Sunset On Zanzibar

Nearly 4 years ago, just after i had volunteered in Kenya, myself and the others who had volunteered had a couple weeks free time before our flights home. Naturally one of the places we all wanted to stop off at was Zanzibar. Zanzibar, a little island just off the coast of Tanzania and birth place of Freddie Mercury, is stunning. No other way to put it. The whole island is just, wow. The capital of the island, located on the west, is full of beautiful, winding, cobbled roads that all lead back to the harbour which is surrounded by crystal blue waters. As you travel out of the city in any direction you are guaranteed large stretches of green forest with the blue of the ocean peeking through. Anywhere you go you'll end up on a stretch of golden sand. Definitely the closest thing to paradise i've seen.

As a large group of around 13 of us all ended up at the far north of the island in a place called Kendwa. Little cabins situated on the beach front (with a bar on the beach) made it hard for anyone to leave. The one thing i remember most clearly about my time on Zanzibar though, wasn't the green forests, or the brightness of the ocean, or even the great food, it was the sunset. Every night it would fall directly in front of you and make everything a gorgeous orange hue. In the middle of the beach, just off from the water were two palm trees. Hanging in between was a large hammock. I can honestly say one of my favourite memories was sitting in that hammock with my girlfriend and watching the sunset. (Probably why to this day i love hammocks).

As always remember to check out my Instagram page at peterboothphotography and give me follow! 

AV And Kenya

I wanted to show a couple more photographs i took while i was in Kenya. These photos were taken at the school that i was volunteering at. I've probably mentioned it before but the kids there are just so inquisitive and want to know everything about you and all the things you have. (Such as my camera). This made it a lot easier to capture some portraits, which was made EVEN EASIER by the beautiful natural light seeping in through every gap in the building. While i was there i was teaching P.E and creative arts to some of the older kids, but the teachers were more than happy to let you take over a younger class. 

I took my camera in to try and get some more natural shots of the students and teachers at school going about their business, but when you're one of the first white people they've seen and have this thing that can take their pictures then all relaxed students learning pictures go out the window. I honestly wish i had a wider angled lens at the time as the kids were wanting to get as close as they could.

The company i went with, AV (www.aventure.co.uk), were absolutely amazing. This was the first time i had been away without knowing anyone before i went, but i think that's part of what made it so special. The way i would describe volunteering with AV is like bungee jumping. The jump itself is you having the freedom to do exactly what you want to do in a new environment without having someone constantly there, and immersing your self within a new culture with new people. AV is like the bungee rope. If you need advice, help organising anything, or just a chat, there is always someone on the end of the phone, or someone who can come and visit to make sure everything is ok. If you are ever planning something like this i would highly recommend AV. Without them some of the best things in my life wouldn't have happened. 

Once again just a reminder to visit my Instagram page, peterboothphotography, and give it a follow! I'll be uploading some new stuff very shortly so keep an eye out! 

New Edits (Family Portrait Of Elephants)

Lately i've been going through my photos from my trip to the Masai Mara and editing some. Some are available to view through peterboothphotography and would love more people to follow and like. The more followers i get, the more people i can share my work with.

The image bellow is a portrait of a family of elephants. They were so friendly and definitely not camera shy! I have more portraits and landscape photographs in monochrome to share so please follow peterboothphotography and leave me lots of lovely comments!

Lone Giraffe

My latest post on my Instagram page is of a giraffe i saw whilst in the Masai Mara. Giraffes are not a rare sight, but they are still beautiful to watch. As this lone giraffe was walking across this plain landscape the photo framed itself. Click here to view my page, peterboothphotography. 

Instagram

I know it's been a while posting, but i'm going to make sure i post more from now on! I've recently just come to the end of my degree, which is one of the reasons for lack of posting, but i'll make sure i do a post about my work on macro photography i did in my final year. (I'm proud of it)

Anyway, the main reason for this blog post was to tell everyone that i've set up my professional Instagram account! I know i've done a previous post about the pros and cons of Instagram, and i may be contradicting my self from what i said in it, but i decided i would take the leap and set it up. One of the biggest issue people have with setting up an Instagram account are the copyright infringements of your work. Makes it a lot easier for people to view and share your work, which is definitely a good thing, but makes it easier for people to use your work without permission. Not so good.

Well after reading lots of opinions of the matter i thought "this stage in my career i need people to see my work and know my name..", so i did it. Many very successful photographers have accounts which definitely helps get their work seen. But what i made sure of was that the pictures i uploaded were at a resolution that couldn't be blown up past A5 size, watermarked, and made sure my account says all rights reserved on it. If anyone wants to use my work for anything that would be great! Just ask me first and i'd be happy to help! 

My name on it is Peter Booth Photography, so i would love it if you guys out there reading this, who have it, give me a follow and enjoy! Those who don't? Get it and give me a follow anyway! Heh heh

If you can share and get my work seen that would be great! I'd love more people to enjoy my work!

London Exhibition and Prints

Earlier in the year, for my foundation degree we managed to hire out a studio in the hipster central of London, Kingsland Rd, to show off the best of our work for a couple of weeks. On one of the nights we had a private night, but for the two weeks it was open for the public to come and see our work. It was an amazing feeling to just have your work up on show in London for everyone to see. 

I chose to show of some of my favourite work i've done. The image which got shortlisted for the NatGeo competition was originally from a set of three i did, so i decided to show the other two close up portraits in the exhibition as they worked well with each other. 

Now that the exhibition is down, i feels it's only right to share my images! So i have these two A2 mounted prints for sale. So if anyone is interested contact me at peterboothphotography@gmail.co.uk.

Published In National Geographic Traveller!!

Ok, this blog is a little bit late, but i've been too busy to talk about it. But as you might have guessed but the title, yes, i was published in a National Geographic magazine! WOOOO!

I might as well tell you the full story, as it was a fine line for me to even be in it. In mid 2013 i saw that National Geographic had a competition which was the Travel Photographer of there Year 2014. Knowing that thousands of people enter this competition every year, and as it's open to everyone professionals tend to win, i decided to enter anyway. 

I was very proud of my portraits i did while i was travelling in Kenya, so i thought i might as well enter one of those (took me a good few days to choose which one). Months went past and i completely forgot about the whole thing. Then one day my girlfriend was helping me with online banking and she asked "Do you ever look at your junk mail?", to which i replied "course not!". Next thing i know she's calling me over to look at something. It was the email of my dreams! Congratulations. The best words to read. 

Please send us a high res image by January 24th… 3 days away… 

I rushed through and managed to find the high res image and sent it away just in time! Couple more months went past and there i was, published as a shortlister for a National Geographic competition. Unfortunately i didn't win, but i really don't even mind. All that mattered for me was that someone who works at National Geographic liked my work enough to publish it. This gave me a massive boost to get my work seen more by the people i admire.

Moral of the story really is to see what's in your junk folder now and again. Don't want to miss anything important!

Village Life

Tonight I got in, sat down, ate my dinner, and watched The Lion King (Amazing film). While i was watching it i couldn't help reminisce about my time in Kenya. So i decided to write another post about it! 

The village i lived in while i was there was amazing. It wasn't big by any means. It was on the bend of a main road. It had little shop, a school, a "sports bar", a little place where you could drink Chi, and lots of little stalls. 

But the one thing which made this little village special was the people. The community. It was the best thing i've ever done traveling, and being submerged in a different culture. But the people were so willing to get to know me, and to let me take photographs. (Especially if you make an effort to talk in their language.) 

This is why love travel photography. Documenting a completely new culture and way of life, and capturing those feelings you get when you experience something new in photos.

Kenya

In January 2012 i decided to go travelling to a little place called Kenya. It wasn't a trip specifically for photography. I went to do what most people do when they take a year out. I went to teach, and experience new cultures. I taught, lived with, and met some amazing people, and every chance i got i documented this amazing country. The camera never really left my hand!

The majority of my photographic work out the was portraiture, and the children in the school were more than happy to have their picture taken. They would run up and ask if i had my camera, in their hundreds…

Here are a couple of my favourite images of the kids at the school, teachers, and local people in the community. 

If i could give one bit of advice, it would be travel. Even if you're not a photographer, you might never get another time to visit places like Africa, or India, or America, so if you can make the most of it!

All of these images were shot using natural light.

I want to show as much of my time out there as i can, so it may take a few blogs, so just keep an eye out!