No internet? I have a category of work called “Offline Work Activities”
No heat? Stockpiled blankets and electric heaters
No water? I’ve learned to keep both fresh and non-fresh water reserves
No electricity? Candles, flashlights, and books

Turn the Unknown and unexpected into opportunity
The unexpected is a double edged sword.  On one hand, it’s often times seen as a real distraction (and it can be).  On the other hand, notice from the list above how the unknown has the capacity to make us think outside the box.  It forces us to be creative.  It forces us to do things differently, which can be uncomfortable, but also has the ability to  lead to new systems, experience, and ideas that can make life better.

The same concept can be applied to our photography.  Dealing with the unexpected is really one of the cornerstones of photography.  The balance between light, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, etc – these are all tools we use every time we pick up a camera to manage the unknown. To a large degree, it is the managing and wrestling with these unknown factors inside our camera that makes photography a creative art.  Pay attention to a photographers creative process while they are shooting and you’re bound to hear something along the lines of, ”You know what, because it’s so *this or that* today I think I’m going to…”  This is a verbal clue that a photographer is taking the unexpected or unknown and turning it into opportunity.

Make the Unknown the Norm
Almost every religion or philosophy in the world has something to say about the unexpected and unknown.  Many seem to be suggesting that we shouldn’t be surprised by the unexpected – that the unexpected, is in fact life itself!  Think about it, life loses a lot of it’s interest without the unknown or the unexpected.  The ‘known‘ isn’t what drives adventurers, travelers, and explorers, is it?

If some of our best and most creative moments come when we are forced to problem solve in the face of the unexpected, should we make it a routine to embrace the unknown – or at least stop viewing  it merely as a distraction, obstacle, or setback?  We experience the unexpected every single day.  If that’s really the case, then how unexpected is the unexpected?  It’s much more than the concept of ‘expecting the unexpected’ – its to realize that the unexpected is inherent to living life so we should make the most of it.

The Value of Preparation
In order to twist the unknown and unexpected into opportunity, preparation is key.  High school gymnasiums across the country are filled with posters that sing the praises of preparation.  Though most are cliche at best, their is an underlying truth.  Preparation doesn’t reveal the unknown, it allows us to deal with it effectively- to have a plan of attack when the unknown is experienced.

The Practical
On the whole, the photographic community is really good about discussing at length the finer points of philosophical and theoretical topics like this.  This kind of talk is necessary and valuable for revealing the important “whats” and “whys” behind our photography.  Equally important is the purely practical.

If you’ve been paying attention you’ll have already figured out that what we are really talking about is experience.  Experience is  so important.  Experience informs our decisions, which in turn allows us to plan for the unknown.

Let’s talk about some practical ways to build experience.

First of all, let me apologize for that title.  I sat here thinking for a good 20 minutes of something better, less cheesy, and sans the obvious pun – finally I decided it truly wasn’t worth my time.  Deal with it folks!

Last Thursday was the Chinese Lantern Festival.  In the past, the Lantern festival has been my favorite of the many festivals here in China.  I remember my past outings being a cultural and photographic field day – 6 different minorities flooding the streets happyily with paper lanterns in hand.  I was excited to get to cover it again and had a shot list in mind that I was hoping to walk away with.

Long story short, none of it really happened. None of the shots I wanted panned out – not even close.  There were hardly any lanterns this year, which was disapointing for a festival that goes by this name.  Furthermore, I had a huge finger print on one of my lenses like 15 minutes after cleaning them all that I didn’t notice.  I knew well before going home that I most likely wasn’t going to be happy with my images, which certainly was the case.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m intrigued by a few shots but out of the 500+ frames I shot very few would be described with the word ‘like’.

None of the expectations were met – at all.

Nonetheless, I tried to roll with the punches and have a good time, which seems kinda hard for us photographers.  The shots aren’t going to show up in any books by any stretch of the imagination and I probably won’t spend much more time sorting through the images.  It is what it is.  All that to say, if it all goes to pot and none of your expectations are being met try to just enjoy yourself as a human being.  Sometimes, probably most of the time, things don’t go our way.  It’s ok when everything falls through and I’d be willing to bet that once the dust settles that there are more good shots in the bunch than you expected.  Beyond that, I enjoyed capturing the culture of this festival at face value – it really is a fun festival despite the photographer in me trying to ruin it.

It’s always a hard lesson for me to remember to enjoy myself despite all of it.

So I’ve been working on this for a few months now and I’m absolutely stoked to announce it today.

The overland route connecting Lhasa, Tibet with Kathmandu, Nepal is one of the most beautiful and and amazing land routes in all of Asia. Covering a distance of 600 miles, this workshop will take us from the modern Tibetan capital of Lhasa to pristine high altitude lakes, winding ancient rivers, beautiful farming valleys, Everest Base Camp and over the Himalaya Mountain passes to Kathmandu. We will be visiting the most famous monasteries and temples in all of Tibet and will spend 15 days in the unique Himalayan culture. Join us on the Roof of the World to get up close and personal with Himalayan culture and the adventure of a lifetime!

I get to hang out with my good friend Matt Brandon for 15 days travelling from Lhasa to Mount Everest and then finally to Kathmandu over some truly amazing terrain and through some of my favorite cultural spots in the entire world.  This will be my 3rd time through this area, but my first time to cross over into Nepal and enjoy Kathmandu.  Of all the trips we’ve been able to announce in the last 2 years, this is truly the trip that I’m the most excited about.  I’d love for you to join us on the Lhasa to Kathmandu overland tour – I’m serious when I say it will rock your world.

Furthermore, our awesome sponsors, Think Tank Photo and BlackRapid camera straps will be throwing in some pretty cool stuff and we are excited to be partnering with them on this trip.  They are such amazing companies – more on there participation in the coming days!

To get an idea of what we will be doing, I suggest you check out Matt’s site(and here) as well as our Plateau Photo Tours workshop site(more info here soon) to get a full details on this trip.  Also in the coming days my travel partner and I will be covering why we chose this route for our first Plateau Photo Tours trek of 2011.

Also, I’ll be posting here some of the pictures and some cultural points from this area over the next weeks.

First, we did have a great photo walk at Kum Bum/Ta Er Monastery.  It had been about three years since I had been out to this particular monastery – needless to say I didn’t get the memo that it had changed from a relatively quite and important monastery into Disneyland.  It was insane.  I got there and there were Chinese tourists literally as far as the eye could see.

In avoidance of tourists, I ended up spending 2 hours with a bunch of Tibetans who were renovating several of the buildings at the monastery – where no one was supposed to be allowed in.  But here’s the thing, I could speak some of the local dialect (read: 6 sentences – very little).  I’m not talking about Tibetan or Chinese – I’m talking about what they speak. I asked in the local dialect about what they were doing and if I could come in and take a look.  They were so blown away that they let me just wander around — my own private personal tour of the innards of one of the most important temples at the monastery.  As a 6′5″ American photographer, the local language breaks the ice even if I can’t carry on a conversation in it.

Not speaking the local language is not a death sentence in this type of situation, but it continues to open opportunities for me and have seen it do the same for other photographers – I’m not breaking any new ground here.  People like to speak their mother tongue, right?  They are usually extremely proud of it – significant pieces of the culture live in the language and if you can manage to utter ANYTHING , the doors start flying open.  We are now free to interact however we can – it doesn’t just break the ice, it takes 100 pounds of C4 to it.

So what are the benefits?  The main benefits that continue to show themselves to me are as follows:

• I get access to places I’m not generally allowed to go.
• People literally and instantaniously brighten up and are incredibly surprised and happy to hear a foreigner speaking their language
• The subjects are usually more excited to get their picture taken.

Heck, I could write an entire blog about the benefits.

With that, I leave this to you –  What are your struggles, experiences, and perceived benefits of language in photography?

(all the following shots are from this years WWPW)

Some of my favorites below were taken right outside our office here.  The complex we office out of is predominantly people from Yushu.  Because of the earthquake, the butter candles were lit every single night, which made for a photo opportunity that even someone sleep depraved as myself couldn’t miss.