As mentioned in the Luang Prabang report I booked a surprise photography course for Heiko as his belated 40th birthday present.  The day before I had made arrangements via Tiger Trails who put me in contact with Adri Berger, a Dutch photographer with many years experience, who would be our tutor for the day. We discussed the itinerary and what we would like to focus on (pardon the pun) e.g. technique, composition etc. and he showed us some of the previous work he had done for advertising. Adri displays and sells his photography in The Big Tree Café www.bigtreecafe.com which is run by his wife Mija who also provided all the meals during the day. At the time we were there, his work showed   portraits and pictures of Lao people which Adri had taken around Luang Prabang and further afield in Laos. These included everything from  portraits to landscapes in which Adri has captured some beautiful moments and colours.

According to the itinerary we would start around 6 am and observe the alms giving of the monks, followed by a visit to the local morning market and a temple and in the afternoon a boat trip along the Mekong to visit a local village. In between all of these stops we returned to The Big Tree Cafe for food and to go over the pictures we had taken – around 1600 by the end of the day!
We were also accompanied by a local guide who had lots of information on Luang Prabang and who translated when we had any questions for the people we were photographing. It is particularly important (and of course polite) in Laos to get permission from the person you wish to take a picture of as some do not like to be photographed. However most people agreed and whilst visiting the village in the afternoon several people agreed to pose for a while so that we could take as many pictures as we wanted in order to try and get the perfect shot.
Here is a small selection of some of our favourites from the day, ranging from snap shots to “which of the 100 monk shots is the best one” shots. Anyone at home worrying that they will have to look at all 1600 – don’t worry, we narrowed the best ones down to around 400! I hope our technique and composition improved in the course of the day and since then (our homepage pictures will tell) even if I still have a lot to learn about the hundred functions of the EOS 7D. In any case as well as being informative it was a lovely way to see Luang Prabang so if anyone is interested in doing the course Adri can be contacted either directly or via the Tiger Trails travel agency in Luang Prabang. http://www.laos-adventures.com