First things first, these 2 photos ARE NOT MINE. They belong to Alex Strohl, and I pulled them from the "Travel Alberta" collection on his site. I pulled these to use as an example.
http://www.alexstrohl.com/photos/#/travel-alberta/
Now that I have my disclosures out of the way, on to the question:
These past few days I've been studying travel photography and I've noticed a running theme of sorts in many of the photos... very bright and blown out skies. You can see it in the attached photos. This is something that I have always been told is like one of the cardinal sins of outdoor photography. You know the rules: always shoot during sunrise/sunset/blue hour/etc. to get the perfect sky for your shot, and if you don't get the perfect sky then try to fix it in photoshop. What I've seen as I've been going through all of these portfolios, however, is completely opposite of this.
Honestly, I'm really enjoying the "raw" look of the photos and I'm wondering if maybe I've been misguided in my outdoor photography. Is there something about this particular style of photography that makes it ok? Am I missing the point of the photo?
Photography swung way too far in the polished, Photoshopped direction, and now the trends are swinging back too far in the other direction. High paying clients are actually asking professionals to make their images look like it was taken with a cell phone. I would suggest you stay away from the extreme trends and do what looks good to you.
Thanks for that, it makes more sense now. Do what the check writer wants, and today the check writer wants "instagram quality." I will admit that I like these photos (and many of the others I've seen in this particular style) with its grainy, almost nostalgic feel, but it's not something I'd want to see every day.
Agree with Lee. I'm not sure if these were all shot as part of a campaign for Alberta tourism, but at the very least they did a write-up on him and featured a handful of his pictures.
https://www.travelalberta.com/us/articles/2018/04/writing-one-stone-with...
Not a professional myself, so I don't have firsthand experience with this, but I've heard that tourism clients in particular want more pictures of bright blue skies. While we're all out chasing the dramatic skies and inclement weather, for people trying to sell vacations nothing beats clear sunny days. I think it largely depends on your own personal style and the client/purpose for the photo.