Travel Photography

16th July 2007
Lonely Planet Photography

Have a look at http://www.lonelyplanetimages.com/homepage.html

I’ve always used Lonely Planet guides when going abroad because of their detailed inside knowledge, but what really appeals to me is the high quality of travel photography. Even now, as I am travelling around India I am using the Lonely Planet guide, so feel this would be an appropriate blog entry.

I’m extremely interested in photography, with my main interests lying in travel photography. What particularly engages me is the various representations of different cultures that you find in this genre. I find it interesting how photographs can be constructed in such a way so that the reader can relate to them; even if the country is completely alien to theirs, they can still acknowledge similarities in human behaviour. The issue of human interest is a significant aspect in travel photography and is especially apparent in the Lonely Planet travel guides I have looked at. It seems important to show everyday people in a way that we can relate to; readers begin to understand that the people in the images are just like them, and therefore, this new, foreign country becomes less daunting and more welcome and accessible. The Lonely Planet claims that it shows “connection, travel’s most rewarding gift, encouraging appreciation of the similarities we share in a world of different culture, experiences, circumstances and environment” (Lonely Planet, One Planet).

I am currently compiling my own photography portfolio with the intention to have my work displayed in bars, cafes etc, hopefully resulting in selling some of my images. I have already entered various competitions and received positive feedback and acknowledgement. My portfolio is based on a travel theme, with images from India, Croatia, America, Prague, Malta, Greece, UK etc. and I look to the Lonely Planet guides for inspiration. By taking advice from these photographs I hope to broaden my knowledge on how to take more natural images, which truly reflect the nature of the culture.

What I find most appealing about the Lonely Planet photography is that they are not overly stereotypical of the country even if they do show some iconic, popular imagery. It’s how Lonely Planet shows the every-day, almost mundane aspects of a country which I find most inspirational; the realism in the images is what I aspire to. Lonely Planet are also not guilty of just showing the positive, ‘airbrushed’ sides of a country/culture, for example in the Lonely Planet One People publication, we find not so conventional images. For example one photograph shows Israeli soldiers having a break “between clashes with Palestine youths” (page 139, Lonely Planet (2006): Lonely Planet: One People, Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, Victoria, Australia). The photograph is captioned explaining how “ten minutes later these soldiers find themselves in the midst of a gun battle.” In my own photography I try to take images that are not so conventional, that reflect a culture in a more abstract fashion rather than just displaying the obvious stereotypes.

Lonely Planet have published a wide range of books including ‘One Planet’ and ‘One People’, which are books dedicated only to photography. They also have a website which is devoted to the stock library. The range of photographs (by a wide range of artists) is quite remarkable, ranging from breathtaking landscapes, market scenes, architecture, animals and people. I find the images of people extremely interesting, and is the subject I feel most drawn to when taking my own photographs abroad. People are interesting subjects for photography, especially in terms of travel; looking at so many different faces, full of life and varying character, allows the viewer to have a certain empathy with the image, we can relate. The Lonely Planet images have shown me new and different ways to take photographs of people, which differ from the norm, and allow me to take more interesting images.

Lonely Planet has inspired me to strive to really capture a culture and its people’s personalities in the most natural and accurate representation possible.