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.
For as long as I’ve been photographing, I’ve always had a soft spot for gear and the technical side of photography. In the beginning, I was obsessed with getting the best camera I could afford, which, ironically, was a refurbished entry-level Nikon DSLR—not exactly the pinnacle of camera technology at the time.
When Polish Web designer and travel photographer Piotr Kulczycki set out to display his photos online, he was pretty disappointed by his options. So he built his own.
Photo lovers and travel enthusiasts looking for a new show to provide some inspiration, listen up. Photographers and YouTubers Tony and Chelsea Northrup have just debuted a new web series called Wanderlust 4K, a show dedicated to inspiring the travel photographer in all of us.
Unlike the nomadic travel photography couple we featured yesterday, traveling couple Becca and Dan frequently explore the world apart. And when they do, they use their creative photography to "meet in the middle" ... well, digitally at least.
When doing photography in general, and in my case travel photography, the use of a photography template can be very beneficial and help improve the overall performance.
Naomi and Elia Locardi live many a photographer's dream. They are location independent (read: voluntarily homeless). In other words, they travel full-time, leading photo tours and workshops around the globe and living in "the world" instead of any particular city or even country.
When I was 20, I was dissatisfied with my photography. I felt like I was being limited by where I lived. I thought if I wanted to become a better street photographer, I needed to live in Europe—to photograph the romantic streets of Paris, the back-alleys of Prague, and the bustling streets of London.
One of my passions in life is travel. I love to travel, experience new cultures, try new foods, meet new people and, of course, take photos while I’m traveling.
Cuba has long been the go-to location for iconic street and travel photography—its combination of tropical beauty and crumbling textures mixed with a festive population is photo gold. The trouble is, with the recent influx of tourism the floodgates of photographers has opened and it is becoming harder to get that truly unique image.