Practical Photography

PHILIP LEE HARVEY
TRAVEL A young monk boy in traditional dress, Ladakh, India
What’s the story behind this image?
I took it back in 1998 in the Indian
Himalayas. It was a self-funded trip to
shoot the Festival of the Sun in a town
called Ladakh. There’s a monastery
there called Lamayury, and I found this
young monk, who was in traditional
dress. I grabbed my camera and managed
to get three frames of him, and then
he left, and I didn’t see him after that.
I’ve no idea what his name was or how
old he was, and he’s probably never
seen this shot, which is a shame. This
was one of those fortunate moments
where I happened to be in the right
place at the right time. Two minutes
later, and I would have missed it. Back
then, most photographers would have
used a Polaroid first and taken meter
readings. I didn’t do either, so I had to
guess at the exposure. I was always
pretty good at getting it to within a stop.
Was there a language barrier?
We didn’t say a word to each other.
I assume he didn’t know any English and
I certainly don’t speak Ladakhi (similar
to Tibetan), so I had to rely on visual
communication. He knew I was taking
an image of him, and didn’t seem to
mind, but it was such a fleeting moment
“THIS IMAGE
HELPED ME
REALISE WHAT I
COULD ACHIEVE”
there was no time to interact. I didn’t
even pose him – he just happened to be
standing in the perfect position under
a veranda outside a temple, which gave
me that lovely sidelighting on the face.
The fact that I didn’t set the shot up is
what makes the expression so natural.
What do you think makes this
image so visually appealing?
This shot works on so many levels. It’s
perhaps most striking because of the
minimalism of its colour – this is a classic
less-is-more image where the frame
isn’t overcomplicated. I’ve always been
big on colour theory, and I’ve always
tried to give my shots a painterly look.
It probably comes from my Dad, who
was an artist. As well as the colour, it’s
really important that the viewer has
direct eye contact with the subject,
which almost always makes for a really
striking portrait. Compositionally, I
love the way the lines on the hat and
in the fabric help to draw the viewer
towards the face, and the rule-of-thirds
is at work there too which gives the shot
balance. This image is timeless, and it
really makes you ask questions about
the subject. Who is this person? Where’s
he from? What’s his story? Travel
photography can work out like that
sometimes, and that’s the reason I love it.
How was this shot edited?
I took this image on a medium-format
film camera, so of course it wasn’t
digitally edited. Even though I could
now take it into Photoshop and tweak it,
I love it exactly as it is. Sometimes, it’s
the imperfections that can give a shot its
character. To be honest, I don’t do much
editing even these days. This image is
actually cross-processed. For the film
geeks out there, I used Fuji 64T tungsten
transparency film, then processed it as
C41 to produce a negative. I then printed
it onto a flat transparency film that wasn’t
even designed for photography. I shoot
everything digitally now, but I’m so glad
I learned the ropes on film cameras –
it gave me an amazing understanding
of how images work that you don’t
always get when shooting digital.
On a personal level, why is
it so special to you?
Not only was this the best shot I took on
my trip, but it was a turning point in my
career. It was the first image I took that
helped me realise what I could achieve.
It actually changed the way I approached
travel photography in general – I stopped
relying on going to dramatic places to
get dramatic shots, and realised I could
get them anywhere. It was great for my
career too, as it won lots of awards.
THE GEAR
I USED...
HASSELBLAD
503CW
35mm film wasn’t
good enough and
if you’re investing
that kind of
money in a trip,
you want the best
results possible. I
wanted to bring a
higher production
value to travel
photography.
At the time the
Hasselblad was
the best quality
‘portable’ camera
on the market.
120MM F/4 LENS
On mediumformat,
a 120mm
focal length is
the 35mm film
equivalent of
an 80mm focal
length, making
it ideal for
portraits. It
also allows
a shallower
effective
depth-of-field
than an f/4 lens
used on a
standard 35mm
camera, so
photographers
can achieve
a blurry
background.
Philip Lee Harvey is a multi-award winning travel
photographer. His journey has taken him to 120
countries, including some of the world’s most
inhospitable locations. Prints of his images are
available on his website. philipleeharvey.com
PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 39