Rick Sammon & On-Location Portraits

Photograph © Rick Sammon-All Rights Reserved
Rick Sammon is a prolific travel photographer, author and instructor who has just written an interesting article in Layers magazine titled The Art of the On-Location Portraits.

This sentence caught my eye: "For me, the key to getting a good on-location portrait is to fall in love—photographically—with the subject. That’s exactly what I did when I saw this young woman. Out of the 50 or so people who lived in this particular village, she caught my eye immediately.

I couldn't agree more. The key to a good portrait (in fact, I'd argue it's the same whether on location or in a studio) is to establish a rapport with your subject. I've posted about this very thing in June last year in a post titled POV: Better Travel Photography . The foundation of successful environmental portraiture and ethnographic photography is the establishment of a relationship between the photographer and subjects....it's a no-brainer. When I lead my photo tours, I always sound like a broken record, and the mantra is "connect with your subject(s)...befriend them and start a conversation". Not only will the photographers make much better photographs, but they'll have background stories to go along with them. You'll be surprised at how long these memories stay with you.

So yes, absolutely...do what Rick Sammon says, fall in love photographically with your subject!!!

Via David duChemin's excellent Pixelated Image blog

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Posted in: Photo Techniques,Photographers: Travel

Photo Submissions: Elementary Tips

Image © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A large adventure travel operator has recently requested photo submissions for its annual catalog from its approved photographers, and I thought I'd share with you how I'll go about presenting my submission.

Firstly, the client wants the initial photo submissions in low to medium resolution saved as jpgs. Once the choice has been done, submissions are to be in TIFF or PSD formats at high resolutions scans of 300 dpi. All this is pretty much standard for all photo submissions of this type.

Once I've decided on my photographs, I label each digital image with my name and an ID number. I burn these images on a DVD (or a CD for the initial submission) having grouped them in geographically-named folders (ie Bhutan, Ethiopia, etc). I also prepare a page with thumbnails of the submitted photos and burn that on the DVD or CD, along with a cover letter to the client with my address, and contact details. This too is pretty much standard.

I always use printable media (DVD or CD) and with my inkjet printer get them labeled with my name, copyright notice and client's name. I prefer DVD cases such as the one on the left, which provide more protection and are better looking than the square plastic ones. I print another sheet with the thumbnails, add my name, address, contact on the bottom and insert that in the front of the DVD case.

It presents well, and while it won't necessarily make my images stand out from the competition (I'm sure many photographers do the same or have similar ideas), it looks neat and professional. The days of scribbling on the CD and popping it in a mailer are gone!

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Posted in: Photo Techniques

Is Travel Photography Dying...or Dead?

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A few days ago Heather Jacobsen of hk imagery and a reader of TTP, asked me whether I thought that travel photography was dead...she had heard that statement from many in the industry, and was interested to know my view.

Well, here it is: I do not subscribe to the notion that “travel” photography is dead. It has evolved...and I mean really evolved...not a progressive kind of evolution, but it changed with a relative abruptness that left many of those unprepared gasping for air...and not only was the change sudden, but it happened dynamically.

The confluence of many factors contributed to the evolution of “travel” photography. The relatively cheap travel, the accessibility of the ‘off-the-beaten path’ places, computers, digital photography and all its hardware and software accouterments, the Internet, mini-stock agencies and free photo hosting websites, to name but a few, are all factors that changed traditional ‘travel’ photography industry.

So my response to Heather was essentially that traditional "travel" photography had evolved so much and so rapidly, that many deemed it dead. I guess the emphasis here is on 'traditional'. I also made the rather obvious point that photographers needed to acquire new skills to adapt in this new environment.

Everyone realizes that anyone with a half-decent digital camera can now produce sensational photographs of the Pyramids or Angkor Wat, but that doesn’t mean that working photographers should give up and stay home doing something else. It just means (at least to me) that photographers who travel to photograph must develop skills and abilities more akin to those of photojournalists...they need to tell stories with their photographs.

I follow the Travel section of the New York Times quite closely, and see how photographers and its photo editors are using its website to effectively showcase travel photography. I recently posted a multimedia feature (by Chris Ramirez) on Trinidad which combined photography with its food and wine industry: one of a rapidly expanding genre in the travel photography domain.

There are photographers at the top of the food chain...the members of the ‘oligopoly’… who still sell technically perfect photographs of the Pyramids, or of infinity swimming pools in the Maldives, or of coconut trees swaying in the wind...and who get handsomely paid...but even they are a dying breed and their days are numbered.

While I'm at it, let me add this about the photo tours business...and I've been saying it for years. Photographers -whether celebrity or not- who lead photo tours can no longer rest on their laurels. They too have to evolve. The days of doing the same itinerary over and over are gone...and the "hey! shoot like me!" days are also gone. Photo tour leaders have to research and offer, not only new itineraries, but guidance as to how to weave the participants' daily inventory of photographs into eventual photo stories....how to build compelling stories out of their photographs. Yes, that's right...more workshop-like than just a photo tour.

I firmly believe that the future of "travel" photography is where the photojournalists are treading...and where they’re going...and its adherents will face the same challenges photojournalists face. They’ll have to tell and sell compelling stories though their photographs, by adding creative multimedia effects and sound recordings, and become in effect almost documentary filmmakers. Some will embrace this evolution, will continue to evolve and will thrive, and others will not.

Survival of the fittest...it's that simple.

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Posted in: Events,Photo Techniques,Photographers: Travel