‘Travel Photography’ is the way in which we go about recording our travels so that we can revisit and share our experiences time and time again… and really enjoy each revisit!
Why do we take photographs when we are on holiday… ?
… because we would like to remember where we have been and what we did…
The Digital Age
Now that we have the wonder of digital we can take any number of pictures at no cost which means that we will return from our holiday with cameras and hard drives full of hundreds of images!
What do we normally do with all these pictures?
We can leave them just as they are scattered across a series of drives – we plan to spend time sorting them out (there are lots of duplicates!) and will get around to it soon. In reality, for many of us, this is as far as we get. As there are just so many pictures, we never actually look at them as it is too much effort! In addition, all the duplicates and look-alikes are irritating and add to our sense of frustration and perhaps our slight feeling of guilt.
Or we may do a really quick sort to get it out of the way – rush, click, rush, click and get the collection down to a manageable size. We don’t do much really careful selection and, generally, spend almost no time at all correcting any flaws.
We look at this selection sporadically but always feel that it doesn’t really do justice to our holiday!
Or else we plan our holiday pictures and then spend time selecting them carefully – we can start this while we are still away – starting to turn them into a delightful holiday production…
The whole plan is to make sure that we get full value from our holiday!
We want to be able to re-visit special places and really enjoy doing this time and again… we also would like to be able to share them with our friends…
… this can be a sensitive subject!
Why do we find that other people’s holiday pictures quickly become boring?
Before answering this question we need to take a look at our own old holiday pictures. Trying to be objective and taking away any emotive memories we must ask ourselves… ‘… did I really do justice to everything we experienced?’
If we are cautious about accepting invitations to view other people’s holiday pictures – what do they feel about ours?
You want pictures that are YOUR pictures. Pictures that really reflect what you saw and what you felt – you don’t want postcard clones. You need to take the time to plan what you are doing. Not to just take the first picture you see and then move on…
You are actually trying to freeze a slice of life as you see it…
… your objective should be to put together a Travel Show covering your holiday. It needs to be fun to do and then fun to watch. For both you and your friends!
You need to regard it as a recipe with a whole range of ingredients…
… you should have your basic framework in mind as you travel and start to collect pictures that you can use in all the different categories. Having an informal structure to your photography can increase your enjoyment considerably. Because you are actively looking for different types of pictures, you will actually see far more of your destinations than the casual visitor.
Do not become paranoiac! This is supposed to be for enjoyment!!
The sort of categories that you might look for include..
Everyday
living:
Markets
Artists
Buskers
Windows
Food
People
people… places…
Where
Scale
When
Details
Reflections
Places
Roofs
At Night
Oddments
These will depend on what you would like to include – again, planning the outline of your travel show can add significantly to the enjoyment of your trip planning.
The key, as always, is what do you want to achieve? Having decided this, you can then spend just as much time as you would like developing your travel show.
Approaching your holiday photography in this way can add a whole new level of enjoyment to your holiday and provide an extra bonus as you enjoy your holiday again and again.
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