Tribes of Northern Kenya

Why choose northern Kenya, with its arid, parched landscapes, the bad roads, poor accommodation and food infrastructures for a travel photography lighting workshop? I mean, who would want to join that? Well, we chose it because it's different, because it is challenging and because, once you move beyond that and learn how to handle all those challenges, it rewards you with truly awe-inspiring images.

During our Kenya lighting workshop we will teach how to manage harsh ambient lighting conditions and how to balance or overcome them using strobes. We will work with the incredible El Mollo, Turkana, Rendile, Gabbra and Pokkot to craft images that transcend casual photography and show these incredible people the way they really are, the way they used to be, in a way that only photography can.

In this very challenging and demanding workshop we will bring our strobes and our soft boxes out into the deserts and the forests, even into the lake, and into these peoples' lives - we'll wake up well before dawn and shoot images during the golden hour but bring the rising sun firmly into our frames and using it as part of our lighting and story-telling arsenal. We'll create incredible and emotive tableaux of people in their environment (there will be no isolated faces in artificial blackness for us) and learn how to selectively use light to accent our subjects.We will not promise you luxury accommodation or lucullean meals - you should be prepared to rough it, in a way not unlike the people you will be photographing - and use all your planning, visualisation, people and photography skills to craft images. We'll then show you how to add studio lights to the equation to turn those images into exceptional. We'll show you ambient light and colour management, different lighting techniques and approaches and using your imagination, bring all those elements together.

Day 1

This is our teaching and preparation day. Today we meet each other, explore our lighting equipment and modifiers, we test our knowledge and build on it and, above all, we learn how to put those pesky strobes to work for us. Depending on how our morning evolves, we will get a chance to test what we learned with real subjects on location and prepare for the coming days.Your leader will walk you through the entire workshop structure and pace, discuss your research and ideas and help prepare you to make the most of the workshop. A fun-packed day, filled with knowledge and camaraderie!

Day 2

Today we leave Nairobi (extremely early) and drive to the beautiful Lake Baringo where we will meet the Pokkot. Visiting them in their bush village, we will capture photos of a lovely, happy and welcoming people. We will shoot all afternoon until well after sunset.The following morning we will cross the lake to meet the Njeps on the main island. Here we'll have our first challenges as we'll need to shoot the tribe as they're fishing, managing challenging locations and lighting situations to create effective environmental portraits.

Day 3

After our early morning Njeps shoot, we drive straight through to Archer's Post (and our awesome hotel) but there will be no time for relaxation. Today we're meeting the Samburu in the middle of the forest and under the shadow of the mountains.Our goal this afternoon is to explore large tableaux comprising of 6-7 people and figuring out how to light them effectively in order to create great images. We will learn how thinks like huts, fences and surrounding trees can become powerful storytelling props. While we will also shoot individuals and smaller-groups, the afternoon will be a very interesting learning experience.

Day 3

This morning we'll have a choice of shooting the Samburu in the Lions' Canyon or, subject to how we feel, we may choose to drive to Marsabit, the center of the Gabbra people. Both during the drive as well as in the afternoon and the following morning, we will work with different groups of Gabbra to document their way of life.In this highly regimented society, we will learn how to balance prejudices and stereotypes in new and interesting ways to create both encompassing and visually accurate images. In the arid environment, we will learn how to use selective lighting to focus our viewers' attention to our main focus areas.

Day 4

Today, after our early morning shoot with the Gabbra, we'll really head into the parched part of northern Kenya to North Horr. Things are getting real as we meet the El Molo. It'll take us a short boat ride to their island where we'll have to manage what is a rather uninteresting and barren environment to craft interesting images, layer by layer. It'll take all our creative energy, our scouting and location management skills to create the conditions where our lights can bring out the best in people.Venturing out into the glorious African sunset, we'll welcome the sun into our frames and learn how to balance its fierce energy to create our images so they shine straight out of camera!

Day 5

Today we drive deeper into the desert as we drive to Lake Turkana and our base for the next two days, Loyangalani. From here we'll venture out to meet the Turkana who are facing some of the worst challenged in generations, brought about by drought, rains (yes, it is a strange situation) and an increasing generational gap!At different locations around the lake, we will work with different groups to craft different types of images, ranging from archetypal traditional portraits to modern, street-like, studio -lit images which show the duality of this amazing, enduring people.

Day 6

We'll spend the day out in the field, visiting different Turkana and Rendile groups and creating more images. We'll venture out beyond the lake and into the savannah and the stunning rock outcroppings overlooking the valley to create stunning location portraits incorporating, once again, the sun and taming it through our VND filters and strobes.Depending on conditions and our progress, we may visit a local school

Day 7

Today we slowly start our return to civilisation as we drive back to Archer's Post. It's a long driving day which we will split it by stopping in two local communities and their farming projects. While these will not be tribal portraits, it'll be all about applying the lessons of the previous days to different environments and telling different stories.

Day 8

On our last day together we drive back to Nairobi where our adventure will end. We have a number of optional additions some of the group may choose to take advantage of, but otherwise we will end our journey together with an epic team dinner.

Our passion for image-making and story-telling transcends politics and current events and focuses on the beauty of the people who call this mostly inhospitable part of the world home. We use the tools in our arsenal to show their beauty and majesty in ways which go beyond tourist travel photography. We hope you will join us in this incredible visual learning journey - we promise it will leave indelible traces on your heart and invaluable skills in your photographic arsenal.

Confirmed Date(s):

Saturday 29th March - Tuesday 8th April 2025

€4,400 / £3,675 / $4,850

Our workshops tend to fill-up really quickly, so we always add new dates to accommodate our participants. We also run limited participation workshops on-demand (to accommodate professionals who want to add another tool to their arsenal and want a more personal/private experience. Please contact us for more information.

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