As a photo editor for TravelMuse, I have the privilege of living vicariously through the works of photographers that we use on our Web site. However, there are few photographers that I have come across whose images have moved me as much as the work of Steve Evans, known as Babasteve to the Flickr community. He has the unique ability to capture and convey a subject’s soul in his portraits.



Evans is a research associate, communication specialist and photographer with the International Center for Ethnographic Studies and has been to more than 90 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East and South Asia for his job. He received the 2008 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling for his work in Bhutan and an award for a collection of children’s stories. Below is a Q&A conducted by TravelMuse to learn more about this phenomenal photographer.

TravelMuse: As a travel photographer, what is your muse?

Steve Evans: There is a biblical proverb that says, “There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a woman.” It tells me that God is a photographer at heart! Or, at least, He has a photographer’s eye! ... I am astounded by this amazing world that we live in. My faith shapes how I see people, how I act toward them and how they respond to me.

In addition, I am inspired by the works of great photographers, such as Steve McCurry.

TM: I love your portraits. How do you approach people when you want to photograph them, and what is the usual response?

SE: First I try to be at ease, and I try to be friendly. It’s amazing how a smile and a friendly demeanor can cross language barriers. I usually gesture with my hands and camera that I would like to take their picture, and I am sensitive to their response. If it’s clear that the person does not want his or her picture taken, I normally don’t take it. I would say, though, that at least eighty percent of the time, people are not opposed to having their picture taken.

Sometimes it’s the context in which a person is found that draws me, that unique cultural environment that identifies someone, who they are and where they are from. This may be conveyed through a veil, turban or headdress, facial scars and markings, traditional jewelry and clothing, the surroundings of a market, workbench, or unusual architecture.



TM: What made you decide to share your photography through Creative Commons?

SE: Since I am paid for my job and don’t have to earn a living through my photography, I don’t feel compelled to charge for the use of my images, nor do I have the need to cling to them! I do however like to be recognized and acknowledged when one of my images is used. I was stunned when I saw the number and breadth of requests for my images, from major universities and museums to governments and non-profit and religious organizations. I was honored when Yahoo named me and one of my images in its top ten of 2006. Then Flickr and JPG Magazine chose one of my images for an advertisement, followed by Nikon. Recently Adobe Labs used a series of my shots to promote a new software program they developed! Click here to see a page with a compilation of these advertisements.

TM: What kind of equipment and software do you use?

SE: I feel extremely fortunate to use the equipment that I do. I have some of the best camera gear in the world.

Canon EOS 1 Mk III body
Two Canon 5D bodies
Canon 16-24mm 2.8 L series lens
Canon 50mm 1.4 lens
Canon 85mm 1.2 L series lens
Canon 70-200mm 2.8 L series lens
Canon 100-400 4.5 L series lens
Two Canon Speedlite 430EX flash units
Photo Mechanic software
Photoshop CS3 software

Let me quickly say, however, that I strongly believe that it is not the camera that takes good pictures, it’s the photographer. Anyone who works at developing his or her “photographer’s eye” and follows a few simple rules in shooting and composition can and will take better photos.

TM: What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?

SE: 1. Develop your photographer’s eye. Learn to see the world in a different light, from a different perspective. Intentionally look for that certain something to photograph.

2. Follow these simple rules and guidelines when shooting.
•Learn to read the light and remember that your best pictures will be ones taken in early morning or late afternoon.
•Go by the rule of thirds, dividing the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically.
•Avoid placing the subject in the center, but move it to one of the four areas where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect.
•Shoot close up to avoid distracting backgrounds, or at least see to it that the background contributes to the image and what you want your photo to say.

3. Shoot, shoot, shoot! In this digital world where the expense of film and processing are no longer factors, shoot to your heart’s content, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

4. Make yourself and your work available to those who need your images. There are a lot of worthwhile organizations and causes out there that can’t afford to hire photographers or buy photos. By offering your stuff to them, you are able to build up a resume and get your work seen at the same time.



TM: Do you have a favorite story from your travels?

SE: There are some amazing photographic journeys that will always stand out in my mind, like a fabulous five-day drive from Asmara, Eritrea, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Wow, the amazing scenery of that high-altitude country is phenomenal, and to see the people and culture there was incredible. Then there was the drive from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Mazar-e-Sharif. Another journey I shall always remember is the drive through the Himalaya Mountains from Srinagar, Kashmir, to Leh, Ladakh. When I wasn’t fearing for my life and hanging on to my seat for dear life because of the sheer drop-offs along the unprotected side of the road, I was basking in the beauty of the mountains and valleys, rivers and glaciers, and enjoying the stark change of moving from a pure Muslim culture to a pure Buddhist one. My multiple trips to the mountain kingdom of Bhutan are nearly indescribable. Bhutan and the Arab country of Yemen are two of the most unique places I ever been to.

In addition to some great photo journeys I’ve taken, there are a few incidences that will always stand out in my mind. I remember having to shoot the fatal crash of a U.S. Air Force training jet one time. … Another time I went to Angola during the height of its horrific civil war to document the civilians there who were caught between two warring factions. … I remember the Rwandan genocide and the refugee camps located in the Congo where a million Hutu refugees fled Rwanda. I was there to document the one-year anniversary of the genocide and the plight of the refugees in the camps.

TM: What is your favorite photo that you have ever taken and why?

SE: I was living in Zimbabwe and had the chance to go way out into the bush to visit with the Tonga people, who live in the remote Zambezi valley. Here was this tribal people living as they had lived for hundreds of years in their traditional clothing and jewelry, smoking their “dagga” pipes and living in huts, but they were literally starving to death because of a severe drought that had hit much of Africa during that time. We were some of the first foreigners most of these villagers had ever seen, and the children were especially curious. I snapped a shot of some young boys covered in dust and lined up along a mud wall who came out to get a look at the strange outsiders who had come to visit. As I said, the image isn’t technically all that great, but I love the haunting, isolated, melancholic feel that this picture has. It will always remind me of my sixteen years spent living in Africa and how special the people are there.

With digital photography becoming increasingly popular, and digital cameras coming down in price, it seems like everyone is shopping for a new digital camera. As a photographer, I get a lot of questions from friends and family about digital photography. I’ve been asked everything from, “What kind of memory cards should I buy?” to, “Why do my pictures look grainy?” or, “What is a megapixel anyway?” Well, here are some answers to those questions, as well as a basic overview of the major elements of digital photography.

Pixels and Megapixels
A digital image is made up of a grid of tiny dots called pixels that correspond to the grid of light-sensitive pixels on your digital camera’s sensor. The resolution of an image refers to how many millions of pixels, or megapixels, it has. The megapixels that a camera offers can be calculated by multiplying the dimensions of the images it produces, so a camera that creates digital images with the dimensions of 2400x3000 pixels has 7.2 million pixels, or 7.2 megapixels.

I can’t count how many times I have been asked, “How many megapixels do I need?” The answer depends on what you plan to use the images for. If you plan to use your pictures only on the computer and online and are not concerned about making prints, you don’t need very much resolution. A 4 megapixel camera will produce images that will more than fill the screen of a 23-inch widescreen monitor (at 1920x1200 pixels). If you would like to make prints up to 8x10 inches, you need more resolution, but 6 to 7 megapixels should be plenty. For larger prints, you’ll want to look into cameras that offer 10 or more megapixels.

Digital Image Format
Another factor that has a lot to do with image quality (though not resolution) is the digital image format you choose to shoot in. Most digital cameras offer multiple choices like JPEG, TIFF and RAW. JPEG and TIFF are file formats that are universal and are compatible with most image editing and viewing programs. Both formats are compressed, which in JPEG results in a smaller file, but can cost you in image quality. In TIFF the compression is “lossless,” but the file sizes are larger, filling up your memory card and computer hard drive faster.

The RAW format is a choice that has become available only in recent years and offers greatly increased quality over both the JPEG and TIFF formats. The name RAW refers to the raw, unprocessed characteristic of the format. Digital cameras take the information from the sensor and process it to produce JPEG or TIFF images, but RAW files are made up of the original image information as it comes off the sensor, unaltered by in-camera processing. Every camera has a different kind of RAW format, so processing RAW files requires special software that can interpret the data. Camera manufacturers provide the software. and many image-editing applications are now supporting RAW formats from multiple manufacturers.

Shooting in RAW allows you to have greater control over things like the sharpness, white balance and exposure of your image. It is the first choice of professional photographers and serious hobbyists. The drawback of RAW is that each file requires more space than the other formats, something to consider when buying memory cards and hard drives (a topic that will be discussed in a future post).

So, hopefully that answers a couple of questions about a few terms you’ll likely encounter in relation to digital photography. Check back next week for a post explaining digital vs. optical zoom, white balance and other (potentially) confusing photo concepts!

Coming home from a terrific vacation can often be a let down, but one of the fun things to do after your return is to share your travel photos and relive your best travel moments all over again.

Photo-sharing Web sites are a great way to let your friends and family see your pictures. They can even help you get your photos seen by a larger audience. For instance, photos shared on our Flickr group are considered for publication on the pages of TravelMuse. (I’ll be writing more about our Flickr group in a future post.)

When showing your photos, it’s best to keep your slideshows short, so your friends don’t start to avoid you and your three-hour photo tours of every place you happened to glance at during your travels. So, here are just a few of my favorite photos from my most recent trip to Europe. Enjoy!