From offshore oil photography to the streets of Paris

Walking the streets of Paris with keen amateur or professional photographers visiting the city is about as different to offshore oil photography as choosing climbing the Himilayas versus a week in Club Med on a mediteranean resort, or is it?  

I can't actually talk about a vacation at Club Med because the nearest I ever got to it was photographing it's then CEO for Forbes Magazine some years ago, but the point I'm trying to make is that although they are so different, if you have a passion for photography wherever you are, you will be making the best pictures you can of what you see and if it isn't obvious then you will look for it.  Also, because you choose to take one kind of trip one time doesn't mean that you may not enjoy something quite different the next. 

On many overseas oil and gas exploration assignments, I do walk the streets of whatever town is nearest to the platform and try to photograph local life as I see it.  In some African countries this is not the easiest thing to do and I am never more grateful than when a local driver or employee accompanies me to facilitate that task.  When I'm taking people on a photography tour in Paris, I often talk to people that catch our eye to see if they wouldn't mind us taking a picture which is or should be the same protocol everywhere.

Overseas oil and gas assignments are challenging.  See my blog:  . Arranging, taking and teaching a photography tour to Myanmar or Sri Lanka or anywhere for that matter is also challenging in a different way.  Both require the very best of who you are and although all is done to ensure that everything goes smoothly, both can offer some surprises due to changing weather, travel plans, accommodation etc.   The only thing that doesn't change is that there are some awesome images to take out there, wherever you are.

I've walked the streets of Paris umpteen times with different people and it is amazing how different each time the images will be.  Different light, different people doing different things, new posters, street art, and graffiti, new shops, cafés, galleries and exhibitions opening, bright sunshine, pouring rain, and the different seasons all contribute to making it a different experience.