby that we could have explored for a second group or for individuals. There were no opportunities for individuals to light paint during the workshop. That was always done by staff with varying degrees of expertise and success.
During this shoot I was criticized by the staff for not knowing my equipment well enough. This showed me how little they knew about teaching. If you are going to expect participants to use techniques that they might not otherwise use regularly, you review those techniques in a classroom before a shoot, not on the floor of a canyon surrounded by a dozen photographers in the middle of the night in total darkness. In this case it was a menu setting that I don't regularly use, but would have easily figured out and changed if I had known beforehand.
Namibia Expedition
Our itinerary covered almost 5,000 km in 16 days, starting in Windhoek and reaching the Angolan border before turning around. To duplicate it on a private tour would have cost almost twice as much and require specialized guides who were able to be on location past midnight and again before sunrise. Of course the vehicles would have been much more comfortable, and we would have had much more control over our locations and shoots, whereas upon joining a group, I became powerless, but I didn't see any other realistic option.
Group photo tours add a social element to the trip which most people find enjoyable. There were a number of interesting people on the tour, although a wide range of skill levels and experiences. It's always a trade-off and, like with most groups, cliques formed. Strangely enough, both guides rode in the same van.
I was surprised how little input we had over any aspect of our trip. I was especially disappointed in the night photography shoots. One of the two arcing Milky Way shoots was cancelled and the other essentially taken from us. The staff set up two tripods and rotated our cameras through them. In my case, I did nothing but press the shutter release. Staff mounted the camera on the pano head and rotated it, even though I have my own pano head as well as a Benro Star Tracker.
Other night shoots required us to line up our tripods leg-to-leg and we never did any light painting. That was all done, with varying degrees of success by the staff. The simple solution was to schedule more than one shoot. For example, we spent two nights in the area of Spitzkoppe Arch but were forced to rush the shoot and give up control of our image. We were not involved in the decision-making,
Overall, I was pleased with the photographs I was able to make, but disappointed in the opportunities that had been advertised, but not offered.
