The ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, with the mist adding to the Drama.
Abe Nowitz/APA
Once you’ve mastered the camera and its
possibilities, it's time to set out. Along the
road a million and one unexpected things can
happen, which is the joy of travelling
When it’s time to pack for the journey, the travel photographer should have some idea of the kind of pictures he or she wants to take. This might depend of the destination, whether it’s Paris or the Panatal, Lapland or Lourdes. Few photographers are good all-rounders. Most soon find out what they are good at or what they like doing best, and they should play to these strengths. But there also may be areas they have not tried before: portraits of local characters, night shots in Times Square, skyscrapers in Shanghai or birdlife in Belize. “Travel light” is the maxim from most hardened travel photographers and everyone will have their own version of what this means. You might want a compact or camcorder as well as an SLR, and ponder the pros and cons of a tripod. What bags and pockets will everything fit into? Whether going on safari, to the seaside, or taking a city break, whether you decide to travel in a Rambo-style jacket, or if you just want to slip a discrete compact into your pocket, this section covers all the situations a travel photographer is likely to face on the road.
Landscapes
Photographers love landscapes, and though nature is so generous in providing such photogenic vistas, not everybody is an Ansel Adams. There is a lot we can learn from other photographers, too. Whether it’s Yosemite Park, the English Lakes, or the wilds of Karakoram, there are certain lessons to take into account. There’s also advice on photographing the desert and the red dunes of the Namib desert, and the white light of the poles, the wetlands from Florida to Kerala, and the flatlands from the Steppes to the Great Plains. There is black-and-white and infrared photography to experiment with, or you might think about stitching images together to make a magnificent panorama. The rhythms of nature, both untended, as in deserts or grasslands, or tended in cultivated fields, create many interesting patterns and shapes that can be abstracted into intriguing pictures.
Abe Nowitz/APA
Elements and skyscapes
The weather is the most unpredictable part of travel photography. Some of it, like lightning, needs both forethought and snap judgment to capture, while dust storms can be a particular hazard. Often, poor weather can ruin a shoot, but sometimes it improves it, as you will see if you ever stand in a Japanese garden in the rain. A major visual part of the world’s weather patterns are cloudscapes, seen from aircraft windows when we fly over them, but they are more complex than they appear, creating interesting patterns and sudden shafts of light.
The built environment
The urban landscape offers many possibilities – from ancient ruins and sites, so favoured by pioneer travel photographers, to the edgy streets of the modern metropolis. Here man-made colours and straight lines suggest graphic images that can be monumental or fragile, ambitiously grand or on a human scale. Ancient sites may be familiar even before we actually see them, which gives the opportunity to photograph them in a completely new way. City lights always have the possibility of good pictures, as do traditional buildings such as churches and great houses. Vernacular architecture can quickly convey a sense of place, and local architecture, both inside and out, can result in personal encounters on your journey.
Yadid Levy/APA
People
The most rewarding area of photography is also the most difficult. Photographing friends is one thing, but getting among strangers is quite different. Here are some tips about how to get shy sitters to pose, though in some places, such as Bollywood-influenced India, you might find it hard to get children not to pose. Festival time, whether it’s the big Rio carnival or Nevada’s Burning Man, is a great opportunity for good pictures. Crowds have their own demands, particularly in confined spaces, such as markets and bazaars, which are some the most difficult subjects; but they make an interesting vision if they are all headed one way, such as on Howrah Bridge in Calcutta, the busiest commuting bridge in the world, just one aspect of the world of work. The famous Family of Man project made an ambitious attempt to tell the story of human life at work, rest and play.
Wildlife
Whether you are after the Big Five in Botswana, the great migrations of the Serengeti, the elusive Indian tiger or the flight of a condor in the Andes, wildlife photography is for the patient travel photographer. It’s not just a question of waiting by the waterholes at dawn and dusk – you have to know about animal behaviour to anticipate the perfect shot. Wildlife photographer Ariadne van Zandbergen describes how she caught a leopard leaping to give her a picture of a lifetime. There is also a big story to be made from nature’s smallest creatures and most delicate plants, which opens up a whole new world in macro photography, from curious insects to the most delicate flowers. But it is often the habitat, rather than the animal, that determines the approach to bird photography.
AWL Images
Details and close-ups
Sometimes it’s the little picture that gives the big picture. It can be the everyday – items in small shops and busy markets, colourful, isolated or piled up to make pleasing patterns. People can be expressive by the way they grip a cup of tea or a bus rail – you don’t have to go for the whole portrait. Even a subject as big as an elephant at an Indian festival can be brought down to size with a judicious shot. Go for graphics, too, posters and lettering, street signs and scripts in different languages.
Transport
Your journey starts and ends on transport – and there will be a lot of travelling in between. Whether it’s a city bus, a steam train in Darjeeling or Machu Picchu, an inter-island ferry in the Philippines or a horse-drawn carriage in Seville, your mode of transport and its passengers are key elements in your journey. Transport hubs are often extremely lively places and offer photo opportunities, though often it’s the vehicles themselves – Pakistani trucks, Cuba’s 1950s American cars – that are the centre of attention. If you are ambitious, you could try aerial photography. There are tips on cycling, a popular and green way to see the world, and on being a cruise ship photographer.
Glyn Genin/APA
Active pursuits
You don’t have to be sporty to enjoy photographing outdoor activities – but it definitely helps. Watersports, mountain pursuits and aerial activities all require special considerations about personal safety, and the safety of the people you are photographing – you don’t want a surfer crashing into you just as you get the shot. Your equipment needs protection, too, from water, snow and dust. A head for heights helps when you are snapping mountaineers, paragliders or bungee jumpers, and you need good friends to reenact their best ski-jump or bike feat over again when you missed the shot first time.
Calendar
The travel photographer’s calendar shows the best time to visit sites around the world, from January in Antarctica to Yosemite National Park in June and Agra in December.