Travel photography is the reason I picked up a camera in the first place. Norway is my favourite place on earth. Greece is where I go to switch off. The Dolomites were a chapter I dreamed about for years before I finally stood in them. Here is what those trips taught me.
Research before you go, then abandon the plan
Know the locations, know where the sun rises and sets relative to them, know how long the walk in takes. Then stay open, because the best frame of a trip is frequently something you had never heard of that appeared on the way to the thing you planned.
Be early, stay late
Every famous location is calm at sunrise and packed by ten. Being in position before first light means better conditions and an empty scene. It costs you sleep and it is worth it every time.
Weather is a feature, not a problem
Clear blue sky is the most boring light there is. Fog, breaking storms and the ten minutes after rain produce the images people remember. In the Dolomites the shot that means the most to me came out of fog that had ruined the entire morning.
Pack less than you want to
- Two lenses covers almost everything, a wide and a mid telephoto
- Spare batteries, cold drains them far faster than you expect
- More cards than you think, and back up every night
- A small tripod for blue hour and long exposures
- Weather protection for the body and lens, plus a cloth for spray and rain
- Comfortable boots, most good landscape frames involve a walk
Put people in the landscape
A mountain photographed alone is impressive but abstract. Put a person in the frame and the viewer suddenly understands the scale and has somewhere to stand. Nearly all of my strongest travel work has a small human figure in it somewhere.
Shoot the ordinary too
Markets, food, transport, hands, doorways, weather. The landmark shot exists on a million postcards. The texture of a place is what makes a set feel like it was actually lived rather than visited.
Back up every single night
Two copies in two places, always. Cards fail and bags disappear. There is no version of this trip you can reshoot next weekend.
Put the camera down sometimes
Travel ruins you in the best way. Nothing feels the same after seeing places like this, and you should experience some of it with your own eyes rather than through a viewfinder. The photographs will be better for it too.
