Venkitesh Ramachandran is a photographer and IT professional based in India who noticed very few images of the Ladakh region of India are widely shared, and even fewer that feature the beauty of its winter months, likely due to the harshness of the climate which can get as cold as -18 degrees Celcius.
Despite the challenges facing photographers and travel in 2020, the Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) competition still sourced some outstanding images from around the globe: more than 25,000 images from 147 different countries were entered.
Every Sunday, we bring together a collection of easy reading articles from analytical to how-to to photo-features in no particular order that did not make our regular daily coverage. Enjoy!
Pranav Lal is a photographer from New Delhi, India who, despite his blindness, is able to take photos thanks to The vOICe, a device that turns live camera images into sounds that he can use to compose his images.
There are many genres of photography, which I believe is what makes photography such a unique hobby or profession. The camera simply becomes a tool that facilitates a personal interaction with the wide range of variables in our culture.
British electronics retailer Currys has published a comprehensive breakdown of insights it collected on the state of photography in 2020 using various statistical methods and sought input from three experts to forecast the troubled photography industry going forward.
Specialty lens maker Venus Optics has just released another interesting optic. The Laowa 11mm f/4.5 FF RL is the world's widest rectilinear lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras that can still accept screw-on filters, offering a 126° field of view from a surprisingly small package.
If you're planning to travel to a country where you don't speak the language, there's a line of clothing that's designed to make your trip easier. It features a grid of icons that you can point to when asking locals for help.
After a recent bad experience in Ukraine, I returned to the UK upset, fed up and tired of things not going my way. I can't get into details about what happened in Ukraine and although it was personal, it acted as a catalyst which then got me reflecting negatively on other areas of my life too.
I have sometimes been critical when landscape photographers combine two or more photos not taken at the same time to make one great photo -- adding northern lights or beautiful skies to a photo that did not have them, for example -- and then making people believe it was something that really happened.
Finally, it’s arrived! A tool to help the world’s photography competition judges work out if the “travel” images they are judging are real or not! Yep, this is the first library of fake travel photos focusing on people photography in Asia. You’re welcome!
It’s the fifth in a string of beautiful days, in a place a world away from our daily life back home. The sky is wide and blue. The air is thick with scents of food we’ve yet to try, and a language we don’t understand. But friendly smiles allow us to navigate our way through this country that is settling into our hearts.
Travel photographer Michael Runkel has visited every country on Earth and shows no signs of slowing down. The German native chats with photographer Trey Bohn about going to outer space, the coronavirus outbreak, what makes a good travel photo, and why long-term travel with kids doesn’t suck.
As a travel photographer, I'm often asked if I've ever been robbed or had any negative experiences in far-flung corners of the world, Previously I didn't have much to talk about, but after a recent trip to Colombia, that changed…
In this article, I'll share with you the lessons I have gained leading photography tours in Romania with Intrepid Exposures. These are lessons I feel we can all learn from in order to create more powerful photography.
Landscape and travel photography marketing is one area that photographers often find particularly hard. But if you want your photography business to grow, you have to know how to market yourself and your work.
Arlington, Texas, was long in the lead to become my family's vacation destination this summer. But sometime in May, we decided that we wanted to revisit Italy. Last time we didn’t make it to Tuscany, so there was no doubt that it would be the area to stay and explore.
While most commercial photographers know about copyright laws and the use of a model for their images, it seems the answer isn’t so clear when it comes to travel photography. If you’re traveling the world with your camera, what laws apply for you and for your subject?
In 2018, the NYC camera superstore Adorama sponsored 8 water tanks in collaboration with the non-profit Ubuntu Life to bring easier access to clean water to the Maasai tribe of Kenya. Photographer, Sony ambassador, and travel guide Erin Sullivan visited the country to capture the human stories of the effort and to discuss ethical travel photography.
With the recent polemics surrounding a certain image that won a photography competition this week, I feel like we need to talk about travel photography. About people photography, in our case. And to set up boundaries as to what’s acceptable in both cases. Honestly, in my opinion, it’s a matter of common sense – but it seems that’s not enough. We still witness some shocking scenes in the world of travel photography these days.
I last visited Venice a long time ago, and all I could remember were the crazy crowds. It's no wonder, because I visited in the summer. Last weekend, I decided to visit Venice in the winter with my girlfriend. People were saying "Why Venice? It’s not the season." But that’s exactly the point. I thought that visiting in Venice would be smart to avoid all the crowds, and I was right.
You might have seen countless videos about travel photography tips online. Most of them touch on more or less the same stuff, which is either fairly obvious or pretty banal. Here's a 17-minute video about travel photography tips that I’d consider fairly unusual. They aren’t something you commonly hear.
There is a particular obstacle that stands in the way of almost all travel, documentary and cultural photographers alike and, for some reason, no one seems to be willing to talk about it -- so I'm going to.
You're full of excitement, and new adventures and life experiences are just around the corner. You have finally completed those last minute errands and your bag is now bursting at the seams as you try to squeeze in the last few items before zipping that bad boy up and darting out the door for the airport. But you pause for a moment and find yourself staring at your bag. You think to yourself, "Have I forgotten anything?"
This headline might come off a bit pretentious for some of you. I mean, how do photographers travel any differently than the rest of the population? Fair question, but for better or for worse, we are different in our own way.
I just returned from a 5-week photography trip. I had a few weeks off work between contracts and figured why not hit the road instead of paying insane rent in the SF Bay area! It was still a great idea in hindsight. However, it wasn’t all bliss and glory all-day-every-day.
For my recent trip to China, as I’ve done before, I planned and I planned… and I planned. I made detailed maps, took notes on locations and hints as to the best vantage points. I scoured everything to ensure that my time there was incredibly well-invested in capturing the best images I could manage within the time I had. And frankly, I feel that this was a great practice, for me.
We recently gave photographer Nate Luebbe a challenge to test his creativity under pressure: he was tasked with shooting 7 creative travel photos that capture the spirit of Norway within 24 hours using a compact camera. The 8-minute video above shows how he fared.
My eyes are filled with tears because of the smoke. The plastic particles in the air are irritating my lungs. I'm climbing this mountain with my two friends.
While traveling in Rome, photographer Oliver KMIA discovered how popular tourist spots were crowded with tourists fighting to shoot their own precious personal photo. He later scoured Instagram and created this 2-minute video, titled "Instravel," which shows a "photogenic mass tourism experience" and how so many of our travel photos look exactly like other people's.
Using natural light in your travel photos can land you with some amazing images, even if you think the light might be "bad" from the offset. Here's an 18-minute video from photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich that shows how to harness natural light for powerful imagery.
This 8 minute episode of Ian Wong’s Digital Darkroom series explores the thought process while taking travel photos, how to manage expectations, and the importance of taking photographs just for fun.
Alexander Khimushin is a Queensland, Australia-based photographer who has been on the road for 9 years. During that span, he visited 84 countries. 10 months out of a year he's on the road shooting photos in remote places. He's currently working on a series titled "The World in Faces."
Travel photographer Mohamed Hakem recently visited Siwa, the largest oasis in Egypt and one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. While there, he did a bit of experimenting. He took 5 photos of the same location over the course of 24 hours, showing how time of day changes a photo.
Have you ever wondered what your travel photos are worth? Most people take travel photos for themselves to remember the experience or share on social media. To each of us, these photos are priceless, but what are they worth to others? This is the question I asked myself back in 2012, and I have been pleasantly surprised with the answer.
Today I want to share a super-simple idea that, if you can grasp it and put it into practice, I guarantee will really help your photography.
When shooting travel photos, it's very tempting to direct your subject and stage your composition. A lot of people are very happy to be photographed and even happier to be able to make a few bucks being your subject.
From the beginning of my photography career—which is … almost 30 years ago (that can’t be true!)—I've been shooting with zoom lenses. Due to the flexibility they offer, I was convinced they make the best choice; as far as I know, thousands of other travel photographers who would say the same.
If you’ve ever loaded up a large camera backpack (like something from Think Tank Photo or LowePro) and hiked a mountain, you’ll be able to fully appreciate how terrible the experience is... well, except for the views.
My name is Dan Cook, I'm a landscape and nature photographer from the UK. The introduction of full resolution image transfer from camera to the smartphone over wireless technology has been a revelation and increased my ability to share images.