Photography
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for travel photographers
Building trust can reap rewards and allow people to be at ease and therefore ‘act’ naturally. Always treat people with respect and dignity remember it’s a privilege to travel and meet local people, and extremely rewarding when you’re accepted as one of them.
74 January/February 2010 www.atmagazine.co.uk
Photography
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Remember not everyone wants their photograph taken. It is very important to learn as much as possible about local people and customs before getting your camera out. During my many travels I have learned that certain individuals and cultures find taking photos intrusive and disrespectful, you should always ask permission if you take someone’s photograph.  Try to capture the person naturally, try to capture the mood. One of the greatest advantages of travelling and photographing people in their natural setting is that it allows the photographer to capture people going about their day to day business, this can lead to some surprising and touching results.
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Photography Who is Musa? Born and raised in Manchester England, Ive always had an interest in getting to know people and trying to understand other ways of life and living, this accompanied with an interest in history and culture inevitably lead to my own exploration and global wanderings! Keen to capture and share my experiences I quickly became an avid photographer. As my skill as a photographer developed, so has my desire to travel the less well-beaten track. Over the years I have brought these passions together and now specialise in portraiture and architectural photography, trying to capture the essence of the place and the person. www.somedaysomewhere.co.uk
76 January/February 2010 www.atmagazine.co.uk
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 Be prepared, be aware of the elements, have the correct equipment. I have found myself in some unexpected situations, a sand storm in Mali, nearly blown of a bridge in Venezuela and being caught in torrential rain in Bangladesh. It is important that you protect both yourself and your equipment.
Photography Work with light and shadow to enhance features. The time of day, cloud cover and internal light can really affect the outcome of a photo; a man standing in a churchyard at dusk can have a very different interpretation than the same frame in bright sunlight.
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Try different angles, view points and depth of field. Changing the view from which you take a photograph can really alter the perception of the photo. On a recent trip to the Peak District in the heart of England, in order to capture the expansiveness of the landscape I took the photograph at a distance with the camera angle below the subject’s feet, looking up, this served to highlight how vast the landscape and sky was. Work with colour and contrast. The same photograph taken in colour and black and white can look very different. Photographs taken in black and white can really emphasise shadow, contrast and can display a degree of sombreness unachievable using colour shots; but photographing in colour can really capture the vibrancy of a fiesta in Spain.
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Take into consideration the importance of framing. Consider what you want to achieve from a photograph. Whilst photographing local people I really focus on facial characteristics, the person is at the forefront of the photograph often with the background blurred to further highlight the subject, whereas I will often take photographs of buildings with people present particularly to emphasise the scale of the architecture.
78 January/February 2010 www.atmagazine.co.uk
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Take note of F settings and shutter speed for future reference and learn as you go along. There is nothing worse when printing off the perfect picture than not remembering how you achieved the shot. Many digital cameras now capture this information but keeping additional notes will always help, for instance the time of day and weather conditions.
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Try to be creative Try areas where you wouldn’t normally go; work outside your own comfort zone. Nearly everyone I spoke to was hesitant about me travelling to Mali, however I had one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. However, you don’t need to travel to exotic locations to take meaningful pictures, local photographs capturing the essence of an area can serve as social commentary for future generations.
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