With all of this in mind the search has become just that more tantalizing.  It’s somewhat of a treasure hunt for me, and I believe for others too that are looking for unique, high quality photographs. As a person in a typical town with a typical job, the world all of a sudden seems much more exciting, and available to explore when you’ve seen images of another place or culture. I believe these photos keep alive the faith that the journey to experience these places are attainable when at times it seems impossible.

1. Tom Robinson Photography : Tom is an English photographer who finds himself most at home while traveling the world. His website highlights his work in Central & South America, South East Asia, and New Zealand. His photographs are absolutely breath taking. Lots of character  is captivated through his images of the countries he has visited. If you have a great love for Latin American or Asian cultures you will truly enjoy his images.

2. Art Wolfe : A Northwest native, and avid traveler. Art’s collection is very extensive. His work is often updated on the website, and among having great photography: he is awesome with posting where he is, and what he is doing. He loves to share tips, and tricks of the trade. Art’s career as a photographer extends over 30 years, which makes him a great resource.

3. Mitchell Kanashkevich : Mitchell has a documentary style that is really appealing to many. It gives you the sense of being right in the mix of it all. His passion lies  in photographing disappearing cultures. The flavor of life is captivating, and makes his photographs some of the best to browse through. Mitchell also holds workshops around the world, and has publications documenting his work. Really inspiring stuff!

4. Wendy Connett Photography : She is probably one of my all time favorites. Love her work, and she has a wide range of travel photographs from all around the world. From the US to Morocco there are lots to get lost in. Wendy lives in New York, and is published in more than 25 countries.

5. The Digital Trekker : This website is run by Matt Brandon, and features a number of images & tools for all. Most of his photos are from India, Malayasia and Egypt. He updates his blog weekly, and always has inspiring images to share in his blog posts. I personally find his website very helpful in seeing through his images the ‘how to’s’.
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6. WhyGo : WhyGo is a great travel photography website for daily photos. This site has photos submitted 24/7 from all around the world from us the traveling readers. It’s a great way to share your experiences with the community, and get involved. You can be the one to inspire more people to travel. I check it out everyday! Like I said earlier it’s like a treasure hunt. Some days there is a phenomenal picture posted, and makes the wait worth it.

7. National Geographic : I know I’m stating the obvious here, but I have to say that this website is for sure the best free resource for travel photography. The catalog of locations, and images can keep me busy for hours. They have country, theme, park, people, etc. categories that speak to all. Plus, the pictures are a collaboration of the best of the best in the world, and if you are looking for a quick inspiration fix. There is no other photography site like it: we are lucky to have it right at our finger tips.

8. Nomadic Vision : The beautiful photos showcased on this website are captured by John and Tina Reid. The photographs are displayed creatively, and stand out for a number of reasons.  Their photographs range from nature, cities and people. The most intriguing part about their photographs is the commentary on each of the photos. I find that a lot of sites show pictures, but there is no information about them. The story behind the picture is just as compelling to me as the photograph: even if it is only one sentence. They also have a blog that gives you a bigger glimpse into their world.

9. Pictory : I’m a huge fan of this website. I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s only been out for a short while, but has made big waves. The site focuses on ’showcasing your best photo stories’. It only has three photo story cities listed (New York, San Francisco and London), but I believe their are more to come. The site only has a few travel destinations, but the photo story listed about each of the cities are unique. What intrigues me the most is that the photos display a side of the city that otherwise gets overlooked. Outside the travel world, the other photo series on the site are excellent. They spark a lot of feeling in the life’s of others, the content is well thought out, and changing on a regular bases. Plus, it’s nice to have a website with some local US travel destinations. Two thumbs up!

10. The Big Picture : Like I said, heavy hitters. The Boston Globe’s news in photograph series is a great one stop shop photography site of pictures from all over the world. A small number of photographs published are from private photographers, but a majority of their photographs posted come from such licensed sources as AP, and Getty images. What I love most about this site, is that you can browse pictures from all walks of life. The selection of pictures most always tell an interesting story, and are thought provoking. In their about page, Alan Taylor (who runs the blog) states that The Big Picture, “is intended to highlight high-quality, amazing imagery – with a focus on current events, lesser-known stories and, well, just about anything that comes across the wire that looks really interesting.”

In my many hours of perusing photographs: the mainstream has fueled my desire to find the rather off-beat, and possibly a tad more unusual in content travel photography websites. Don’t get me wrong: I do have a great appreciation for the heavy hitters too, there are a couple of them on the list to prove it is so. I will surely admit there are definitely more than 10 travel photography websites out there that are very noteworthy. But these are my ‘top’ travel photography websites right now that I frequent for inspiration.

A: Fundamentally, the answer is “it isn’t physically different”. The physical principles of photography are essentially invariable, regardless of camera type. Like goes into a box through a hole and prints a pattern on a photosensitive material. (or sensor) A shoebox with a hole on one side, a lomo, a disposable camera, an SLR and a digital point-and-shoot, all share this same basic model of operation.

Lomography is more of a concept and an attitude towards photography, rather than a different technique. Despite that, there are a number of technical tenets that fall within the lomographic dogma. They do not physically differentiate the photographic process from that of other camera types, but they do define a particular technological framework.

The lomographic dogma is focused into disregarding technical perfection and even actively strive for an imperfect/amateurish look and feel. Using cheap lenses, dated film, hand-holding, motion-blurring, no controlled lighting are only some of the principles. The details can be found at www.lomography.com. The general aim is to highlight the importance of spontaneity and a dedication to composition and subject matter. This is done by stripping the equipment and the technical process of all bells and whistles and giving you the simplest possible camera, as close as it gets to the fundamental ‘box-with-a-hole’ definition of photography.

Some of the cameras made and promoted by the Lomographic Society are equipment oddities designed to produce certain special effects while reatining the simplicity and ease-of-use that is so characteristic of Lomos. An example is the ‘action-sampler’ which basically features a quadrant of four lenses, each printing at their own section of the film caret, each at a slight time-delay from the previous one. (this is achieved by four indpendent, phased shutters) The resulting photo is a composition of four photos in one, each with a time delay, portraying an action sequence as it unfolds. Others just have multiple lenses at different focals lengths giving you a variety of points-of-view or angles for a scene. But basically, they’re still normal cameras, simple ones, with a button to click, a film roller, and one or more lenses that channel light onto the film, just like it works with any other camera.

While the photography purist may say that there is no distinction between foreground and background and that a photograph is a flattened abstraction of the visual content of the frame, it’s still good to note how objects on differnt planes of depth interact visually with each other, and provide some tips on how to best use this interaction for aesthetically pleasing and fun results.

This article is not strictly a tutorial or general guide, rather a collection of ideas and examples reagrding the creative use of interaction between foreground and background in photography. A composition’s background can take up numerous different roles in the aesthetic and semantic result of a photo. It can provide context and depth in the story. It can be a nullifier that isolates the subject and makes the viewer focus in it. It can oftentimes reverse the balance of the photo and become the subject itself. It can become one with the subject, a complementary element, without which the foreground cannot be deciphered.

Travel photography is rarely about clear-cut, clinically clean, singular subjects. It often involves the capture of ambient semantics of location, the recreation of the overall atmosphere of a place, or the depiction of subjects that span the visual space from immediate foreground all the way to the background. Playing with the choice and placement of objects and environment inside the frame, depth-wise, can produce some interesting results.

Let’s look at some examples:

1. Providing context

In the following photo, we have a group shot that would be almost meaningless without the context of its location. The wide panoramic view of the exotic, barren, far-reaching landscape makes it interesting and tells a story. The bodies look tired, the faces look satisfied. The background tells us why it is so.

Another photo where the background tells half of the story is the one below. What would have been a mediocre portrait, is transformed into an intriguing personal scene by the atmosphere that the background carries. It not only provides context, it also sets the mood of the photo.

2. Providing focus

A featureless background may be void of context, thus directing the focus onto the foreground subject of the photo. Often that is ideal for portraits. Featureless does not neccessarily need to mean ‘bland’ though. In the following photo, the intensely coloured but smoothly textured nature of a red velvet couch sets the mood while keeping visual distraction to a minimum.

3. The background is the subject

This reversal of perception can sometimes produce striking photographs like the one below. Here, the foreground object is just setting the stage and providing a measure of depth and balance for the actual subject which lies in the background.

4. The background complements the subject

Here, a subject that would be boring if composed in its entirety is captured by showing only parts of it, but arranging them in depth so that they create an imaginary understanding of the whole. You don’t need to see the entire train of sushi dishes to figure out that this is a big conductor-tape circling around the bar. A couple of dishes up front, a line of dishes in the back, and a few heads of restaurant patrons are enough to give you a mental image of the place. The arrangement in depth gives you the added benefits of detail focus on the colourful subject and a less conventional, flat depiction of the scene.

Travel photography is not just about the artful representation of exotic lands. It is just as much about documenting your vacation. The ubiquitous group shot with friends should be treated as the precious capture it is. Even with rudimentary equipment and by following a few simple rules, you can create photos that carry the spirit of the day and bring memories to life, the way they’re worth remembering.

To begin with, there are no definitive rules in photography, so the following advice should not be taken as such. They should be rather seen as common examples of ways to set up a group photo. I have some sample photos here, to illustrate my point in each case, trying to show what made a particular picture a ‘keeper’ and what went wrong in each one.

1. Arrangement

Observation and experience shows that in many cases, the typical ’stand side-by-side‘ group photo is an arrangement that doesn’t work too well visually. Common human perception is usually more pleased with more crowded arrangements of faces that fill the frame in a non-linear manner. An easy way to achieve this effect is to have your subjects pose such that their faces are placed on the intersections of an imaginary triangular grid. This is easy to do, since most people have different heights, and if asked to crowd in a small space to pose, (“hey guys can you all move closer and make two rows to fit you all in the frame?”) they will naturally arrange themselves so that they can all see the camera.

2. Positioning and framing

Positioning your subjects against the background and choice of framing/composition can make all the difference in the world. Most people will instinctively put their subject in the middle of the frame. With featureless backgrounds and a ‘look at the camera and smile’ pose, this direct approach can work very well – as shown in the following example.

When framing people on a group shot, it is a good idea, when possible, to try and include their entire bodies. If you want to close up on the action, or your angle of shooting forces you to amputate your subjects, try to do this between (and not on) the joints. (ankles, knees, wrists, elbows, shoulders) For some unexplained reason, it looks better. For full-frame group portraits, framing above the bust is the most common approach. Another thing to note below is how I allowed some vertical space (margins) so that the frame wouldn’t ‘crowd’ the image.

When your pose is more dynamic, featuring some action and/or having subjects look away from the camera at angles to the frame, it might prove more interesting, visually, to position your subjects off-center, prefereable 1/3rd of the way left or right. This way you can use the rest of the the frame to include some background element that gives depth to the photo and defines something characteristic of the context or location. Here’s an example of this approach.

3. Situation, pose, expression

I started with the framing and arrangement of the subjects, but this doesn’t mean that the situation, the pose and the expression of the subjects are less significant. On the contrary. In the following example I have violated the above rules regarding arrangement, I have amputated the legs of the entire group, and yet the photo works. Good lighting of the scene, an unusual attire, hinting at some outdoor activity, and a lucky set of expressions and lively poses has created a rather interesting shot.

4. Light

Light is the essence of photography. The quality, intensity, color and direction of light is what makes (and un-makes) a photo. Before you click, take a short pause to think about the setup of your shot, and try to avoid the following common pitfalls:

Shooting against the sun is rarely a good idea. In the best case you will get something like the photo below, where the faces are decently lit, but the background is blown away. In the worst case you’ll get a nice background and some muddy-dark figures in the front.

Subjects facing the sun will tend to reflexively tend to close their eyes and make a funny expression of discomfort. So, contrary to popular belief, you shouldn’t set up the shot with the sun to your back (i.e. facing your subjects) but at an angle. Early morning or late evening sun is better, less intense, and produces warmer colours.

Subjects in exceedingly bright surroundings will suffer the same ill effect with their eyes, even if they’re standing in the shade. This is a problem particularly on white-sand beaches, deserts, bright-colour outdoors, snow, and generally any area where ground reflections are intense.

Mid-day sun produces hard vertical shadows that distort facial characteristics. Having your subject look at an oblique upward angle may make things a little better. Subject wearing sunglasses have a better chance of looking semi-directly to mid-day sun and still manage to hold a comfortable expression.

4. Candid group shots

Posing is fun, but candid shots of groups engaged in an activity, especially when the environment is shown, can be pretty interesting, too. Step back for a while, take advantage of depth as your subjects are doing something and not lining up. Capture that travel moment.

When we went there, the entire view was blocked by clouds. After 30 minutes or so the clouds started to part and dissolve, and within minutes the wonder was revealed. I took the opportunity to make this photo of my friends, engulfed into the magnificence of the view.

To me, this photo represents what travel photography is all about. It’s about a unique place, it’s about discovery, it’s about having a great time in the absence of gadgets or artificial entertainments, just by going there, just by being there.

You want to buy a camera that will let you do that. Well here’s a little secret:

ANY camera will let you do that.

As long as it works. The only thing that can practically hinder you from taking great photos is a broken camera. The rest are details. There are numerous options, and your choice will be a matter of style, preference, technical issues and available cash.

The key point to remember is that photography is a creative process, and while the tools enable it, ultimately, it’s you that takes the photographs and not the camera. With recent advancements in consumer technology, almost any new camera (and many-many old ones, too) will expose good enough photos. Whether or not your photos end up on the National Geographic coffe-table yearbook, depends mainly on what you shoot, why you shoot it, when and from where you shoot it. These are all camera-independent issues to a great extent.

So, the ultimate answer to the ‘what camera’ question is: ‘A reliable one’

The key issues that the non-professional travel photographer has to deal with in the camera store are the following:

Film or Digital?

The answer is to go digital. For the average consumer, the benefits are immense. Most mid-priced digital cameras in the market today are good enough to produce fine-looking standard-size prints and decent-looking 8×6 enlargements. Digital memory/storage has become dirt cheap. Computer interfacing has become standardized and easy to use. Best of all, you can find computer facilities at internet cafes all over the world to share your photos, upload them for safe keeping or burn them on CDs. The immediate feedback that digital cameras provide lets you have fun with your photos on-the-spot, discard the lousy ones, and re-shoot to get the right result. Digital opens up whole new chapters for creativity and sharing of experiences, and the drawbacks with respect to film are mostly insignificant to the average traveler. There are many good reasons why for some people film is still the way to go, but you’d know already if you were one of those people. So, that one’s out the window.

Are SLR cameras for me?

The SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) interchangeable lens cameras offer you a greater degree of versatility than most point-and-shoot models. They allow you to work with a variety of lenses and they give you more control in taking pictures. If your intention is to learn photography and exercise your technical and creative skills, then you will appreciate the ability to manually focus, to adjust aperture and shutter speed, and to try a variety of focal lengths and filters. An SLR is a good learning tool. That being said, an SLR does not immediately give you any advantage in terms of picture quality. On the contrary, most SLR kits come with low-quality zoom lenses which are much worse that the lenses that point-and-shoots commonly have built-in. Unless you are going to build an arsenal of good (and expensive) lenses and filters, all while acquiring technical skills to expolit them, you’re probably better of going for a point-and-shoot.

Form Factor

The size and form of you camera affect your photography, perhaps more than you would imagine. Especially when traveling. Great photographic opportunities quite often arise in the most unexpected of circumstances. A lightweight and compact camera is more likely to be in your pocket at any given moment. You’re less likely to be carrying a bulky camera when biking, or climbing a mountain, or at the beach, or at the local bar. And if you do carry it along in any of those situations, you’d be wishing you had a smaller camera. If you’re the kind of person who would not compromise on the benefits of an SLR for a compact point-and-shoot, you might want to consider a small and inexpensive second piece of gear. Another point to consider with respect to size and form is discreetness. You are more likely to draw attention to yourself while shooting a street scene if you’re wielding a pro-looking SLR and a huge telephoto lens.

Ergonomics

Before you buy a camera you should spend some time with it. Handle it, try the most common actions. Make sure it looks comfortable, easy and natural to use. When you’re shooting you want to be able to react quickly to something that is happening, you want to think about what you’re shooting, not how you’re shooting it.

Plan A: Send them home

This looks like an obvious solution. You buy one of those crush-safe packaging envelopes and post them back home. The problem is that you can’t always trust long haul postage services, so you can add a little twist to play it safe:

Mark the rolls you expose with incrementing numbers. Do that, the moment you take the roll out of the camera. Put the odd numbers in one envelope and the even ones in another. Post the two envelopes separately, ideally from different post offices or even different towns along your trip. This way, even if one envelope gets lost you still have half of the photos, and because these are chronologically alternated, it is less likely that you will have lost an entire chunk of your trip. Most probably you would have shot a couple of rolls on a particularly interesting place, so you will have at least something from each part of your trip.

If you’re going to be away for a very long time, long enough to worry that undeveloped film will get spoiled (usually it’s good to have film developed within a couple of months from the exposure date, or else you may get faded coulours and other artifacts) it may be a good idea to send the films to a friend or relative who has previously agreed to take them to a lab and get them developed as they come.

Plan B: Negative scans on CD

Most labs have negative scanners that can automatically save your developed negatives in high-resolution photo-cd. One disc can easily hold 200-300 shots at a very high resolution (good enough to print enlargements) and the cost to get one burned is probably less than getting the actual prints. The discs are readable in normal computer cd-drives, they are compact and they won’t be spoiled by time or weather. Then keep the cd, which is easy enough to carry along in your trip and mail the negatives back home. For extra security, get the cd copied for cheap at an internet cafe and send the cd copy back home along with the negatives.

In fact, scanning negatives and burning them on cd-rom is a very good practice for archival purposes, even when you’re not on the road.