Image Source: Pixabay
We are inspired to travel for a bunch of reasons. For some kids like 8-year-old Oscar Lanham, it can be through a TV personality, such as English wildlife explorer David Attenborough. Lanham mentioned in his interview with The Guardian that after watching Attenborough’s wildlife and nature documentaries, he became interested in seeing more of the world in the future.
“I want to be a wildlife explorer and learn more about the natural world as I grow up…I’d really like to visit New Guinea or Costa Rica. I’d also like to visit Argentina to see titanosaur bones. I’d like to dig up some more,” the young boy was quoted saying.
Some people are awed by the stories that travel photos tell, and so they set out to experience the places themselves. Such was the case for Nadia of GlobetrottingGirl.com who believes that photography introduces people to beautiful travel destinations.
In her post, “What Inspires Me to Travel the World,” she shares that what inspires her to go places is travel photography on online platforms like Instagram. She writes: “While there are many great and established travel magazines, what I like even more is [the] trend of social media travel photography accounts.” Nadia cites project #followmeto by couple Murad Osman and Natalia Zakharova as one of her favorites.
You might be wondering: how can one come up with photos that elicit such an influence on the viewer’s mind? First, make sure that you use the best practices in photography like applying the rule of thirds, observing proper lighting, and making sure your photos are free from noise or unnecessary elements while framing.
Most importantly, see to it that your photos translate your experience. Invest in a good drone or action camera and experiment with your shots and angles. This way, your audience will be able to see and feel the essence of your trip.
With the development of platforms that fuse photography with social media, the former has really gone a long way from being just a means to preserve memories. But it is this basic principle of documenting an important travel memory that keeps travel blogger Jaharn Giles of MisterWeekender.com on his feet.
But most of all, his desire to improve his photography practice and produce high-quality photos for his blog gives him a reason to explore. “I’m always trying to learn new techniques and skills to push my travel photography to the next level and share these things with you,” Giles tells his readers in a post.
Photography has inspired these bloggers to travel. However, for others, it’s the other way around. Case in point is photographer and content creator Kat Parker whose photography practice is inspired by the beauty of the places she sees. In an interview with The Lens, she shared: “Travel to me fuels my creativity and give me new perspective. It breaks up the day-to-day work life and sparks curiosity and new ideas.”
Parker also narrated how a work trip to breathtaking spots in the West Coast enabled her to come up with creative shooting ideas. “I was like a fat kid in a candy store, clicking the shutter at everything possible. The landscape is just so diverse and so dramatic—it was absolutely mind-blowing.”
Exposing yourself to the wonders of nature can really stir up the artist in you, and maybe even inspire you take up something that you don’t normally do. In fact, even just a quick environment change can help breathe life to new ideas simmering in your head.
You can be as creative as you want in taking photos nowadays. Most digital cameras come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with features that can help you achieve breathtaking images you never thought possible.
If you want a spectacular view of an event, cityscape, or a landscape, you may use a drone to take your photo. If it’s capturing real-time action that you’re after, then shoot your photos using a digital camera with a fast shutter speed or an action camera. When it comes to achieving creative shots, you are only limited by your photography skills and your imagination.
So, does photography inspire people to travel? Or does travel inspire people to pursue photography? After exploring both sides of the equation, I realized that the truth varies per person. It doesn’t really matter which side wins. What matters is the appreciation for beautiful things that people gain from traveling and photography.
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