Preparing for a photo assignment - when you can't

When I photograph an assignment I do lots of research and preparation beforehand. But where an event is involved,  I don't know what the situation or locale will be like or what the opportunities will be. It's almost impossible to prepare. So I have a specific strategy. I say to myself over and over "colour + action" knowing these two types of shots will always liven up a printed page. 

The next part of the strategy is to remind myself: "a few broad scenes + lots of vignettes". You could almost call such vignettes "candid portraiture" - which is one of the things I teach in the Travel Photography workshops I do for Foto Riesel in Sydney. 

An album of the "outtakes" - the photos that weren't published for the Australian Geographic magazine article - are on my Facebook Page. To see the ones AG did publish, here's that link to their online newsletter. Magazines like AG do a fabulous job of layout and design; I just wish they had space to publish all the good ones!