I've recently been seeing a lot of ads for tutorials designed to teach prospective travel photographers how to shoot travel photos that look just like the images you see on commercial postcards. Well, guess what? Everyone's already seen the images on those postcards. If your potential customer wanted a 'postcard' image, he (or she) probably would simply opt to buy the postcard. Bottom line: As a travel photographer, you want to produce unique views of exotic locations, NOT POSTCARD IMAGES. That is, of course, assuming you're not working for a postcard company. As an example of what I mean, let's discuss one of the most iconic locations in the world. Are we talking Paris.France with the Eiffel Tower in the background? Or, perhaps, the Great Wall of China? Nope. We're talkin' someplace located less than thirty miles from my home town of Bisbee Arizona. We're talkin' TOMBSTONE - THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE. In one sense, Tombstone may be just a little podunk town in S.E. Arizona. On the other hand, I met a Thai woman while in Chiang Mai who, when she heard I was from Arizona, proudly related to me the story of her and her husband's visit to - where else - Tombstone, Arizona. Even Captain Kirk and crew members of the Starship Enterprise managed to beam down to Tombstone in the Star Trek episode 'SPECTRE OF THE GUN'. And that's about as iconic as it gets. So, you've traveled from Philly to Arizona, and now yer jest itchin' to explo'e th' Ol' West. Yehaw! You're walkin' down historic Allen Street at high noon on a Saturday. This is your one chance to shoot (with a camera) the town where the Earps and Doc Holiday faced down the Clanton gang. And your goose is not just cooked. It's cremated. Why? Well, the town is full of tourists. Your chance of obtaining an image that will wow the viewer, for starters one that does not feature modern day tourists, is about the same as your chances of flying to the moon by flapping your arms real fast. Take a look at my images above. What don't you see? Tourists. Why? Well, the images were made in the late afternoon on a weekday, maybe Wednesday, probably during the off season. Imagine the color version, colors most likely slightly more saturated, shot at a time of day when the shadow would not be there, and with the town crawling with tourists, and you have the image everyone else took. The sepia image, on the other hand, screams VINTAGE OLD WEST. Definitely a better choice. Now a photog friend of mine, Pete Larkin, took a nighttime photo of the same street, historic Allen Street. The photo featured, (quite prominently) a modern sign emblazoned with the words LOADING ZONE. Well. that ruined an otherwise usable image, right? That would have most likely been the case but for the Old West gunfighter leaning against the sign, LOADING BULLETS INTO HIS SIX SHOOTER. Okay, so you've got your establishing shot. Now you're gunning (pun intended) for interesting detail scenes. So, wow, you've stumbled across the old wagon sitting just off the street at the intersection. And what luck. You manage to include the Whole Monte in your composition. Your friend Jim, on the other hand, settled for a shot that mostly just included one of the wheels with some sort of bird standing by the wheel. He's out of luck. So why, back home in Philly two weeks later, is everyone oohing and awing over Jim's photo and avoiding yours like it stinks of cow pattie? First off, nothing says Old West like a bird, that is if the bird's a roadrunner. Second, the service station in the background of your photo screams "This ain't the Old West!!!", at the top of its lungs. It's called an anachronism. And sometimes anachronisms work, like when a gunman is loading his gun next to a loading zone sign. In your case though, it just sits there stinking of cow pattie. The bottom line on all this is that you, the travel photographer, want to make interesting, intriguing & UNIQUE images of fascinating travel destinations. Do that and your friends will stand in line to view your travel images. Bring back twenty five images of the Eiffel tower with Aunt Ethel Mae standing in front of it, or images that are virtually identical to Cousin Timmy's postcards he brought back for everyone upon his return from Paris, and those same friends will run for the hills, and not look back. Larry Elkins - Elkinsphotos
I've recently been seeing a lot of ads for tutorials designed to teach prospective travel photographers how to shoot travel photos that look just like the images you see on commercial postcards. Well, guess what? Everyone's already seen the images on those postcards. If your potential customer wanted a 'postcard' image, he (or she) probably would simply opt to buy the postcard. Bottom line: As a travel photographer, you want to produce unique views of exotic locations, NOT POSTCARD IMAGES. That is, of course, assuming you're not working for a postcard company. As an example of what I mean, let's discuss one of the most iconic locations in the world. Are we talking Paris.France with the Eiffel Tower in the background? Or, perhaps, the Great Wall of China? Nope. We're talkin' someplace located less than thirty miles from my home town of Bisbee Arizona. We're talkin' TOMBSTONE - THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE. In one sense, Tombstone may be just a little podunk town in S.E. Arizona. On the other hand, I met a Thai woman while in Chiang Mai who, when she heard I was from Arizona, proudly related to me the story of her and her husband's visit to - where else - Tombstone, Arizona. Even Captain Kirk and crew members of the Starship Enterprise managed to beam down to Tombstone in the Star Trek episode 'SPECTRE OF THE GUN'. And that's about as iconic as it gets. So, you've traveled from Philly to Arizona, and now yer jest itchin' to explo'e th' Ol' West. Yehaw! You're walkin' down historic Allen Street at high noon on a Saturday. This is your one chance to shoot (with a camera) the town where the Earps and Doc Holiday faced down the Clanton gang. And your goose is not just cooked. It's cremated. Why? Well, the town is full of tourists. Your chance of obtaining an image that will wow the viewer, for starters one that does not feature modern day tourists, is about the same as your chances of flying to the moon by flapping your arms real fast. Take a look at my images above. What don't you see? Tourists. Why? Well, the images were made in the late afternoon on a weekday, maybe Wednesday, probably during the off season. Imagine the color version, colors most likely slightly more saturated, shot at a time of day when the shadow would not be there, and with the town crawling with tourists, and you have the image everyone else took. The sepia image, on the other hand, screams VINTAGE OLD WEST. Definitely a better choice. Now a photog friend of mine, Pete Larkin, took a nighttime photo of the same street, historic Allen Street. The photo featured, (quite prominently) a modern sign emblazoned with the words LOADING ZONE. Well. that ruined an otherwise usable image, right? That would have most likely been the case but for the Old West gunfighter leaning against the sign, LOADING BULLETS INTO HIS SIX SHOOTER. Okay, so you've got your establishing shot. Now you're gunning (pun intended) for interesting detail scenes. So, wow, you've stumbled across the old wagon sitting just off the street at the intersection. And what luck. You manage to include the Whole Monte in your composition. Your friend Jim, on the other hand, settled for a shot that mostly just included one of the wheels with some sort of bird standing by the wheel. He's out of luck. So why, back home in Philly two weeks later, is everyone oohing and awing over Jim's photo and avoiding yours like it stinks of cow pattie? First off, nothing says Old West like a bird, that is if the bird's a roadrunner. Second, the service station in the background of your photo screams "This ain't the Old West!!!", at the top of its lungs. It's called an anachronism. And sometimes anachronisms work, like when a gunman is loading his gun next to a loading zone sign. In your case though, it just sits there stinking of cow pattie. The bottom line on all this is that you, the travel photographer, want to make interesting, intriguing & UNIQUE images of fascinating travel destinations. Do that and your friends will stand in line to view your travel images. Bring back twenty five images of the Eiffel tower with Aunt Ethel Mae standing in front of it, or images that are virtually identical to Cousin Timmy's postcards he brought back for everyone upon his return from Paris, and those same friends will run for the hills, and not look back. Larry Elkins - Elkinsphotos
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