Sorry for the delay.

Nothing controls harsh light. You need to avoid it at all costs. All my images were created in shaded areas, where the light is diffused and bounces around. Buy my portraiture e-Book – it tells you about this stuff in there :-)

My colours don’t need any working on. If you have to ‘work on’ it, it sounds like something is wrong and you’re trying to make something be something else.

That’s why I use portra and also film in general – I like the look of it, and it works for me, so I haven’t changed.

I use the built in meter of the camera. I have no time for shooting with a light meter when encountering people.

Buy the portraiture ebook.

I use print film for a few reasons. Kodak Portra is the most beautiful film I’ve tried for shooting portraits, and I tried a few different brands. Once you find something you fall in love with, there’s absolutely no reason to keep on searching for anything else. So I’ve no desire to check out other films. I’d much rather focus on making new images with a medium I’m still getting to know and grow to love.

I have a Nikon Coolscan 9000 medium format scanner. All my scans have been done on either Nikonscan negative mode – which worked with no messing about, and my Ethiopia ones were done with Silverfast with no problems either. Some people claim it’s hard to scan negatives, but it’s never been an issue. Silverfast did keep making some of the scans blue for a while – which was a bug, and they couldn’t trace it, but othewise, I’ve had very good fortune with negative scanning.

I also prefer to use film because of the high latitude. I enjoyed very much looking at your images of the Karakoram areas – the Baltoro Glacier has been on my list of places for a long time…. but there’s always too many places to go. I couldn’t help notice some strong backlight in your work which I would imagine to be hard to control with slide film. Negative film – such as Portra allows for more stops of contrast to be recorded without too much blow out, but ultimately, it’s about photographing people in the shade and in even, diffused light.

I never shoot B&W. It’s not of any interest to me, unless the subject is pretty boring in colour – such as Easter Island. It demands to be conveyed in black and white, but at the moment, I feel I’m still learning and working with colour. I’m no jack of all trades, but like to work with a few mediums I’m comfortable with – colour slide and colour negative. I’ve found a process that works for me, and I feel that B&W will be something for the future perhaps, even though I’m aware that I will be working on a B&W portfolio of Easter Island once I get home. It’s just makes sense to shoot it in colour as it’s easier to scan and then convert for the particular look i’m after.

Thanks for the info on the regions you visited Ibraar. I certainly wish to visit at some point, but often my workshop schedule means I don’t have the free time for the right season there. It’s something I need to work on.

I absolutely LOVE Kodak Ektachrome e100vs for ytravel portraiture, it gives me everything – it’s warm, saturated yet manages to handle skin tones quite well – especially darker tones., and easy to scan!

Have you ever tried it when travelling?

I used it in the Swat Valley in 2007, Karakoram and Hindu Kush in 2009 and 2011. I’ve included some links here to some portraits of mine on another site, do let me know what you think, if you have time, I’d really like your expert opinion.

(shot on a Contax G2 with 45mm Planar T*) (also used some Velvia and Sensia)

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/zeiss3.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/zeiss2.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/zeiss5.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/babyeyes.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/fakirs949.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/molhan.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2boycloak.jpg

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Swat1.jpg

Also, do you ever shoot B&W? I’d love to see some of your landscapes (and portraits) on 100 speed B&W film and printed traditionally.

And finally, if you do ever have the desire to, i’d really love to see how you’d fare shooting landscapes and portraits in afore mentioned places – the Hindu Kush and Karakoram. Gilgit/Hunza/Nagar in the Karakoram and Chitral in the Hindu Kush are very tourist friendly, yet tourists are few and far between, the FCO states these regions are on their ‘safe list’, so no worries as regards security, and best of all, they have some of the most majestic landscapes on Earth – the Tirich Valley, the Batura glacier, Baltoro, Hunza, nagar valleys etc to name a few, along with some of the most hospitable and welcoming people I’ve ever met.

I can only imagine how your landscapes would look in such places.