As a successful photographer, D. Scott Carruthers possesses many skills that pertain to visual art. These include knowing how to approach light, tone, movement, composition, and many more factors that make a photo beautiful. Originally, Carruthers did his photography while traveling, but now he owns a studio with numerous clients.
Traveling Photography: Where Excitement Meets Passion
Mr. Carruthers is not the only individual who found out about the virtues of traveling photography. Actually, this industry runs closely with the tourism business, one of the biggest markets on the planet, which made millions of artists pursue a career in this area. Nevertheless, the number of those who are top-level, highly-requested photographers is exponentially lower as only some people learn all tricks of the trade when it comes to traveling for work.
Being Prepared
There is a great example to demonstrate this point. Traveling to Paris to take photos of the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and possibly Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum seems like a sound plan. Well, not exactly. When the following questions come into play, the entire endeavor becomes very vague and its lack of planning is uncovered:
- Does one have to reserve their spot to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower?
- What are Notre-Dame Cathedral hours for public and how does one get there?
- Is taking pictures of Mona Lisa even legal and where does one buy a ticket for the Louvre?
These are probably less than 5% of all the questions that should be answered. In order to enjoy traveling photography, there must be a fine distribution of both work and fun. If one fails to prepare for their trip, they will spend most of their travel catching up with the missed planning. This will inevitably reduce the overall satisfaction and make one resent their trip.
Being Communicative
Originality Decline
When a person goes to Paris, there are many monuments and tourists' destinations that are mainstream and popular. Due to this, there will be thousands of photos of these areas as every photographer has captured them on their camera when visiting this city. The problem with that is leverage for one who attempts to sell their latest photo of the Eiffel Tower. Regardless of the quality, odds are someone has done it before and it holds minimum value.
Local Residents Are Worth Their Weight in Gold
Thus, one must look for unexplored places where no photographer has set their eyes on. How can these be found? By talking to the locals. Not only will the residents know about mysterious and not-so-popular jewels of their city, they can also make one's overall trip a lot better. Becoming a friend with the locals can further yield in great memories from nights out, traditional food and music, and much more.
Being Spontaneous
Important Decisions
Undoubtedly, traveling to France is popular. So is visiting England, Italy, or Switzerland. The problem, however, is the repetitiveness one's traveling career can come down to if they are chasing well-established places. This is why every traveling photographer must have a good amount of confidence and be able to throw caution to the wind on occasion. Photos from London will be beautiful for sure, but booking a flight to go to Croatia and take photos of one of the 1,000+ islands might be even more beautiful.
The One Who Dares
Consequently, in order to enjoy this job, an individual must possess the courage to step outside of their comfort zone and explore the uncharted territories. A quick idea to note is the importance of perspective. For someone from the United States, visiting a place like Madrid, per se, usually holds more originality-based value than going to New York. People from Portugal, on the other hand, will have very little interest in photography originating from this capital of their neighboring country, Spain. So, one must be spontaneous within their personal frame of reference and background.
Options Are Limitless
Reoccuring Obstacles
People who do travel photography for a living sometimes face issues with constant flights, hikes, and long days of camera clicking. In order to remain positive and truly enjoy a career of this nature, one must build their tolerance for adversity. This can come in many shapes including language barriers, food dissimilarities between cultures, failed trips, technical issues, and more. What might be a good way to deal with the aforementioned? Creating a shield of resilience.
Meaning?
There are 195 countries in the world and over 80% are travel-accessible. If a trip to South Africa does not go as planned, for example, there are 43 other countries this continent holds. One must simply turn around and move forward with their endeavors. People who learn to overcome issues related to constant relocation tend to produce the best photography that is not hindered by personal dissatisfactions!