Travel Photos

The above quotes made me think of what kind of pictures I take on my holidays as I always take my camera on my travels, and not only my mobile phone camera.

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A few weeks ago I was asked by an old friend to upload a series of my travel photos for 5 day period. The title of this photo challenge was “Travel Photo’s Memory”. Then my mind went wild, thinking of what is Travel Photography? What kind of photos should I include in this genre photography, or it is not an actual photography genre? Should it be a photo about me on my travels or my selfies with all the famous landmarks as the background; as a proof that I’ve been there! The downside is those pictures were either my face only with a tiny bit of the “famous background” or a good proportion of both but taken by others… not the picture I took. While it is nice for my own memory to see myself that I’ve been to those places, but I think it’s not my style to brag to people that “it’s me in front of a so and so landmark…”.

Apa sebenarnya subjek utama dari travel photo? Apakah diri kita sendiri dań menjadikannya foto selfie atau temat-tempat yang kita kun jungi sebagai subjek foto kita pada saat traveling?

To me it is the story that is more interesting. The photos could add to the story with or without me in it. Besides, for me it is the passion of taking a good picture of my travels that is more important as it creates the memory and the story behind every picture I take that provides the memory for me.

The Landscape:

So, I think I am into the other interpretation of Travel Photography, and that could be about photographing the nature of my destination, such as the seaside, or the landscape of a safari park or even the affect a wonderful waterfall I visited or as simple as the Elements and skyscape. Do I need to in the picture..? Well I think that could spoil the Landscape Photography genre. Besides, the challenge is taking the picture as you travel, not only selfies….

Visiting mount Bromo, (Java Island, Indonesia) for the first time, and the famous trip was to go up to the pinnacle to see the sunrise…. where I think it creates a nice Landscape Photography for my trip up the mountain. I don’t think this picture needs me in it.

A Landscape Photography about the sunset at Abu Samra, taken when I lived in Doha, on a photo trip to border of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Built Environment:

City breaks are an easy escape to another city, either for a dirty weekend to a nearby city within the country I live or another city abroad, thus ‘Urban Landscape’ is a genre of photographing while travelling. In this genre all theories of photography could be implemented: the lines of the buildings, the city street, the scale of the landmark on humans, or the history of ancient sites or even the city light that could give me a good memory of my travels and I will be able to tell stories of each and every visit to those locations.

On top of those theories, I tried to shoot with a slow shutter speed and at blue hour…. and this is the memory of Isfahan in late afternoon 🙂

I love this picture, taken on my visit to Shaftesbury, one of the most iconic pictures of a beautiful English Village; yet it’s a typical sample “Built Environment Photography” which requires travel to the location.

Everyday detail and close-up

Drinking beer with this kind of pump handle is very much daily Japanese life, and having it in a bar for after hours.

While you are in the city, sometimes its the little things that tell the story of where you are, the everyday life of the place that gives you a sense of different places in the world, not necessarily having yourself in the picture or having the whole portrait.

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  One will know exactly where this photo was taken as it’s the Turkish flag represented on one of the bowls.

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  As well as this picture, as only the Moroccan cooking their dishes using this type of pot.

That includes the hand that holds their food or even the the lettering of the street signage or the items they sell in the market it all adds the picture from your travel that tells a story.

Wildlife

I don’t think I have time to have selfie with this elephant while it was charging towards us during safari in Tanzania…. It was too much suspense let alone taking picture…

When you go on safari, of course it means that you go traveling. But safari means you are encountering wildlife and I believe wildlife does not necessarily want to pose for you or even with you…. so the challenge is to get a good picture of the wildlife and get the experience chasing the animals and still get a good picture.

However, one doesn’t have to go on safari to get an exotic wildlife picture. I took this picture at Slimbridge… hence the background and foreground of the picture are not the natural habitat of flamingo birds, yet I do have to travel to Slimbridge to get this picture

Having said that, one doesn’t need to go on safari to take a wildlife picture. As simple as taking pictures of birds in your garden is already a challenge and to me, by ‘traveling’ to your window from your snug to get the garden bird picture is already an achievement.

Another sample of wildlife photography I took on my morning walk towards a nearby park, where the red deer happens to be very near to our footpath.

I love the above picture, as it shows interaction of different species, without having human in the frame spoiling the picture… 🙂

People

I like to take candid pictures of people; however, nowadays you need to ask permission to take their picture and it may not be a candid picture anymore. As I am not really a people person and chatting up to strangers is hard for me, and I think this is why I don’t really like to photograph people, and that includes taking pictures of friends, let alone a selfie.

This is a typical picture I usually take; candid, easy, a bit sneaky but I think this tells a lot of story…..

On the other hand, I do understand that the most rewarding area of photography is taking pictures of strangers in strange places and strange occasions.

Taj Mahal as the background, with the right person as the main object…. no need for selfie, yet the effort to take this picture was far harder than taking a selfie

However, from time to time I took pictures of my fellow traveler friends, during our visit to Iran

Mode of Transport:

Most of our travels involved transportation and this is an easy object of to recognise and memorise our travels. This type of picture could be taken from the vehicle or picture of the transport mode. Transport mode could be anything and everything, from daily commuting means of transport to exotic transport and it could be either as simple as bicycle to the unusual animal for transport.

Camel as a transport mode? Although this activity is now organised for tourist around Wadi Rum, but camel is The Transportation mode in the Desert.

Aside from camels, horses are also a popular transportation mode still used in Egypt, either in Luxor or in and around Giza, Cairo.

There are many other genres of photography that could be inside the category of “Travel Photography” that doesn’t involve a selfie, and to me, it is more rewarding to show off a good quality of my own photoshoot, compared to having myself in the picture.

Having said all that, which one are you as a travel photographer?

Happy traveling… and keep on snapping… 🙂