My Photo tour of India with a Olympus E-M1
by Neil Buchan-Grant – http://buchangrant.com
I’ve just returned from running a 12 day Photo Tour of India for the luxury tour operator KUONI. It was a the first in a series we’re planning of at least one per year. The photo tour was a new concept in the crowded landscape of photographic workshops that proved to be a real hit with all the clients who came from the UK and the US. As opposed to a full on, hard core, seminar laden workshop, our photo tours are run by myself and the expert KUONI guides, combining the must see sites with special treats of photographic interest, researched and added by myself. This tailored approach attracted not only photography enthusiasts, but also their non-photographing partners.
In India every part of our itinerary was designed to offer the best photographic potential and we were even given a guided tour of the Delhi Photo Festival by members of the RANG documentary photographic collective. Each of our many destinations across the country featured the often hidden places photographers travelling solo would never find along with the big sites everyone wants to shoot. Tuition was given on a one to one basis in the field and I think its fair to say, everyone got some amazing photographs and learned new skills during the trip. The clients used many makes of cameras including Canon, Nikon, Sony and Olympus. We have an equally exciting multi-centre tour planned for May 2016 to China and Tibet which your readers can see more about here http://buchangrant.format.com/Blog/65252-ca
Here are a few of the first pictures I made on the tour, all shot with the Olympus OMD EM1 in various places including Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Varanasi and a small village out in the sticks. On this occasion I decided to leave behind my Sony A7s and Leica M 50mm Summilux and take my Leica M 35mm Summilux bolted to an EM1 giving me a stabilised 70mm f1.4 option. It proved to be a valuable combo for portraits which I augmented with the Olympus 12-40mm and 40-150mm PRO zooms for travel shots. I hope you enjoy these and hope to see some of you in China next year!
Kind Regards
Neil Buchan-Grant
http://buchangrant.com
British Travel Press Photographer of the Year
Next time in New Delhi pls get it touch, would be great to take you out for dinner and discuss photography…
Enjoyed your pics. Any taken with the 40-150?
some great shots in beautiful colours while the B+W stuffs appears rather mediocre when we talk about technical quality and – may be – post-processing
don´t read the text…have seen on the first picture to the end that there was no picture shoot with an olympus lens…
that´s the point…the camera itself is gorgeous…but the rest…the great bokeh from Zeiss (Leica is to pricey for me) lenses…
you don´t get that kind of bokeh with whatever olympus lens…have you ever mounted a Zeiss Apo Sonnar 135mm or 85mm with Zf2 mount on an EM-1 or the 50mm planar?
I made it and the handling is sooooo bad, except the 50mm planar.
But the good news is: For landscape, the EM-1 still my favorite…but for nature…again…I use the Zeiss over olympus lenses…
btw: great photos 🙂
Neil, fantastic post…I have 2 questions: what adapt or did you use fir the Leica lens and have you tried the native m4/3 1.2 Nocticron lens for head shots ? A photo tour like the one you describe sounds a great experience
Great work and a great eye.
Superb!
Fantastic stuff.
[I LOVE the color.]
enjoyed the photos, though colours are muted and never been a fan of close cropped portraits – especially if travel portraits.
for David, all of these were processed from RAW in Lightroom and then finished off in Nik’s Silver or Colour Effex
The ordinary turned into extraordinary! Masterful and sensitively captured!
Very nice! And very organic! What is the post-prod?
Beautiful images Neil.
can someone explain this to me : ” Leica M 35mm Summilux bolted to an EM1 ” ???
thanks
Very nice, well done!
IMHO, the first photo of the lady is wonderful.
When I grow up I want to be as good as you.
Thanks for all the comments, for Branche, the images you asked about were made with the Leica M 35mm Summilux ASPH f1.4 which I used for most of the headshots
Your post always reminds me how much more I can do with my camera.
Absolutely amazing! Beautiful work.
Hello Neil, this looks like a wonderfully successful event. Congratulations on some outstanding portraits.
Best regards Steinar
Thanks for all the comments, 4,5 and most head shots were made with the Leica 35mm M Summilux ASPH on the OMD
I love this Camera, however I need to sell it. It will come with the Pro Zoom 12-40 mm, the 17mm f1.8 and the 25mm f1.8. I prefer local southern california buyers. The Camera is in excellent shape as I work full time in Sales and have done mostly weekend shooting. Along with the comes a Great Crumpler Camera Bag. I am looking for a fair price but I think we can make a deal.
Gorgeous pictures ! Could you tell us what lens you used for the images 4 and 5 ? thank you in advance
You certainly have got the pictures to back up your credentials. Wish you much success.
Fantastic work Neil…strong expressions and great style!
Wonderful photos Neil. I spent a couple of weeks in India in 2012…the same locations as you plus Ranthambhore for the tigers. It is an incredible experience for sure and I know that I must return to the noise, pollution, cacaphony and great photo-ops!!!
Great pictures… I’m jealous because you are so good 🙂
Beautiful work!
Speachles! !!!! Great pictures
These are absolutely fantastic Neil. I am a huge fan of your work – I’ve read your blog for a long time and always look forward to your submissions. My favourites are 1,2, 15 and 17 – end result has a very steve mccurry style to it. Filmic and organic. Gorgeous.
My only request – please submit more guest contributions regularly to Steve site and please update your blog more regularly! I hope to join on one of your tours some day.
FANTASTIC SHOTS !
thanks for sharing
living in india for twenty years i have forgotten it is exotic! 🙂 .. just daily life .. have some cool photos though