Here is my shortlist of resources for aspiring shooters.

Get yourself a copy of the American Society of Media Photographers, ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography, book. If you want to get paid for your work you better learn the language.

The Travel and Outdoor Photographers Alliance is an organization of working photographers discussing the business issues of the profession. Their site has an abundance of info.

Nick Nichols is a long time National Geographic photographer and he has some thoughtful things to say on his site about making it in this business. He poses the question, “Do you want to be a traveling adventurer, or do you want to be a photographer? They’re not the same thing.” in his post on becoming an adventure photographer.

Thinking of submitting your images to a stock photo agency? Photoshelter put out a nice summary of what they are looking for in a travel image and in my opinion their advice applies pretty well across the board to other agencies as well.

Check the Editorial Photographers (EP) site for in depth advice on starting out, the EP Estimator tool with pricing tips for the publishing industry, and a FAQ section that should answer most of your questions.  EP is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and profitability of editorial photography.

We started with a short walk and talk in the oval office and then finished the interview in the Roosevelt room. Lots of local and national media (TV, print, and online) picked up the story. David Letterman used it in his monologue and Jon Stewart ran with it on his Daily Show.

As far as shoots go it was pretty routine; set up the cameras, lights, mics, etc…. What wasn’t routine was the opportunity to roll the cameras on something that had the potential to make national or even worldwide news. And sure enough “the boss”, as his staff affectionately call him, did not disappoint. Portions of the interview were picked up by all the major networks, but the highlight was the controversy that erupted over his seemingly benign comment about why he stopped golfing which caused MSNBC’s Keith Oberman to go ballistic.

Why he stopped golfing
http://tinyurl.com/697paf

MSNBC’s Keith Oberman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RlD8FEwe2k

After the interview was over, our crew hunkered down in a conference room in Washington DC, chopped the footage in snackable clips, which were published immediately. Very little editing was actually done other than adding some photos and b-roll here and there. We did not touch Bush’s answers. We did not edit for brevity. What you see is exactly how it went down.

Here are all the clips. Bush’s “Dr. Evil” impression is getting some great play around the net (some might say it went viral).

These links take you to the Yahoo Video Player and once you are there you can browse all the clips without having to come back to this post.

Bush does ‘Dr. Evil’
http://tinyurl.com/6xzfyw

“I’ll consider” gas tax holiday
http://tinyurl.com/5mcods

Global warming “is real”
http://tinyurl.com/6l7svb

“America doesn’t torture”
http://tinyurl.com/68tmqd

Why not pull out of Iraq?
http://tinyurl.com/5z8a6p

Was Bush misled on Iraq?
http://tinyurl.com/5gca2r

Why he stopped golfing
http://tinyurl.com/697paf

The Middle East: What’s at stake
http://tinyurl.com/5qp4ue

Father of the bride
http://tinyurl.com/6l5m6c

Bush’s Dream Team
http://tinyurl.com/62z3hq

‘Assure fans like me’
http://tinyurl.com/3ryrug

Who will win on ‘Idol’?
http://tinyurl.com/69wvz8

The full interview
http://tinyurl.com/4sp2ve

In her article on the Hardest to Reach Vacation Spots, she reports the following:

“Whether you’re traveling just six or eight days to the base camp of the highest mountain in the world, or all 29,000 feet to the top, this trip is anything but easy. First, climbers must travel to Lukla and acquire a permit from the Nepalese government, which can cost up to $25,000. Then, to reach Everest’s base camp, you must climb to Namche Bazaar and across Kwangde River, eventually ending up in Khumjung, Nepal. Two days later, you arrive in the Imja Tse Valley and travel to Kala Pattar, which offers a stunning view of Mount Everest. A day later, you’ll reach the base camp. After two weeks in the base camp acclimating to the altitude, a trip to the top takes about four days. Most climbers spend between $1,000 and $2,000 on expenses.”

I enjoy reading the top 10 lists on all subjects that the folks at Forbes.com come up with, but this one gave me a good laugh. Why, well the author’s recipe for death is certainly entertaining and honestly, the words “vacation” and “Mt. Everest” don’t belong together in the same sentence. The trek to Mt. Everest base camp is one thing (and I encourage everyone to give it a shot), but her suggestion that a “trip to the top takes about 4 days”, while technically accurate (assuming perfect weather and snow conditions), completely misses the mark and is serves as a reminder of the many misconceptions about Everest.

For one thing, the 4-day trip to the top on the by the most common south side route is no picnic and is only possible after 4-7 weeks of an expedition style siege on the mountain by essentially climbing it multiple times (at least to Camp 3 at 23,500) feet while ferrying gear and stocking the intermediary camps (1,2,3 and 4) with food and supplies. Secondly, in condensing the information into requisite 150-word bite, the reporter mixes up critical differences between trekking to base camp and climb to the summit and in-effect trivializing the whole process and providing a recipe for near certain death (unless you are a genetic aberration).

Being in the broadcast media industry myself I certainly understand the reporters dilemma in trying to condense what may be a somewhat complex subject into a short, easy to digest, sound bite. If you really are interested in the Everest experience whether 2-3 week trek to base camp (which anyone can do) or dream of climbing Everest some day, here are some good resources to check out.

Adventure Consultants - Base Camp Trek: This commercial outfitter has a nice overview of the trek

www.mteverest.net - For Climbers: Some of the best Everest climbing info on the web

4/26/03 : Intro Hi-Tech Everest

First - the assignment — In search of technology in this region of the world my plan is to trek to Everest base camp and hopefully indulge myself in a latte while surfing the net at the world’s highest internet cafe at 17,400 feet. A little background — From the New York Times to NPR reports of the construction of the world’s highest internet cafe have been surfacing over the last six months. A young, technically inclined Sherpa, named Tsering Gyaltsen is planning to create an internet cafe at the base of Mt. Everest. Servicing the thousands of trekkers and hundreds of climbers that pass through base camp, the cafe will raise money for the Sagamartha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). The SPCC is the local environmental agency and is charged with keeping the natural environmental clean and healthy. It will take me about 10 days to get to base camp and I’ll be passing many, many villages along the way. I’ll see what other technological advancements are occurring in the area and report on them here. It’s also the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. Everest base camp is reportedly packed with expeditions and it will be interesting to see the developments over the course of the season.

I plan on arriving in Everest base camp around May 6th and will stay for about five days. I’ll interview Tsering and hear the story on how this ambitious project came to life. As I’m equipped with a sat phone I’ll try and upload a few images each day.

The images from this story are available for editorial license. For more information please contact April Jenkins at the New York office of Corbis-Sygma.

4/27/03 : Khumbu Arrival

Watching the flies land on my arm to lick the sweat and realizing that had I had not the energy to shoo them away was a just a tad disconcerting.

On all my previous trips to the Himalayas I was part of a climbing expedition and had trained vigorously for that purpose. Since climbing was not a part of this trip, I had neglected any form of exercise. My ego had gotten the best of me and now I am paying for it by feeding these hungry flies. The morning started with a twin engine Otter flight into the border like town of Lukla where I was greeted by hundreds of Nepali porters looking for work. As the plane made a quick u-turn after dumping the passenger luggage at the end of the landing strip, I stared at my four bags and was forced to quickly make a decision as to which porters to pick. From 9,000 feet at Lukla my porters and I trekked to the town of Monjo, about 5 hours away.

To be quite honest I’m simply exhausted and I’m going to bed. Didn’t see much in terms of tech today. Mostly barefoot or flip flop clad porters carrying items to villages higher up the Khumbu. Beer, whiskey, a television, wood logs, rocks, and the backpacks and bags of the few trekkers on the trail.

# 030427_025 — From the safety of their home, two children entertain themselves by watching the foreigners trek by.

# 030427_001 — Porters with full loads round the corner with the Dudh Kosi river far below.

# 030427_031 — A porter with an empty load returns to the Lukla airstrip to hustle his next load.

4/28/03 : Rumor of the World’s Second Highest Internet Cafe

With the flies still hovering on each bead of sweat dripping from my forhead I plodded up the legendary, thigh busting Namche hill on my way to the Namche Bazzar.

Namche Bazzar is the largest village in the Khumbu and sits in a horseshoe shapped cirque cut into a mountainside. The sacred snow capped peak Kumbila looms above. In 1998 an enterprising Sherpa set up a computer with a 24kpbs dialup connection to Kathmandu. The computer was located in a small room next to the town bakery and thus the “World’s Highest Internet Cafe” was born. Since the local telephone exchange was notoriously unreliable and also blown up by the Maoists in 2001, no one really took the internet cafe seriously.

I figured the internet cafe would still be there, but in what condition, I did not know. I was surprised to find four desktop computers networked together serving up a “high-speed” connection at 94kpbs down and 64kbps up. However, at the time of my visit the place was empty.

There was a little more traffic on the trail today. Loads of porters carry anything that could be lashed down with a tump line around their forehead, and American, British, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and German trekkers. My search for tech on the trail did not yield much. A pair of trekkers operating a GPS unit was about it.

#030428_046 — Tenzing is the manager of the former world’s highest internet cafe. Business is slow right now and on this rainy day there’s not much to do except drink milk tea and watch the rainfall.

#030428_039 — Pasang is the mother in law of my Sherpa guide. Although she lives in another villae, she rents a small apartment in Namche Bazzar where she stays during the trekking seasons.

#030428_039 — A busy morning at the internet cafe. Three tourists emailing and one computer blasting music.

4/29/03 : Lighting Storm Wreaks Havoc

Wreaks havoc on the internet connection that is….. After repairing the recently crowned “World’s Highest Internet Cafe” at Everest base camp, Tsering Gyaltsen ran down to Namche Bazzar yesterday arriving late in the evening.

While enjoying a cup of fresh coffee at the bakery this morning, Sunosh informed that Tsering was in town. I was expecting to meet him at base camp so I wondered what was up. We sat down in the living room/office of his company, Namche Technical Services, and he explained the situation. Speaking in almost perfect English, although so fast I hard a hard time understanding him, he told me of the lightening storm that blew up one of the Cisco radio transmitters postitioned on the side of a small mountain called Kala Patthar. It had been a scramble to reestablish the internet connection on a different route, but it was accomplished. Immediately after he ran 30 kilometers from Everest base camp to Namche Bazzar.

The good news is that I can now report that indeed the internet cafe is up and running at Everest base camp. I will meet Tsering there around May 6 to see the entire operation.

#030428_018 — Relaxing in his office, Tsering Gyaltsen recounts the lightening storm which knocked out the internet cafe at Everest Base Camp.

#030428_039 — A busy morning at the internet cafe. Three tourists emailing and one computer blasting music.

#030428_045 — The Cyber Cafe advertisement in Namche Bazzar.

4/30/03 : Ethernet Cable Severed

Up here the dog ate my homework doesn’t quite work, but maybe the yak stepped on my modem will.

Seriously though, my ethernet cable was severed this afternoon by a well meaning trekker playing with a sharp knife (note to self: Benchmade knives and ethernet cabling don’t mix) that I had loaned him. The ethernet cable connects my computer to the sat phone and allows me to send data (images, etc.) back to the states. Now I am uploading this dispatch from the cyber cafe in Namche Bazar. Depending on my skills in splicing tiny colored wires back together again, or finding a spare cable, I may send more images tomorrow. Otherwise my next dispatches will be May 6 to 10 from Everest base camp.

5/09/03 : First Morning in Basecamp

Arrived in base camp yesterday afternoon to thousands of prayer flags flapping in the wind.

After getting settled, I made my way over to the Cyber Cafe which was packed with trekkers sending email and surfing the web at a buck a minute. The temperature last night was a chilly 8 degrees fareinheit, however, with the door of my tent shut and the sun beaming in at ten am this morning, the high could reach amost 70. FYI-This dispatch is being uploaded directly from the cyber cafe. Photos to come momentarily.

5/10/03 : Images of the Cyber Cafe

This internet cafe or cyber cafe as Tsering and assistant Dinesh like to call it is fully operational.

With three laptops and a desktop trekkers and climbers drop in on a regular basis. Tsering’s wife Yangji serves up fresh coffee, tea, steamed momo’s and noodles (all complimentary), while Dorje the cook takes the orders.

Everest and Lhotse are lit up as the sun sets over Everest base camp

Bob Hoffman, expedition leader of the American Commenmorative Everest Expedition, pays a visit to the cyber cafe.

From noon to 2pm the cafe is usually busy with trekkers making the day trip from nearby Gorak Shep. Dinesh oversees the acitivity.

Three climbers huddle over the computers checking their hotmail accounts and downloading the weather reports.

Climbers outside the internet cafe.

THE PROBLEM: Demise of the Mountain Gorilla due to human encroachment in their habitat.

THE SOLUTION (one of many): Build water cisterns in the rural villages nearest the Mountain Gorilla habitat so that people don’t have to trek into Mountain Gorilla territory looking for potable drinking water.

Richard Bangs Adventures teamed up with Greg Cummings of The Gorilla Organization (www.gorillas.org) to do a story on the work being done protect and save the Mountain Gorilla.

Episode # 7 in the Richard Bangs Adventures series on Yahoo took place in Australia with extreme as the theme. Australian native and well known adventure photographer Jonathan Chester was our guide for the episode and we followed him across the continent. Our ultimate destination was the Phillips Island nature Preserve where Chester would photograph the littlest penguins as they came ashore under the moonlight.

Hands down this was one of the most fun shoots I’ve ever done. We posted our itinerary on Yahoo’s trip planner. The highlight was heli-rafting the raging Johnstone River. As you might imagine a helicopter brought us in and took us out, but the most awesome part was filming the rafting action from the chopper. The canyon was pretty tight but the pilot skillfully manuevered the chopper to get me close into the action. With my headset and boom mic on I would communicate to the pilot things like, “cruise medium speed up to that rapid timing it so we arrive right as the boats are in the middle, then rotate 90 degrees to the left and dip slightly to get a top shot of the boats.” Or calling audibles during the filming like, “ok, follow that raft keeping the bird in the same position.”

For the full report check out the near daily dispatches with photos from the expedition at http://www.2001everest.com/

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

In an industry that has typically been very fragmented with little to no communication between professionals I thought this was a great idea to get pro-photogs together and learning from each other.