Travel Photography: Photographing the World's Famous and Not-So-Famous Places

The world is—at long last—gradually getting back into travelling again. We seem to have been stuck at home for a long time, and whether you're going to be travelling 50 or 5000 miles for a holiday this summer, there’s a renewed sense of excitement. We're all once again looking forward to the thrill of hitting new places and experiences.

For those of us who love to photograph the world, the renewed travel means getting the camera out once again, dusting it off, getting the batteries charged and making sure it all works before heading off to new (and familiar) places outside the home range. Time, at last, to jump back into travel photography.

If you're feeling a little rusty, this article will whet the appetite and give some inspiration (hopefully) about how to get stuck into a new summer or renewed travel photography. So pack the camera, water bottle, sun cream, and let's go!

Before we delve into all the details, let’s remind ourselves what travel photography is. In my view, what it isn’t is a specific genre of photography. There is no 'travel photography' genre as such. Instead, it’s a multi-genre field of photography that cuts across a broad range of photographic genres, including landscape, nature, people/portrait, street, architectural and interiors photography. So, in other words, a good travel photographer must be comfortable shooting across a range of photographic skills, not only competent in each of these genres but also able to skip from one to another and back again at a moment's notice as subject matter arises and changes.

A travel photographer's diary

In my experience, a travel photographer's subject matter will often go through a fairly regular evolution throughout the day. It’ll typically start with landscape photography during the dawn, sunrise and 'golden hour' period when the sun is low and the light is rich in warm colours. This is also a good time for nature photography, as many birds and mammals are active during the earliest part of the day.

As the sun climbs higher (it will be sunny, of course!), you may be more inclined to switch your attention to buildings and hence architectural photography, though this – like landscape photography - is often best photographed while the sun is low. However, if your intended buildings have controlled admission times, even for the external views, you may have no choice but to wait until the sun is high and your subject is open to the public. In popular places, it’s always best to try to avoid the busiest times. Instead, try and turn up either as soon as the gates open or as late as you dare before they close.

Continuing through the morning, as the streets become busier and shops start to open, you might then opt for some street photography, perhaps integrated with some continuing architectural imaging. Your photography now might include people, perhaps at street cafes, around fountains, and shopping or selling in the markets.

As the sun climbs higher still and the temperatures start mounting, you might then want to move indoors, or at least under shelter. Photography here could consist of people, either crowds or individuals engaged in work or simply the interior design and environment. We’ll focus more on people photography later on.

For amateur photographers simply on holiday, interior design photography is unlikely to feature in any major way, especially if photography permissions are needed. However, for a professional photographer on a travel photography shoot, interior shots can make up a significant chunk of the project. The insides of museums, hotel rooms and restaurants are obvious targets, but it can also include shops and bars—places that will almost always require photography permissions, especially if a tripod is to be used.

By mid-afternoon, as the sun drops, you may head back outdoors, perhaps typically photographing the local beaches and any watersports that might be happening. Beaches at this time of day in the height of summer can be rather crowded and untidy, so the kinds of travel images you might take at this time will be different from those earlier in the morning or indeed during the winter months. It all depends on the kind of images you want to end up with, combined with just how much beach furniture there is (versus a more natural-looking sandy scene), and whether it's lined with roaring surfing or placidly lapping wavelets.

Certain forms of nature photography may also be possible while the sun is high, particularly of butterflies and other insects. Photos of gardens might well be worth considering now, too, though they are often best tackled on cloudier days, both for general garden views and flower close-ups. As with woodland photography, bright sunlight can put a mass of dark shadows and bright highlights across your plant subjects, disrupting many possible compositions. The softer light of a cloudy day overcomes this problem and makes for some beautiful compositions.

Then, as the sun sinks lower and we reach the golden hour, followed by sunset, you may well be back to some landscape, nature or architectural photography. When dusk arrives, so does the time for photography of the urban skyline, encapsulating the city's nightlights and action. There’s a temptation to put off nightlight photography until night has completely fallen, but this can often be a mistake—such photography often works best if done when there's still some pink or golden glow in the sky, revealing the buildings in outline.

Photographing the world's most famous places

One of the big attractions of travel photography is the opportunity to shoot some of the world's iconic scenes, whether they be city skylines, landscapes, waterfalls, buildings or beaches. If you're just into using a phone camera for selfies, such photography is more about proving to friends that you've been there, done that, but for an avid fan of photography, it's more likely to be about flexing your skill and/or artistic inspiration to produce photography that is at least as good as the ranks of images that already exist.

However, it’s often rather disappointing to see that for a great many of the most famous places, the most famous photographic views are remarkably limited. Admittedly, for some, there may be only one workable angle to shoot from, but for most, there are a whole host of possible angles. And yet, despite this, all the tourism brochures, guide books and websites continue to flog the same old views.

As a professional travel photographer, I have to confess that this is one of my pet hates. When any travel photographer – professional or amateur – visits a famous place, it is, of course, fine for them to shoot the iconic angles first. Get those done and out the way. But they shouldn't just stop there. Don't slavishly follow what thousands of visitors have already photographed. Having shot the famous view(s), they should then search for those less obvious angles, those that appeal to one's artistic side, those angles that show off a famous place in a completely new angle, at least as far as is possible. And do so at different times of the day to obtain those angles under various lighting conditions.

In other words, don't just stand in front of the Taj Mahal, for example, and photograph the iconic view along the linear pond towards the facade. Do that by all means, but then start exploring: for example, head around the back and photograph this world icon from the banks of the Yamuna River, at sunrise, sunset, in the middle of the day etc. It's quite stunning and utterly different.

Photographing those not-so-famous places

The light of shiny, famous scenes should never blind a travel photographer. They should also seek out those places and photographic compositions that few people even notice but which nevertheless tell a critical story about the place being visited. These include simple generic scenes such as a coconut palm leaning over a beach at sunset, thatched cottages in Devon, shutter and flower box-lined windows in a pastel-coloured wall in the south of France, a simple roadside shrine with incense sticks in the Far East, a roadside vendor just about anywhere, and so on and on. The list of potential, stunningly beautiful but easily overlooked images is almost endless.

It's virtually the duty of the travel photographer to spot these unknown and often unrecognised vignettes in the chaos of the world around us, to separate them from that chaos and pull them out into a two-dimensional, tightly framed image for all the world to enjoy and celebrate. These are often the images that tell the story of the places we visit, much more so than the over-photographed iconic famous views.

Travel photography: people

Finally, we move on to photographing people. This can, of course, vary from crowded street scenes to individual close-up portraits and everything in between.

In a crowd, whether that be on the street, in a market or a sports stadium, for example, the focus is usually not on any one person. The image is simply about the scene and the life therein. As one moves in closer so the camera's attention becomes centred on ever fewer people, eventually, you’re down to honing in on just the one person, with perhaps the lens coming in quite close. Such a single-person shot may be simply a portrait, or they may be of interest because of what they're doing: selling vegetables in a market, repairing a fishing net, working on some art or craft, such as pottery or weaving, for example, or taking part in a sport.

Once you're close to a single individual, you may find that the lens is a little intimidating for them, whether that be a small wide-angle lens coming in really close or a big ugly telephoto lens rather further away. So, now you have the thorny issue of whether or not you ask permission before shooting. Overall, one should say that it is usually polite to do so, regardless of any potential language barriers, but unfortunately, all too often, you'll find that your subject is so uncomfortable in front of a camera that even if they allow you to shoot they may well freeze into some awkward posture, ruining the moment and making any resulting images less than ideal.

If I'm shooting in a highly public place where my images might contain numerous people, and the subject is really the overall scene rather than any specific individual, then I rarely ask anyone for permission; after all, it's difficult to ask everyone in a crowd. It's rather different, however, if I'm honing in on a particular person. On these occasions, even just a simple nod to them and pointing at the camera is enough to gauge their reaction. The problem of a subject freezing into an awkward posture is greatest when it is simply a static portrait, but if you're shooting someone busy with an activity, that’s often enough to enable them to ignore the photographer.

It's also worth noting here that some of the world's best people photographers spend long periods chatting to their potential subjects, building up a rapport with them long before they even pull a camera out of its bag. This, of course, really generates support from your subjects, but it is very time consuming, and may or may not be attractive depending both on what other photography you might want to be doing and on your own personality.

It should also be pointed out that there’s an enormous cultural variation among countries as to people's willingness to be photographed. This can range from an almost fanatical love of the camera and a desire to be photographed (typically experienced in many east Asian countries) through to an equally fanatical desire to prevent photography at all costs, something that potentially puts the photographer at risk. So any photographer shooting in a new country would do well to find out in advance what the cultural attitude is to people photography. Once out on the street, gauge the mood before going too far and upsetting anyone.

Getting stuck into travel photography

So, now you should have a pretty good idea of what travel photography is and what photographic skills you will need to have in order to be able to shoot right across the spectrum of potential travel photography subjects.

The equipment needed to make it all possible is varied but nevertheless standard, ranging from a good wide-angle lens through to a moderately strong telephoto (say, up to 300mm), plus a tripod and perhaps a flashgun, so your kit bag doesn't need to be too heavy or cumbersome. Only if you're engaging in a lot of wildlife and/or sports photography will you need to go to any specialised long telephoto lenses.

In short, the art and skill of travel photography lies in the photographer being hugely versatile and nimble, not losing themselves too much in any single photographic genre, but instead being ready, willing and able to skip from one to another as and when the relevant subject matter arises—which can be almost anywhere, anytime. So, get shooting, don't become too over-specialised, and just enjoy shooting as wide a range of subject matter as possible.

Enjoy the big wide world at the end of your lens!

This blog was written by Nigel Hicks, a hugely experienced Devon-based professional photographer. Nigel works with the USA's prestigious National Geographic Image Collection, among many other bodies, and is a Fellow of the British Institute of Professional Photography.

Nigel runs regular photography workshops in southwest England. To find out more about these, go to https://www.nigelhicks.com/photography-workshops-courses/.

To find out more about Nigel's work in general, feel free to take a tour of his website at www.nigelhicks.com.

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