Special feature:Travel photography Intro

Special Feature: Travel Photography

Mark Chamberlain LPSNZ

Travel photography is probably the most diverse of all photographic genres. It is also one of the most popular forms of photography because we all love to travel and photograph the places we visit.

In Wikipedia definition, travel photography is a broad genre that may involve the documentation of an area's landscape, people, cultures, customs, and history. Many people associate travel photography with exotic overseas destinations, but this is often not the case. Travel may be within one's own country, and the best photographic images are often from domestic travel in areas we already know well.

The travel photographer is a "Jack of all trades" and requires basic skill sets from other mainstream photography genres. Notably, the travel photographer is trying to capture "a sense of place" and tell a story. Standalone images or a combination of images and writing may represent our journey or a place. So, let's dig a little deeper.

Travel photographers for inspiration

There are a plethora of inspiring photographers whose work falls under the broad umbrella of travel photography. For me, some of the best National Geographic magazine freelance photographers come to mind — Steve McCurry, Michael Yamashita, and Jim Richardson. These photographers are photojournalists by training, having started their careers with newspapers or magazines. Steve McCurry made his name as a hard-bitten photojournalist during the 1990s Afghanistan wars before capturing the beauty of South Asia for National Geographic.

Other travel photographers include Australians Richard L'Anson from Lonely Planet and Nick Rains. Finally, here in New Zealand, we have Mike Langford and his wife Jackie Rankin, both NZIPP Grand Masters and prominent travel and landscape photographers. Mike has kindly contributed two articles for this issue of CameraTalk.

Genres within travel photography

Travel photography includes:

• Photo documentary / reportage

• Street photography

• People and portraiture photography

• Landscape photography

• Culture and religion

• Lifestyle – resorts, restaurants, outdoor activities

• Food photography

Photo by Pixabay

CameraTalk travel photography feature

In his first article, Mike Langford discusses how travel photography has much in common with street photography. Both forms are looking to encompass Henri Cartier-Bresson's concept of "the decisive moment". Mike illustrates the commonality of the genres with travel photographs from Tibet.

Mike's second article is about photographing a bigger story and thinking about new ways of seeing a place. We have all seen close-up photographs of snow monkeys from Japan, but few of us have seen images of the surrounding area and town. Mike addresses this issue by showing the bigger picture.

In our third article, your Editor, Mark Chamberlain, discusses his approaches to travel photography in Angkor, Cambodia. The lessons from his experiences form a long-term and ongoing project showing how they may apply to other popular travel locations.