behind the

scenes
Travel Photographer Of
The Year Winning Portfolio

free ebook

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
From and about the author 1 Brewing Tsuika 20
Preface 2 Quick background story 21
Introduction 3 The contact sheet 23
Why does the image work? 25
The Farmer In The Fog 4 A matter of perspective 26
Quick background story 5 The technical decisions 27
The contact sheet 7
Why does the image work? 9 The village shepherd 28
Illustrative vs Intimate 10
Quick background story 29
The technical decisions 11 The contact sheet 31
Why does the image work? 33
The Woman With Pumpkins 12 Mental notes & details 34
Quick background story 13 The technical decisions 35
The contact sheet 15
Why does the image work? 17 FINAL WORDS 36
An unexpected detail 18 SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN 37
The technical decisions 19
 from & About the author

Travel/documentary photographer. Panasonic

Lumix ambassador. Publications range from Nat
Geo Traveler to Vanity Fair. Prints in private photo
collections worldwide and the embassy of US in
Mauritania. 

I’m Mitchell Kanashkevich. Travel/documentary photography is my life. Over much of the past
decade, I’ve spent 9 months a year on the road, exploring and searching. Seeking out cultures
and traditions that are unique, and those spontaneous moments of magic.

I’m a life-long learner and there is so much that I gain from my journeys. When I’m not traveling,
I have the urge to share the lessons I’ve learned and to create these kinds of ebooks and video
resources.

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 preface
At the end of 2015 I won in the Travel Photographer Of The Year Competition for People/Faces/
Encounters category. The four images from the winning portfolio provided a great foundation to
go into many of the things that I’ve been asked about my photography over the past decade.

In this ebook, I’ll share the background story of each image. I’ll go into the key reasons why each
image works and explain the thought process behind my technical decisions.

NOTE:  This is an abbreviated version of the full-length ebook that delves deeper into the
creation of the images in the field. There are also video lessons that reveal even more about the
work behind the scenes. Together, they include additional examples that will offer you practical
insights and valuable skills from real world experience that you can immediately apply to your
own photography.

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 Introduction
The way I went about creating the photos in this portfolio was very intentional. I drove around,
visited villages and searched for people who I considered to be “characters.” I looked for situations
which could speak to these people’s lives, their culture and their traditions.  

When I encountered the subjects that interested me, I photographed them pretty intensely. My
general philosophy is to get the most that you can out of any situation that has photographic
potential. Take lots of frames and, if needed, spend lots of time. That’s really the core principle I
want to convey to you from the very beginning.

During my Maramures journey, I was joined by a couple of my Romanian photographer friends

— Vlad Dumitrescu and Mihnea Turcu. They were my guides and my translators throughout the
trip. Without them these images would not have been possible. 

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THE Farmer in the fog
 QUICK BACKGROUND STORY

My two Romanian friends and I went through a foggy patch of road in the car. Everything
looked very atmospheric, mysterious, even beautiful, as the fog hid many of the landscape’s
imperfections. Out of nowhere, I noticed this man tilling his field with his horses. I thought
to myself — What better representation of this old fashioned, traditional lifestyle than a man
with a very hands-on relationship with his land and his animals?

I immediately stopped the car and we got out. Using my friends as interpreters, I asked if
it was ok to photograph. They shouted something to the man. He shouted something back
and they said, “Ok, go for it!” So, I got right into it.

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6
 THE CONTACT SHEET

I ended up with 65 images from this shoot. For around 10 minutes, which is how long the
shoot lasted, this isn’t a whole lot.

Why did I press the shutter 65 times and create all these photos? Because I was searching
for the specifics of the story. The man was moving and I was being presented with different
angles. I wanted to find the best, most compelling way to tell that story.

When you try different angles — when you search for the best approach to communicate
what you see in front of you — I sometimes call that sketching with the camera. So, I did a
little bit of sketching here.

NOTE: You can get a closer look at the images on the next page by zooming in.

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 WHY DOES THE IMAGE WORK?

The fog and the effect that it has on light certainly plays a role here. There’s a sense of
mood and atmosphere. The scene feels pretty melancholic. This works in great with the
story of the hardworking man eking out a living. The soft light reveals all the important
details, and all the details that aren’t important fade into the background, into the fog.

I caught just the right moment of just enough smoke coming out of the cigarette to show
that he is puffing away. This adds a bit more life to the image.

Making the man more prominent in my photograph and going in close on his face creates
an intimate feel and instantly evokes an emotional response. We can look into his eyes. We
can study all of those little details — the wrinkles, the hand, the sleeve, even the hat.

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 ILLUSTRATIVE VS
INTIMATE
My chosen way of composing the image versus other
ways in which I could have framed the scene was a key
decision. At the bottom is another photo that I consider
successful from the same shoot. It’s a more illustrative
image of the man working on his land. However, there
isn’t any intimacy and it’s not as nuanced.

Essentially, you could say that the story in both images

is the same. They’re both about a man living in a very
traditional way in connection with his land. All of the
details that say this are within the frame in both cases.

The difference is that in the top image I am telling the

story with more emotion, in a more intimate manner.
Neither choice is right or wrong, but in this case I preferred
the more personal approach.

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 THE TECHNICAL DECISIONS
I used a 24-70mm lens. It’s a very good all-around lens that I used a fair bit throughout
this trip for portraits in which I wanted to prominently feature the face. It’s great not to have to
come right up to the man’s face in order to fill more of the frame.

My aperture was set at f/3.2 because I wanted some blur, but not to the point where
I would get a bokeh. I probably couldn’t anyway because the man is actually a bit too close to the
horses, but I wanted enough detail for the viewer to understand what’s in the background without
the background having to be so sharp that you lose the sense of depth that the blur creates.

I used a shutter speed of 1/640s and ISO 200 throughout this shoot
because I wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t have any motion blur. There are cases where
motion blur works great, but I didn’t want any of that here. I wanted a very sharp, frozen-in-time
kind of photograph. There was plenty of light despite the fog, so I could keep the ISO fairly low
and set a faster shutter speed.
THE Woman with
Woman with pumpkins
pumpkins
 QUICK BACKGROUND STORY

I was walking around with one of my Romanian friends through a village, photographing
people going about their everyday lives. The pumpkins had already been something that
I noticed in other people’s homes. I set this element aside in my mind as something I
could potentially build a whole photograph around.

Sure enough, a few minutes later in a different part of the village I saw a shed full of these
bright, colorful pumpkins and a woman in a really bright purple jumper. It turned out
that she was quite keen on having her photograph taken. My friend said that the woman
realised we were taking photos when she saw us. He noticed her trying to beautify herself
for a picture. We were accepted and allowed to photograph.

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 THE CONTACT SHEET
I ended up with 135 images in just under 15 minutes of shooting. That’s quite a lot for such a
relatively short period of time. Why did I make so many frames of virtually the same thing?

There were two main reasons: 

I was using burst mode — when you click the shutter, you automatically end up with three
or four very similar frames. There were many times that I clicked the shutter in burst mode
as I anticipated certain moments.

I was doing some visual sketching — I had a pretty concrete idea of what I wanted to do,
but there were still a lot of little nuances that had to be explored. I needed to see what
happened as I moved around and tried different angles.

NOTE: You can get a closer look at the images on the next page by zooming in.

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 WHY DOES THE IMAGE WORK?

The photo is framed fairly wide. You can see a whole lot of detail all around. It’s like a
window into the woman’s world with a lot of detail to study.

The moment is pretty quiet and subtle, yet it’s still distinct enough to give you a sense of
what she’s doing. Her eyes are looking at the pumpkin. As such, her gaze keeps your gaze
within the frame and encourages you to explore the image. 

The side light really brings colours to life. It sculpts the scene, makes it lively and vibrant,
and creates a very strong sense of atmosphere. In some ways, I feel that the light is part of
the magic in this photograph.

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AN UNEXPECTED DETAIL

The image I chose for the contest is actually

not my favourite one from the shoot. This
one is. I love the motion blur of the axe here,
but this effect was accidental. I shot the
photo at 1/50s because it was fairly dark
and I didn’t anticipate any fast movement.
I ended up going with the other image
because it felt like a safer choice, as it was
published in Geographical UK before. 

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 THE TECHNICAL DECISIONS

I used a 20mm lens on a full frame camera body — the 5D Mark II. I wanted to have
a fairly wide shot of the scene and my aim was to create a window into the woman’s world. My
plan was clear in my mind from the beginning, so I put the lens on before we even came up to
the woman.

My aperture was set at f/3.2. I didn’t want, nor did I need to blur the background
here in any way. The woman is already separated from the background because she’s of such a
different color to it. At the same time, I wanted to make sure to keep detail in all of the textures
behind her, so that’s why I closed the aperture just a tiny bit.

I used a shutter speed of 1/50s and ISO 800. This combination was used
because it was fairly dark inside the shed and I didn’t anticipate any motion blur coming from
fast movement. Of course, as you saw on the previous page, I was wrong, but in both cases the
images worked out well.

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Brewing Tsuika
Woman with pumpkins
 QUICK BACKGROUND STORY

While journeying through Maramures, my two Romanian friends and I wandered through
many villages. We interacted with the villagers and our curiosity often led to invitations to
people’s houses.

During one of our interactions we came across this man who was about to brew tsuika in
his backyard. He and his family noticed that we were very interested. They invited us to see
the process and allowed us to photograph it. Being overtly curious in Maramures will often
gain you a glimpse at something more intimate, something that you just don’t see in the
open while you walk around the streets.

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 THE CONTACT SHEET
From the beginning, it was clear to me that this would be a very straightforward, illustrational
kind of photograph. There are 91 frames that I shot of this scene in about 10 minutes. In this
situation, I was really zoning in on a clean composition that would make the image visually
engaging. I wanted to show as much of the surroundings as possible, and there were a lot
of elements to deal with as a result.

As with the other cases in this ebook, I chose to get right into it and to keep shooting
without worrying about creating too many frames of the same scene. You never know what
might happen, and I didn’t want to miss out on anything. 

NOTE: You can get a closer look at the images on the next page by zooming in.

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 WHY DOES THE IMAGE WORK?
Compositionally, there are no immediately disturbing elements. I removed them early on in the
shoot. The perspective made the scene more engaging. It gives it a bit of depth and arranges
everything in a hierarchical way that makes sense.

The limited colour palette. Most of the scene is a variation of dull, greyish colours. The elements
which are brighter or darker stand out. The man, the cauldron, the fire, the smoke, and — to a
lesser extent — the pumpkins are in contrast with the dull grey. As a result the viewer’s attention
goes to these elements before anything else.

The dull light from an overcast sky was responsible for draining the scene of colour, but it’s also
very even. This contributed to making everything very clear and easy to understand.

The moment. The man’s expression reflects his personality — friendly, open. His hand turning the
handle makes it clear what he’s doing. I was also able to capture some smoke. It’s a nice little
detail for this photograph because it tells you that this contraption really is working.

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A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE
There weren’t a whole lot of effective ways
to frame this image. Once I found the angle
that worked, I stuck to it. The only time I
experimented after finding that angle was
when I tried to see if I could make a more
intimate, close-up photo of the man.

Here’s the catch though — to show all the

details I wanted, it was best to frame from
above the man’s eye-level. But, as I got
closer and photographed from there, the
perspective became exaggerated. The man
started to look less significant. The effect
reminded me of how some photographers
photograph a child, with the child looking
up at the camera. I felt that this really
misrepresented how I saw this man and what
I wanted to communicate about him.

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 THE TECHNICAL DECISIONS
I used a 24-70mm lens because of its flexibility. In this instance, I shot at 24mm — a wide
angle range. This was necessary in order to include as much of the environment as possible. It was
nice to have the zoom though, as I did try some shots from closer as well. 

My aperture was set at f/3.2 to have a little bit more of an overview of all of the
elements that are within the frame. I didn’t want to completely blur out the background. It would
not have been blurred to the point where it would’ve turned into a bokeh, but I wanted to make sure
that I’d get enough detail to really show the environment here.

I used a shutter speed of 1/320s and ISO 400. At the time of the shoot
I didn’t want motion blur in his hand moving the handle. When I looked at the image later on the
computer, I realised that a tiny bit of blur could have been nice. However, because the man was
moving his head and changing expressions, the higher shutter speed was a wise choice. The ISO is
set slightly higher — to 400 — because it was overcast on that day.

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TheWoman
village
with shepherd
pumpkins
 QUICK BACKGROUND STORY
Throughout my Maramures trip I had a goal to photograph village life illuminated by
rays of the morning sun that would interact spectacularly with the fog. Such phenomena is
common during this time of the year. 

One morning I arrived in a village very early with the hope that I could photograph
shepherds going into the hills with their animals in my dream light. The reality was that my
dream image dissipated as quickly as the fog.

As the sun rose, the shepherd whom I followed took his flock to a shady area. The scene
that I now had a chance to shoot was not as beautiful as I had hoped for, however it still
presented me with an interesting look at rural life. It also represented another, less idyllic
reality of autumn mornings in Maramures. 

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 THE CONTACT SHEET

I made 175 photographs during this shoot. This is a higher count than any of the other three
scenarios, however this situation was much more complex and dynamic. 

I needed to work this scene longer than any of the others in the portfolio. In those cases, I
shot for approximately 10-15 minutes. Here, I followed the shepherd and photographed
for almost one hour because I was waiting and hoping that certain elements would come
together. I had to be patient and persistent.

NOTE: You can get a closer look at the images on the next page by zooming in.

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 WHY DOES THE IMAGE WORK?
The image is layered. There’s a sense of depth. There’s a foreground — the shepherd
and the animals, a midground — the leafless trees, and a background — the village and
the mountain backdrop. Each layer adds to the story. 

The rhythm and repetition of the sheep hints that there are quite a few animals. This is an
element of the story too. 

As far as the moment, I avoided the sheep showing their backsides, and him smiling at me
or staring into the camera. In the photo I chose, the shepherd is in his own thoughts and
very natural. And, of course, the photography gods were kind and I got a bit of fog over
the village.

There’s mixed light — the foreground is in the shade and everything towards the back is
brightly lit by the morning sun. While such a lighting scenario was not my dream situation,
such light arguably communicates a more accurate story of autumn in Maramures. 

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 MENTAL NOTES
AND DETAILS
While I was following the shepherd, I took a landscape
photo (top). I like it quite a bit. It works, even if it’s not what I
ultimately intended to create. I made a mental note of the
spires from the church towers. I thought to myself — If I can
somehow include these church spires into my composition,
that’ll be a great little detail that says something about the
culture and the religion of the place.

I experimented with the composition of the landscape

in the bottom image to see if I could fit in some of the
hilltops. Making both photographs was significant. They
helped me see two nuances — the church spires and the
hilltops — which I made a priority to incorporate into the
composition of the image that I ultimately chose.

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 THE TECHNICAL DECISIONS
I used a 24-70mm lens. The ability to zoom in and out is always useful in dynamic
situations. The shot I chose though is at the lens’s widest angle. I wanted to get as much of that
scenery into the frame and as much detail as possible to help me tell the story.

My aperture was set at f/4.5. I wanted to be able to easily see all of the details in the
village in the midground — particularly the church spires and the beautiful mountain backdrop. I
didn’t use the lens wide open at f/2.8 because it would have blurred the background a bit too much.
At the same time, closing the aperture — using a higher f-stop number — would have put everything
into equal focus, making the scene look rather flat.

I used a shutter speed of 1/400s and ISO 400. As has been the case for
most of these images, I wanted to make sure there was no motion blur. There was a high possibility
of that happening with all of the animals moving around. ISO 400, as opposed to a lower number,
allowed me to set the shutter higher for the areas in the shade. This would really ensure that things
wouldn’t be blurred.

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 FINAL WORDS
My intention with this ebook was to give you
a glance behind the scenes of the images
from the Travel Photographer Of The Year
award-winning portfolio. I hope that you
now have a better idea of what makes a
winning photo work.

It would be an honour for me if you will draw

inspiration from this ebook and go out to
make your own winning photographs.

Please look over the next page if you’re

interested in growing as a photographer
through in-depth behind the scenes
educational content.
London exhibition of the Travel Photographer of the year award-winning images

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 SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN
As I mentioned in the preface, there’s a full-length version of this ebook and video lessons too!
There are 3 packages to choose from, depending on how deep you want to delve into the subject
of creating award-winning photographs. No stone is left unturned! There are countless lessons,
applicable to your photography too. You can even download the RAW files of all 4 images from
the portfolio. Follow along as I show you my digital darkroom techniques.

I really appreciate each and every purchase. It’s readers like you who allow me to stay on the
road, to keep making these free ebooks and producing content for my site mitchellkphotos.com. 

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