This isn’t a post about the technicalities of travel photography, I don’t want to talk about leading lines or iso , aperture or any gear for that matter, this is an article about finding the meaning of a story and how you convey that to your audience.

Finding the Purpose

What is supposed to happen ? - if you’re an aspiring travel photographer something you may not have considered is - what is the purpose of travel photography?.  It’s easy to decide that you want to be a travel photographer, after all who doesn’t want to get paid to travel - however the missing piece of this puzzle is why would someone want to you - yes you to take photos while basically on holiday.

Thats where story telling comes in - your job is to inspire people through photos to make a decision to spend their hard earned on visiting the place your photographing - to inspire people you need to be able to tell a story, create an emotion and fuel a desire - that’s your purpose.

Ok so, you have a destination in mind, be it a city, a restaurant, an event or a road trip. The main question to keep asking is Why ?

Why is this city interesting? Why is this restaurant full at 12pm on a Monday?  Why is this event sold out months in advance? Why is this an iconic road trip? If you can find the why, you have the basis of your story. 

This works for every single town, city, place, event , restaurant or destination - you name it - there is a why for everywhere. All you need to do is find out what it is.

The devil is in the detail.

The ability to recognise the why and then translate that into a compelling image is the hard part, sometimes it’s a subtle nuance or small detail that to the untrained eye could be missed, developing this skill - the ability to look beyond the surface and recognise the small details is what will set your story telling apart. 

Research is going to help you to develop these skills.

Everyone knows what it’s like to go down the google rabbit hole, so start with that, find out what’s special about a place, look for the nuances and cultural oddities and quirks - then when you are in the field, you’ll recognise these details and know that there is more to the story and be in a position to bring it to the light and give your story more depth.

Bringing together everything will tell your story. Think of it in terms of wide, medium  and tight.  You need context for an image, you also need detail. A series of images will help you tell your story with more complexity.  A wide shot to show context, a medium shot to focus interest and a tight shot to show the detail. 

It could go like this,

A streetscape - showing the vibrancy of a community ( wide )

An ice cream shop storefront featuring hand drawn signage (medium )

An ice cream scoop scooping their #1 ice cream flavour and what makes this particular ice cream shop the most popular in the city. (tight )

That’s somewhere i’d want to go if visiting this city - From 3 images I have a feel for the neighbourhood, the hand drawn signage in the second image to me says attention to detail and so by extension the same must apply to the ice cream and then the ice cream money shot - i’m sold - take my money!

If you only have room for one image i would try to capture context and detail, a five star hotel for example may feature an image of the concierge opening the front door - a warm welcome is what most travellers are after. So an image of a smiling concierge welcoming you through a luxurious gold plated front door with a red carpet would definitely appeal to a luxury traveller and convey an expectation of the rest of the hotel. 

Much like using leading lines in a photograph, to tell a story you need to lead the viewer through a sequence with a beginning, middle and end.

Sunset Beach, Oahu Hawaii - Belinda Van Zanen

Equal to the question of Why ? - Is the question of Who ?

Travel and tourism photography along with most commercial endeavours is a marketing exercise. 

You need to know who your customer is, and by this i don’t mean who is paying you, but who are you trying to influence - ( Hint ) - it’s the traveller.

Although everyone is different , everybody is also pretty much the same to some degree, large groups of unrelated people often like exactly the same thing - be it clothing, food, music or in general let’s call it “common interests”. There are also smaller groups of unrelated people who like the same thing ( niche )

What appeals to one group may not appeal to another, so figuring out who you are serving is pretty important and will effect the tone of your story.

It’s a simple concept to understand - just give the right people, the right thing at the right time. 

For example, luxury travellers may prefer a certain type of imagery and story - a photo series on Larry’s bush adventure tours may not peak the interest of Conde Nast traveller, but may be right up the alley of 4 x 4 weekly.

It can be a good idea to specialise in the type of group that you target, you may have an interest in a certain activity like hiking or water sports therefore giving you context on the type of imagery and story that appeals to others who have that same interest. 

It’s not totally necessary though, as long as you do research on what type of person you are trying to influence, and you stay consistent throughout your images in presenting a message that is in line with what the intended market would find appealing.

Is there more than one thing ?

In marketing speak this would be called the what.  What are you going to photograph ?

Around the world, in every country, city and town - yes even where you live, there is at least one thing that puts you on the map. 

You know what i mean, the Eiffel tower, the Grand Canyon , the Coliseum , the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Bobs Famous Donut shop, that Craft Brewery everyone goes too , the Big Pineapple - you get the picture. But aside from these no brainer images there are countless other travel stories that are waiting to be told.

A good idea would be to start with one degree of separation from a major attraction. 

If you took the Eiffel Tower for example, a 3 image story could be about taking a river boat from Notre Dame to the Eiffel tower - or maybe you could photograph fine dining restaurants around the empire state building or even the best hot dog carts for that matter. 

So even though there may be one focus, there are still many more stories to be documented that people will be interested in seeing from whatever angle you decide to take.

Staying away from the middle.

There is something to be said about having your own style when it comes to travel photography, the reality is that your own creativity can take a back seat when you are being paid to make photos for tourism or travel companies. 

To be noticed however, you need to stay away from the middle, either in subject matter or editing style ( not to be confused with editing trends - stay away from that as well ). 

Quirky and Odd / Stylish and Cool. 

At either end of the spectrum is a good place to be, if your good at finding the odd and offbeat you can add an honest and fun element to travel photos, alternatively you may have a knack at presenting luxury ideals that will speak to aspirational travellers.

If you can find your own style and be consistent with it, you have a better chance at standing out from the crowd, couple that with the ability to take people on a journey through a series of images and you will have the makings of being a great story teller.

The secret ingredient - People.

Modern travel photos are all about putting people in the picture, it’s far easier to tell a story if you show people doing things ( except pointing - don’t do that ). 

There are many different ways to find people to be in your travel photos, here’s a few.

Obviously family and friends could be the first port of call - you do have to be honest though, if the person is a relative or friend and they don’t fit the type of image you want to make, you’re not doing yourself any favours.

Instagram influencers - micro influencers are always looking for professional photos, if your travelling to a particular destination, search around and DM relevant people in the area to see if they would be interested in collaborating, you’ll get rejected a ton , but you might also link up with someone great.

Amateur model search websites - Post a job with all the required details and take applications from interested models. This approach is a great option if you have some budget to work with, or you might be able to do time for prints with a model just starting out.

Put yourself in the picture , I know it sounds obvious, but there is an advantage to being in the images yourself, particularly also if you like to write about the destinations you photograph, if you’re comfortable putting yourself out there, go for it.

Candid and street style - approach people in the street , waiters in cafes , chefs and resort staff, anyone you think might add to an image and tell a better story. yes - people will say no, some will also say - Yep no problem !

Getting in to the habit of thinking about the end consumer of your images will greatly benefit your story telling, knowing who it’s for, what they like and combining that with your own sense of style and following the formula of wide, medium and tight will make you a better visual storyteller.

I’d love to hear your thoughts - join me on instagram @belindavanzanen and let me know in the comments of the latest post about your favourite place you’d like to photograph and why.