Snapixel Magazine Issue 4: Travel Photography

snapixel MAGAZINE

ISSUE 4

COVER

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY JUNE 2010

Contents:

THEME: TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY 06 Snapixel’s personal travel collection

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER 36 Mauro Sanna seeks out the ordinary moments

BOB KRIST INTERVIEW 42 Renowned travel photographer teaches Snapixel a few lessons

44 THE NEW BOHEMIA The Snapixel team goes on a mission in The Mission

49 UPCOMING THEME Get ready to submit for our next issue!

50 VINTAGE SHOTS

See photography like it was before the digital age

THIS I S S U E T R AV EL P H O T O G R A P H Y 02

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JESSICA ALBRO ON A JET PLANE On my way to Fiji from Australia, I was staring out the window and noticed these amazing islands.

It was luck that I happened to be right in front of the wing, so I grabbed my camera to capture the moment. Absolutely stunning view and perfect day with the clouds just over the land.

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Snapixel Magazine Issue 3

Office 330 Townsend Street Suite #115 San Francisco, CA 94107 Email support@snapixel.com Website www.snapixel.com

Editor in Chief Adam Oliver Associate Editor/ Graphic Designer: Kaitlyn Ellison Chief Operations Officer Ivan Wong Web Director/ Information Technology: Florian Cervenka

EDITOR’S NOTE

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f you look closely, you will recognize some changes in our magazine for this issue. In addition to the stunning batch of user submitted photographs, we have included more images, stories, and interviews than ever before.

Travel Photography is one of those artistic genres that is simultaneously accessible to every body yet is (literally, by distance) so far out of reach. The possibilities are endless. In this issue, our photographers explore different subjects, capture different moods, use different colors, and employ different methods to discover what is new and unique to them. We hope that the issue inspires you not only to take out your camera, but to explore the world!

Cheers, The Snapixel Team

Previous Page: Guerrero Street in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco. See more of “The Mission” shoot on page 44 Snapixel assumes that all work published here is original.

Images published in Snapixel Magazine are the sole property of the contributing photographers and are copyrighted material. No image may be reproduced without the express written permission of its owner. ©2010 Snapixel Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of this magazine is not permitted without the written consent of Snapixel.

Printed on demand by: Magcloud

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TRAVEL

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392Submissions 18Photographers 18Photographs

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(PREVIOUS PAGE) KEITH SANDERS BLUES OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS Seeing Rome through the eyes of a lens, versus those of a tourist, has its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage? Becoming lost because you’re not watching where you are going, as you walk through the narrow stone paved roads from one iconic and historic landmark to another. But sometimes what is viewed as a disadvantage reveals itself as an opportunity. Stumbling upon the Castle St. Angelo revealed itself not only as a wonderful photograph, but a location marker as well - it sits directly across from the Vatican.

KEVIN THORNHILL PRIDE OF RAJASTHAN This image was taken when visiting the city palace in the pink city of Jaipur. I saw this gentleman sitting to the left of this amazing door and kindly gestured to him to ask if I could take his photograph in front of it. He gladly obliged and posed without any further prompting.

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LAWRENCE DORTCH LATE NIGHT NOODLES The backpacker’s district in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam is always bustling, but not with backpacking tourists. It is a great place to get some authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Street vendors like this 24-hour noodle stand sell bowls of noodles, and Pho soup. Ho Chi Minh city is a great place for street photography. You can see anything from a fish vendor selling dried shrimp curbside, to a family of four riding on a single 125 cc motorcycle, as comfortable as an American family would be riding in a four door sedan. This images is an example of why you should always have a camera with you and ready to shoot. After dancing the night away at a local disco, my wife and I were looking for something more than what the hotel mini bar had to offer, so we hit the street and found this little noodle stand. I had my Canon G9 in the pocket of my cargo pants so I quickly captured the image

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ADAM OLIVER SWIMMING EELS Shot this with a Canon point and shoot camera as I was walking down the street in Osaka, Japan, trying to capture the eels. Instead, the glare and signs around the window created an interesting collage.

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BORA BAYSAL PICCADILLY CIRCUS PANORAMA This photograph is a series of 22 images stitched together, depicting Christmas Time in London, England.

Piccadilly Circus is a major attraction point where people meet and spend time at any time of day- at night it features dazzling neon lights which are very attractive for night photographers. The stitched panoramic image has been tonemapped, forming a surreal impression of this dynamic junction of Londoners.

S n a p i x e l . c o m S nIa pTi xReAV l 0E1L0 P H I OLTAONGDRAPHY SCAPES I I 1315

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(PREVIOUS PAGE) DAVID GUILLERMO ESCALANTE TRINIDAD AURA DE FE (GLOWING FAITH) Valladolid, Yucatรกn. Mexico. This picture was taken during in fog after a day full of rain. It was a very impressive environment, given that it is very unusual to see that quantity of fog in the air. I consider myself very luck to have had my camera and tripod at the time 16

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DANIEL ISRAELYAN LOCKED FOREVER Two lovers lock their love for each other with a padlock and throw both keys into the river. The padlocks will eventually be cut down by the French authorities. Defeats the purpose? I think not.

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CHERYL MCDONALD NAPA VALLEY WAKES UP Experiencing the early morning in the country is a cherished experience for many people, but for a landscape photographer, it is particularly sweet.

The anticipation of what the sunrise will bring causes a restless night and giddy excitement as I pack up my camera and my coffee and head to the countryside.

The fog was thick that Wednesday morning as I headed out to Napa Valley. I wanted to see the mustard freshly bloomed and knew that with all of the rain we had been having, it should have been particularly splendid. Driving in the dark up the Silverado trail, my headlights reflecting in the fog, I wondered where the road would lead and what splendid sites I would see. I took a side road just as the sun was starting to glow over the mountains.

I wanted to catch that first light on the landscape so I had to get myself parked and my camera ready. As the light spread through the mist, I could see my surroundings and I was in the midst of a vineyard, mustard gleaming with dew. It was beautiful.

The camera seemed to almost work on its own, capturing the beauty of this new day, glowing sunrise, green dew frosted grass, and bright yellow mustard. As the fog lifted it danced across the landscape creating lyrical choreography of mist and clouds dancing among the trees, vineyards, and valleys. I wandered up the road stopping and experiencing each magical moment.

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NICK NEWTON WILLIAMS MORNING LIGHT BEAUMARIS It was February 2010 and a really cold stormy night, I was staying in a hotel in Beaumaris on Anglesey, North Wales on my way up to the mountains. The room was overlooking the Strait with a faint view between squalls over the water towards Snowdonia. When I woke up the next morning the storm was gone and the early light was soft, the water reflected the clouds like a mirror. So I grabbed by 1D with a 24-70 and spent an hour on the waterside under the old jetties and breakwaters trying to capture the sky and clouds. This shot was my favorite, framed by the seaweed covered Victorian wooden jetty, covered with discarded fishing lines and ropes. I kept the lens side, tried to maximise depth of field and focus and cranked up the ISO. I ended up using split metering to get the right balance from the sky, water, and still keep the silhouette from underneath the jetty.

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XIAO ZHANG TELLURIDE Spring in Telluride

EDWARD COREY WOOL SKEINS IN THE BREEZE Dyed wool drying on a line outside a wool store in the seacoast town of St. Andrews, a tourist town in southern New Brunswick. It was a warm spring day with a light sea breeze drying the wool.

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JONATHAN RICHARD GREEN PENGUINS AND ICE Gentoo penguins nesting at the rookery of Joulga Point, Wiencke Island, Antarctic Peninsula. I have been working the austral summer season for the last seven years in the Antarctic and this remains one of my favorite areas. The Seven Sister of Fief make a truly spectacular backdrop to the rookery, and on this particular afternoon, snow laden storm clouds were building over the mountains. The black and white of the penguins and surrounding landscape contrasted brightly with the pinkish red guano that covers the rocks and the pebble stone nests of the Gentoos. I captured the shot in bright sunlight, but minutes later the fearsome Katabatic winds began to howl and the first flurries of snow fell. The temperature plummeted and I was quickly reminded that this seemingly benign setting is home to some of the worst weather on earth. The visit was all the more memorable as my family had joined me for the first time to Antarctica and my children having grown up in the tropics of Ecuador, had never seen snow fall from the sky before. My son was five at the time, not much taller than the penguins, and silenced in awe by this journey to the end of the Earth.

RANDI SCOTT WALL OF WATER Section of Albion Falls in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

KJERSTI JĂ˜RGENSEN CRYSTAL CLEAR WATERS A very friendly nurse shark was swimming around us for at least 15 minutes while we were snorkeling on Grand Cayman 24 26

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MARY BETH CHARLES RIOMAGGIORE Riomaggiore is the southernmost village in the Cinqueterre [“Five lands”, named after five small villages along the north western coastline] Italy, and a vibrant start to my 15 mile walk through the “Five Lands.” Colorful tower houses couple with a rainbow of boats that line the ramp below to create this vivid scene on the coastline of the Ligurian sea.

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JIM HARRIS BEAUTIFUL ABANDONMENT During a walk in the outlying areas of downtown Tuscan, Arizona, I came across several old, abandoned buildings.

These old buildings have been part of Tuscan’s heritage for years, as can clearly been seen in its repair. This one struck me for it’s character and it’s beautiful contrasting colors.

PRAJIT RAVINDRAN NATURE’S PALETTE: RIOT OF COLORS During the labor day long weekend last year, a couple of friends joined me to plan a trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. On the second day of our trip we embarked on a road trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon Village. Our first stop was at Hoover Dam- we were amazed at the engineering marvel it is. Like the others, I grabbed a few quick shots of the dam. I was not that impressed with the background so I 32

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turned around to look for other photo ‘opps’. I then saw this beautiful light just hitting the peaks of the mountains. I quickly ran to the other side and grabbed 3 quick handheld bracketed shots. I knew it would be difficult to capture the dynamic range of the scene in a single image. So I created a HDR image using Photomatix. I was happy with the result since I prefer a realistic appearance to HDR images.

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CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS 03 JESSICA ALBRO /photosbyjes

06 KEITH SANDERS /sanders0906

21 NICK NEWTON WILLIAMS /nicko

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08 KEVIN THORNHILL /kbtimages

22 ED COREY /edcorey

23 XIAO ZHANG /vitroz83

10 LAWRENCE DORTCH /blkphoto 24 JONATHAN GREEN /juanverde

11 ADAM OLIVER /hoverkraft 26 RANDI SCOTT /brantfordselections

PHOTOGRAPHER PORTFOLIOS

12 BORA BAYSAL /borabaysal

14 DAVID ESCALANTE /davirus

27 KJERSTI JØRGENSEN /kjorgen

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www.snapixel.com/portfolio

17 DANIEL ISRAELYAN /bigpisces

28 MARY BETH CHARLES /marybethcharles

18 CHERYL MCDONALD /cherylmcdonald

30 JIM HARRIS /jmartinharris

32 PRAJIT RAVINDRAN /prajitr

/// HOW FAR OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS ROAMED: PHOTO LOCATIONS

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MAURO SANNA

This month’s featured photographer takes pictures of people. Such as, of course, the picture featured on this page: ‘The Sad Man,’ taken in Pisa. The photographer explains, “he was a mime artist, resting with his dog at lunch time.” ‘Windy dreamy man,’ this month’s cover shot, was taken on a carnival day during February in Florence. Like these, many of Sanna’s photographs are strange and often ethereal, using muted colors and hazy light to create otherworldly portraits of ambiguous subjects. It’s hard to know what’s really going on in any of these pictures, but nonetheless, you are drawn to them. On the following pages we present you with more of Sanna’s work, accompanied by quotes on how this photographer crafts his images.

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“I use a Canon Canonet ET QL17 GIII, a Zorki 4, an EOS 50E and 30D. My preferred lenses are the sigma 30mm 1.4 (it’s great for street photography), the canon 50 mm 1.8 MKI, and the canon 24-70 2.8 (it’s quite heavy, but the quality of images is worth it.) I don’t like using telephoto, because it makes me feel like a thief.”

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Mauro was born in Sardinia, and now lives in Pisa to attend the University.

Now age 26, he discovered photography three years ago.

See more of Sanna’s work at his Snapixel portfolio: http://www.snapixel.com/portfolio/ubuntolaio

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“I’m really interested in street photography.

I’m always looking for spontaneous people, in every moment of their life. Not extraordinary moments, but just those normal, common times that make life interesting and fascinating: the face of a girl left by her boyfriend, the eyes of a kid scared by a dog, a satisfied man with his cigar, two chatting old ladies in a small town.”

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BECOMING A BETTER PHOTOGRAPHER RENOWNED TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER

BOB KRIST

Interview by Kaitlyn Ellison

Photographer

Bob Krist certainly has experience. Working as a photographer for over 30 years, he has traveled the world photographing for major publications like National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, and the Smithsonian. He has numerous awards to his name, including “Travel Photographer of the Year” three times from the Society of American Travel Writers. He has published many photography and instructional books, and has even had one featured on the New York Times best-seller list. Sounds intimidating? I agree.

Despite all of this success, Krist has managed to keep a cool head and a witty sense of humor. He has created YouTube videos with some of his fellow professional photographers (definitely check out “Joe McNally’s Confessions with Father Krist”), and blogs about the everyday rewards and hassles of photographing professionally (www.bobkrist.com/ blog). And he teaches, using his extensive experience to help other 42

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GIVES US HIS PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY ON HOW TO KEEP ON TOP OF YOUR GAME, BOTH ABROAD AND AT HOME photographers create better work.

In my interview with him, Krist let me in on some of his methods, and here they are to help our readers discover how to navigate the dangers and difficulties of travel photography, as well as how to improve our photography skills through practice at home.

I suspect that one of the most often

questions asked of the photographer is an inquiry into the most thrilling moments of his work: What are the most dangerous things that have happened to you over the years? It was indeed my first request of the photographer – tales of danger and intrigue! And Krist certainly complied, with stories of being stranded

in a snowcat during a whiteout for three days on assignment for National Geographic in Iceland, and the time when he was shooting a Shango Voodoo ceremony in Trinidad and was very nearly attacked by one of the ceremony’s machete-wielding trance-bound participants. But Krist doesn’t leave it at that - what can we learn from these experiences of his?

Krist claims being a travel photographer means having to escape your normal circle of comfort. Events occur all around you. Things begin to happen, they snowball, then build into tense situations. Krist preaches situational awareness, an ability to read the street and the nonverbal clues surrounding you. Like when the photographer found himself in

Bangkok during the recent red shirt protests. At first he claims there seemed to be no hint of the forthcoming hostility, almost as if the red shirts and policemen were having a picnic. It ended up in violence, riots, and shooting.

At the end of the day these adventures end up as great dinner (or interview, for that matter) conversation, according to Krist, but at the time when you don’t know what is going to happen, certain situations are not so fun. I joke that perhaps this travel photography is for adrenaline junkies, asking the photographer if that is one of his major enticements into this career, but he laughs and responds with a hearty “NO,” claiming more of a similarity to Clark Kent than the adrenaline-rushed rock climbing Superman adventure photographers one sometimes comes across.

He just “love[s] to experience new cultures.”

Aside from an ability to read the

situation going on around you in the street, there are many other skills one needs to hone in order to take unique pictures abroad. One of the greatest challenges is communication. How do you create a connection with a subject when you can’t directly speak to them? Here are some tricks and tips I got from Krist: First, learn a few phrases of the language of the country you are traveling to.

Make sure you ask permission and explain what you are photographing, let them know why you want to take their picture and make sure they know it isn’t because you think they are a curiosity. If you are an amateur photographer, not on assignment for a magazine or other publication, create a project for yourself. Look to get something specific out of the experience, and it will become a richer one.

Another tip from Krist is to get a local translator. They can be found through a tourist board, local university, and simply by being friendly and trying to talk to people. Sometimes, the photographer claims, for a lunch and a beer they are happy

to help you out for a day. The key is to find what the professionals call “fixers” – street-smart guides who can take you off of the beaten path.

For example, when Krist was in Malta for National Geographic, he found that the translators provided for him by the tourist board were too formal and went in search of another. Wanting to take pictures of a shipyard and longshoremen, but provided with guides who were intellectuals all “with PhDs,” the photographer opted to be guided instead by a policeman he met on the street. This well-connected officer knew all sorts of people, and brought the photographer to community events, a first communion among others, giving Krist an outlet to shoot beautiful and interesting photographs.

Another way to improve your trav-

el photography? Shoot locally, of course. One of the topics I found the photographer to be most passionate about was the importance of shooting the local. Bob Krist got his “start” working for National Geographic shooting an article on his home state of New Jersey, an assignment that no one else would take.

Over the years, he has continued to find inspiration in his surrounding communities, one of the most recent being his project to photograph his hometown New Hope, Pennsylvania.

A community portrait project featuring the colorful people that inhabit his own space, the project has given Krist a chance to expand the range of his photography and shoot an entire project in a portrait studio for the first time.

Krist finds that projects like these help him exercise his eye as a photographer. Finding ways to make the familiar look fresh and exciting makes you better at your craft. In exotic locations, Krist claims “pictures practically jump into the camera. You have to be half-blind not to capture something interesting in Thailand, India, Burma.” The life and street is chaotic.

In foreign lands it is easy just to

shoot what you see, relying on exoticism to make the pictures interesting. According to the photographer, in the 1970s, 80s, and even 90s just traveling around the world and taking mediocre pictures was enough to make you a travel photographer, but now that so many people can get almost anywhere, travel photography has to be taken to another, more thought-through, level. Krist explains in metaphor: Different types of photographs and locations are like different courses of dinner. India is like the dessert – sweet and easy to digest, but in the end, too much of it makes you flabby.

And the final lesson from Krist?

I asked him what he does for his own vacations, after being gone for 6-8 months out of the year shooting professionally: He just goes to the Jersey Shore, chills out on the beach, and leaves his camera at home.

Sometimes, that’s just fine.

Where Has Bob Been?

AFRICA South Africa ASIA/PACIFIC Hong Kong • Indonesia • Japan Malaysia • New Zealand Papua • New Guinea Singapore CARIBBEAN/LATIN AMERICA Aruba • Bahamas • Barbedos Belize • Bermuda • Costa Rica Cuba • Grenada • Haiti Jamaica • Mexico • Puerto Rico St. Lucia • Tobago • Trinidad EUROPE Austria • Denmark • England France • Germany • Holland Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Malta Norway • Spain •Sweden UNITED STATES Alaska • Atlantic City • Atlanta Death Valley • Hawaii • Florida Keys • Las Vegas • New Jersey Shore • New Orleans • The Ozarks • Philadelphia • Utah

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THE

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BOHEMIA THE COLORFUL CHARACTERS OF THE MISSION

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CAPTURING THE VIBRANCE OF THE MISSION

BY LINDSAY FERGUSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAITLYN ELLISON It is impossible for a visit to San Francisco to be boring or ordinary: a celebration or community gathering of some kind on every imaginable scale is nearly a weekly occurrence. The City boasts a myriad of attractions. Literally, there is something for everyone in the intricate network of districts and neighborhoods. Some proudly display tourist hot spots, such as Ashbury Height’s famous intersection at Haight and Ashbury. Other slices offer something more, off the beaten path that showcases the vibrant culture on which this city was founded. The real San Francisco, as it was. So it goes with the Mission district, a colorful collection of streets to the southeast of downtown.

A sunny and vivacious neighborhood, the Mission district in this town is the epitome of a modern symbiotic relationship. Shops and murals and restaurants are as eclectic as their human counterparts, and both blend beautifully man and man-made.

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Three main arteries give life to this area—busy boulevards constantly flow with street and foot traffic day and night. Guerrero, Valencia and Mission have much to offer, and the depth of each street can take up an entire day just exploring and experiencing. Few places in San Francisco offer such an array of restaurants and shops.

Dig deeper and even the casual traveler will begin to notice artwork in every available corner and on every open space. Posters and flyers announce performance art. Culinary art takes place every moment at Delfina Pizzeria or Tartine Bakery. Musicians pepper the parks, like Dolores, on any given time. Painters and muralists have also taken up residence here, creating expansive works of art on every building edifice. The Latin American culture is so enlightening to the people who live in the Mission that it is reflected and incorporated into nearly everything. The Women’s Building on 18th street is one particularly famous mural that has enveloped the entire building. Spray painters have also joined the muralists and painters to create a more edgy, urban feel to particular corners of the Mission.

Art often imitates life, and one can’t help but notice the infusion of human experience and behavior subtly nuanced within the murals and graffiti art. The people are, often times, more colorful than their painted counterparts.

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Up Next: SP E C I A L 5 T H I S S U E B L A C K A N D W H I T E Shooting, old school: Renounce color and get inspired by photography’s roots for the fifth issue of Snapixel Magazine. Let’s see your submissions at www.snapixel.com/magazine, and make this the best issue yet!

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VINTAGE SHOTS

The Podies at Zaton Valiki (Croatia), April 1972

Nascher at the market, September 1972

Inn Valley, 1967

Corinth Canal (Greece), 1967

My grandmother has travelled more than Homer, Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus combined. She’s climbed glaciers and sat on the backs of East Indian elephant. She brought me to my first international visit when I was 9 years-old: Mexico City. Several years ago, after living in her Colorado Springs home for 25 years, my grandmother’s deteriorating memory led to her relocation in an assisted living community 50 miles to the north. Shortly afterwards my mother and I travelled to her three-bedroom, two-story home to sift through the remnants of her formerly independent life. It was an emotional experience for me as my grandmother’s home

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View from Philopappos Hill (Greece), 1967

Hoher Dachstein Mountain (Austria)

Plaine Morte (Switzerland) The Kilgores, 1972

has always been a place of refuge, a steady, familiar place I travelled to with regularity as my own life changed in various ways. One of the most profound moments was discovering an old suitcase full of black & white photographs in a basement closet. Many of the people depicted in them were unfamiliar to me. Then the realization hit me: in about one hundred years my own precious photographs and other memorabilia might sit in a suitcase or box in a basement to be discovered by a yet-to-be-born family member who will have a similar curious reaction: Who are these people? In other words, the meaning is in mind of the beholder.

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-Damien Raffa

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