Travelers often return back home with endless photographs, yet feel as though they have not fully visited their destination. Generally, they see all the famous sights, experience stunning sunset views and have unforgettable lunches, but they still feel like something is missing. They seem to fail to explain the atmosphere of the place.
The best memories of travel, however, usually come from events not listed in travel guides. This may include a small street filled with flowers, a fisherman fixing the net before dawn, colorful balconies of houses, antique street signs, bikes resting against rocky walls or the hustle and bustle of a local market. All these features make up the image of a certain place, which allows changing the way of travel documentation.
Every city has its own visual language, once you understand it, you can see that no two locations are the same. Stockholm is different because of the way people live by the water, its old-style architecture, narrow streets, ferries commuting between different parts of the city, and an infinite number of boats anchored in the harbor. Amsterdam tells its own stories through canals, bicycles, bridges, and very neat rows of charming houses. Iceland makes you fall in love with its volcanoes and geothermal hot springs, waterfalls, glaciers, and lonely beaches. In Hong Kong you feel the liveliness through busy marketplaces, high skyscrapers, flashed neon lights, small boats transporting people and cars, and streets that are busier than ever.
A lot of starters in photography are usually standing for hours in front of the famous attractions. They are patiently waiting for one perfect shot of a cathedral or of a castle, after which they go to the next place without looking around.
Instead of focusing solely on locations, consider the atmosphere.
Stop for a minute when something strikes you. Perhaps it is the old door with its paint peeling. Or the flowers hanging from the balcony, vintage lamps, colorful fishing boats or clothes fluttering in the breeze between two buildings. While none of the above may appear in the souvenir photo from your travels, they all make an incredibly rich visual story together.
This concept applies mostly to video as well. Life clips can completely change the shape of travel movies because while wide shots provide information about your location, close shots tell about sandy surface and the shadows or colors and motions. Together they create the rhythm and make the audience feel as if they directly walk through the location instead of simply contemplating travel postcards.
In photography, a different approach is required. Because each shot is a stand-alone one, it is naturally needed to be more selective. Not everything that looks interesting from the point of view of the camera merits its own image. Thus, while a flower pot can add great context in the video, it might not suffice for a separate photo.
Rather, what it means is that you should choose only the right moments that reflect your experience rather than record every single thing happening around.
One of the methods that can be valuable is to photograph the same subject from many angles. As soon as they capture enough material to share their story, they stop looking for new angles and start enjoying their trip.
This might really be one of the most important travel photography tips you’ve ever heard.
The goal of documenting a trip is not to shoot every single moment of the journey, but to capture a sufficient number of meaningful moments so that that person can embrace new experiences without getting distracted by the camera.
In most cases, memories made on trips are not from the holidays taken and photos taken during the trip. The main memories regarding the trip come from being aware of the things that characterize certain places and transform any holiday experience into an interesting travel story.
