National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year has announced their 2017 winner. The prestigious competition brought over 15,000 entries from 30 different countries. This year’s grand prize winner was Sergio Tapiro Velasco of Mexico. His photo, “The Power of Nature,” captures an erupting volcano while it is simultaneous being struck by lightning.
In an effort to improve the security of airline passengers and the nation’s airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is implementing new, stronger screening procedures for carry-on items that require travelers to place all electronics larger than a cell phone in bins for X-ray screening in standard lanes. These changes could affect photographers traveling with equipment on board by potentially requiring each camera body, some hard drives, speedlights, tablets, audio recorders, and other common electronic equipment to be removed from cases and placed separately in bins for X-ray, slowing the screening process.
For the last 10 years I have been regularly visiting this remote and pristine island state. Tasmania is about a 1.5 hour flight from Sydney to the city of Launceston. The diverse choice of landscapes and close proximity by car make this a unique and accessible environment still largely untouched. Around 40 percent of Tasmania is protected National Parks and Reserves. If you are looking to get off the grid and discover a magical wilderness, this place is filled with adventure and convict history. Here are some of my favorite spots to photograph in spring or autumn. I have also added a few other locations as side trips that are also worth a look.
The largest single landscape print I have made to date is a ten-foot-wide panorama of the Painted Rock at Fort Irwin. Titled A Thousand Words Fall Short, I donated it to a Veterans' clinic on the 4th of July. Printed on Fuji-crystal archival paper, front-mounted to 1/4" museum acrylic with an anti-glare coating, and backed by a solid sheet of aluminum, it really caught and exalted the light in the humble hallway where I was honored to see it hanging a couple days ago.
Just recently after moving back home for the summer, I decided to begin a new aerial series. Up here in Bergen County, New Jersey, there is not much to shoot, or at least that is something I tell myself. One day after skimming Google Maps for spots to fly, I came upon a few islands on a lake, each with their own individual house. Intrigued by what I saw, I knew that I had to find a way to capture these homes in a way that makes them more interesting to me. So right here, my series began and I will explain why I think it is important to keep every photo consistent.
With the rising prices of additional baggage when flying. Traveling with all the gear photographers need for the average location shoot is getting out of hand. There are lots of articles and tricks for saving some money but most of us have stripped down our travel kits to the essentials. This of course means for bigger jobs renting extra gear once on location. Manufactures seem to get this and there has been a boom in options, from battery powered strobes to wireless flashes and all sorts in between. Back from his online blogging hiatus, Zack Arias shares how he has solved this issue with an all in one ready to go lighting bag.
One week of photography in the wild backcountry of the Scottish highlands. In this "episode," I’d like to share with you the story about a recent trek into Glen Feshie in the Scottish Cairngorms National Park. It’s the behind-the-scenes tale of my successful image titled “Catch the Spirit.”
This method is widely used in editorial magazines. It's a fun way to look at different perspectives of your work combined. Sometimes it’s just not possible to capture everything you want in a single shot. The solution is simple – shoot two photos and display them side-by-side. I find that displaying two images side-by-side is a great way to tell a story photographically, and to create ideas that are not necessarily evident when one or the other image is displayed by itself. If you're interested in trying this technique with your own images, here are some of the tricks I’ve picked up along the way. Make small prints and lay them out on a large table to play the mix and match approach.
In 2002, QT Luong became the first person to photograph all U.S. National Parks with a large-format camera. His experience in traveling these beautiful, natural lands is simply inspiring. He was even a featured artist in the epic Ken Burns documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” With all his knowledge and stories gained from decades of creating stunning imagery across the United States, I feel fortunate that Luong authored his photography book, “Treasured Lands.”
This year’s Travel Photographer Society (TPS) competition culminated in a beautiful exhibition of interesting and unique work from travel photographers all over the world in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Surrounding the exhibition, TPS also held a series of talks by prominent travel photographers. In his standout presentation and follow-up blog post, Pics of Asia’s Etienne Bossot questions us deeply about the ethics surrounding travel photography and just what constitutes the genre.
"A Taste of New York," produced by Peter Jablonowski, Thomas Pöcksteiner, and Lorenz Pritz, is the third installment of their very popular time-lapse series. The team behind Film Spektakel have once again taken their enormous talents and experience with large scale time-lapses and distilled it down to a masterful three minute experience.
Agoraphobia is the extreme or irrational fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public places. I didn't know there was such a fear, or what it was until this video shed some light on it. Jacqui Kenny speaks about how she can't really function in busy places, almost like her imagination will get the better of her. I never thought having super creative imagination could be a burden, now I know it can be. Because of this impediment she explores the world from her living room.
Road number one leads you around Iceland’s epic natural formations. These scenic locations, often the subject of landscape photographs, have seen a dramatic rise in tourism recently. So what is it about these subjects that attract people from all over the world? And when is the light at its best to shoot a memorable image yourself here? These are the Icelandic icons of landscape photography.
There’s plenty of great advice for packing camera equipment on a trip. However it's not often that the trip involves motorcycling for two weeks and packing this much gear.
Our friends at ViewBug teamed up with Trey Ratcliff to celebrate his 80 Stays Around the World tour where he'll be holding free Photo Walks across 10 great European cities! Unfortunately, not everyone can join us in Europe for one of these fun events, so we brought the party to you! Get involved by sharing your favorite vacation or travel photo.
When on the go, a working photographer needs to balance portability, versatility, and power in everything they carry. The choice of computer while away from the home base is critical because it can dictate your capabilities and work potential over these periods of time. In this hands-on review, I take a look at the 12.3-inch VAIO Z Canvas tablet-laptop hybrid as a mobile workstation for photographers.
Shooting events with a ton of people can always be a bit overwhelming at times. There are thing constantly happening all around you, pulling your attention in every direction. Add to this being in another country and at an event such as the Holi festival, and you have a recipe for mass mental chaos. In order to combat this, I went to India with a pretty deliberate plan on how I wanted to shoot.
When you’re planning a trip to visit Iceland’s majestic countryside, chances are that you are probably following the ring road in one direction or another. And with good reason. Almost all the major sights are dotted around this single road. Or are they? Should we even be chasing these well-known compositions to get a copy of our own on the wall?
The Fstoppers Community is home to the many talented readers of this website where we share images and video in our portfolios as well as talk shop in the Discussion Groups. The other day I was going through and watching some of the incredible videos the Community has shared in their portfolios, and here's a selection of some of my favorite travel videos that will have you craving adventure and inspire your own creations.
Over the last two years, I have been traveling quite a few times for a personal project involving the last remaining tribal-tattooed faces of Asia. The results of that project are finding a home at Tattoos of Asia. I still have five or six more trips to make before I can consider the project complete, and I wanted to share my experience so far with finding help for a project like this. Finding the right guide or fixer for your project isn't easy, and can be a lot like hiring a new employee. Let's go through my process for finding and hiring the right person for the job.
When I first heard about Chase Guttman’s book on drone photography, I was intrigued. Not so much at the subject, or the photos, but in the person behind them. As a person who loves to travel and photograph while doing it, I’m always curious as to how people get their foot in the door in this very competitive industry, especially at a young age. The answer is: he didn’t do it alone, as none of us do.
Once again in a series of articles for my frequently visited cities, I have compiled a list of locations for first time photographers to Madrid. The list is open to interpretation and I encourage you to go off the beaten path. It is a rough guide to get lost with a purpose. In my last two articles on Tokyo and Barcelona I focused on street portraits, architecture and night shots of the city. While in Madrid last April of 2016 I walked the city streets with my customers as seen in the Google map below.
I've got a big European photo expedition planned this summer, but I'm not worried about being in the elements 4,000 miles from home with my gear. It's the process of getting there with my equipment intact that always worries me. This great video offers some tips to ensure you not only get where you're going with everything in tow, but you also get the shots you want.
In what could be some of the most expensive personal photos of all time, over 200 photos from Andy Warhol's three-day trip to China in 1982 will go on auction this April, with an expectation of receiving over $1 million.
Having the ability to power our gear is something we often take for granted. Without power, the most expensive gear becomes an overpriced paperweight. Worst of all, passing opportunities are lost. One of my least favorite situations is to be traveling in a foreign city when I can’t find information because my iPhone battery is dead. This is where Goal Zero comes in.
Citing intelligence that terrorists are targeting commercial flights by "smuggling explosives in portable electronic devices," both the United States and Britain have banned such devices from being carried on aircraft from multiple countries and airlines, requiring that they be instead placed in checked baggage.
Vlogging for photographers has become a great marketing tool. It's a video, so it's showcasing your editing capabilities, it's giving an idea of what it's like to work with you as a photographer, and it shows that you know what you are doing and based on your following, have a large amount of influence in the industry.
In the lead image above can anyone mention who was inspired by Gaudi's rooftop sculptures in Hollywood? For first time travelers to Barcelona these are my five favorites photo spots. I am expecting many readers to add their best spots that are not on this list. Please make sure to Google pin your exact locations in your comments. Much like my recent post on Tokyo I would love to see lots of sharing especially less popular locations.
Tokyo is one of my favorite cities and I lived there for many years. While the crazy volume of traffic and crowds can be overwhelming at times, it's always an inspiring and surprising place to explore with a camera. So, where should you go if you only have a few days or less to shoot this incredible city? Here are a few of my favorite locations to visit with a camera, and the stories of some of the photos I have taken there.
Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market has been my favorite spot for many years. The subtle differences between fish mongers is what adds vibrancy to the colorful characters that make up this market. Most of them have been working here for generations. Located just a two minute walk from Tsukiji train station, it’s a great place to spend the morning taking photos, followed by a very fresh sushi lunch. This has been my routine for the last eight years. The variety of closed and open spaces — from the auction houses to the narrow lane-ways — depict an ambience unlike any other fish market in the world. The bad smell of fish is not really apparent, which confirms the freshness of the product.
Keeping your gadgets charged on the go is essential if you travel a lot and expect to get any work done on the road. Thanks to the millions of battery packs that are out there, charging your phone is easy enough. But what if you need to keep your laptop charged while off the grid for a day’s shoot or while on a long flight without an outlet? Omni 20 is one of the only, and most recent, solutions that will charge anything you throw at it, including that ultra-powerful new MacBook Pro.
For me, storage is a huge pain. On one hand, it’s simple. Buy a bunch of hard drives, back everything up, repeat. But I want to simplify it further. I hate having one system that’s speedy for in-office editing and another that’s slow, but network-connected. I couldn’t find anything that offered both a network connection and fast thunderbolt-like speeds when attached locally until I came across QNAP’s TVS-871T networked-attached storage solution that also features dual Thunderbolt connectivity.
If you've ever dabbled in time-lapse photography, you know what an incredible amount of effort goes into making a very short video. From the prep work, to setup, shooting, and editing, you're often looking at a couple of hours for a few seconds worth of video. Well, Morten Rustad invests a bit more time than that: roughly 20,000 kms traveled, 200,000 photos on 20 terabytes of hard drives, and two years of time invested. The result is an incredible seven-minute video that puts Norway's beauty on full display.
In October, my friend Corey Berse and I somehow convinced our wives to let us go to Iceland for a week without them (neither of us are professional photographers, so a week-long vacation that did not include them was not the easiest sell). Our plan was to drive the entire Ring Road in six days and shoot as much as possible. Here are the highlights, some pictures, and a video of our trip.
Forbes recently released their picks for the top photography travel destinations in the world; meanwhile, this month Fstoppers began filming our latest tutorial, Photographing The World With Elia Locardi 3. Considering the tremendous amount of incredible images shared among the Fstoppers community from across the globe, it only seems fitting to take a look at some of 2017's top travel destinations for photographers as captured by you, the Fstoppers community.
