We can all agree that traveling can be a breath of fresh air and well-needed a break of trying hard to find new places to shoot locally. How often do we groan about getting bored of our surroundings? Needing to take a break? Go somewhere else and your problems will be solved!

Especially if you live in a place without much freedom of movemnet like Hong Kong where having a car and being able to travel around at any time is a luxury. It gets old. And yet, everyone seems to have a different opinion about travel photography.

Two types of travel photography

To be clear, I can distinguish two types of travel photography:

1. Traveling with the sole purpose of photographing.

2. Enjoying a holiday and snapping some pics on the way.

Number one is not the one I will be talking about. That one is about planning. Prepping gear, having some shots in mind already, executing the plan and returning. You have your own goals and ways of achieving them and usually there's little controversy around it (unless you're g*rman and care so much about drone laws).

Number two is where it's at. It still depends on personal needs, opportunities, gear you like and mindset. But there's few directions to choose from there to start with. There's a slider there, from not caring about images at all, to making detours to take an image, that will influence your choices. All in all, it's about finding balance that you're happy with.

Motivation and inspiration

But why is it hard to keep shooting one place? You get bored of it, or it doesn't seem appealing, you lose motivation and inspiration.

When you travel to somewhere new (to you), the daily routines of foreign people of foreign cultures become interesting. Oftentimes you can hear that when you travel, you bring your problems, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It's not always in your head. Other times you may hear that instead of buying a new lens, you should spend that money on a trip. Well, if you can't do both, then yeah, it is a better idea. Even if you can't take a single picture.

Motivation and inspiration seem to be quite similar on surface - they are both feelings that make you go out and shoot. But there are differences, and they need each other. If you are motivated but uninspired, you may go out with a camera and capture not a single shot; if you are inspired but unmotivated, the shot you want to take will just stay in your imagination.

Does travel help with motivation? Well, at least it's a motivation to get the camera out of the drybox, but you don't know what you will encounter. You will be carrying it the whole trip (hopefully you don't lose it and it doesn't get stolen). Your time in a new location is limited, so you would want to make best use of it. On a very basic level, yes, it helps, whether the effect is lasting - that depends, but usually not.

Does it help with inspiration? If you feel that your current location is uninspiring, you may feel And the novelty will get you shooting more; maybe after a warmup you find yourself taking more than you otherwise would have. Finding the famous locations in real life can also restart the fire. Stumbling upon a little photo gallery with a local artist may help you gain some perspective, not just for shots, but the life that people there have.

Inspiration doesn't come from nowhere, it comes from other sources - not only media, but also experiences. It's the ideas that pop into your head while you walk a random street. If you go out of your hotel, then you should get inspired. The other question is, can you translate it into something applicable to your usual environment? Or a seed may be planted that will grow into a project at some other point in your life, when you return to the location.

Don't discount the novelty just on the basis that if you stayed there, it would be the same. There's nothing wrong with that. That's really evident if you move to a new place, and compare your shots from when your first few months to years after. Looking back you may find your choices baffling... while in reality it's just the natural curiosity.

Gear matters

You can't plan for every situation, so the gear you choose to take with you must be versatile, or you accept that you will lock yourself out of some situations. Some photographers find a balance in a single moderate wide angle lens setup, some will still grab a zoom. It also depends how you travel, and how much can you carry without worry. And there's the film and digital fight. How committed are you to that hobby? How important is convenience for you?

I generally would avoid film now (airports suck), and keep my digital setup light. If there's a lot of walking involved, I'd probably choose Fuji over the Zf. On the other hand, if I have a car, and a place to switch gear if necessary, I won't stop myself from bringing the RB67 or the 4x5.

Generally less choice is better. It's less mental load, it's less worry if your gear is lost or stolen. I've written before about travel rules with a fun camera before, in the Phillippines article. Still applies and I'd recommend reading through, with more concrete examples.

Should you shoot the tourist attractions?

I was inspired by a video that popped up on my YouTube, and I didn't have the mental fortitude to stop myself from clicking, about travel photography. 10 minutes or whatever of bullshit with crap photos, and one point that stuck out to me - the guy was saying that you shouldn't bother yourself with the tourist attractions.

So wrong.

They're famous for a reason. Are you going to deny yourself seeing them just to try so hard to be different?

Tulous of Fujian

Yes, they're shot by thousands of people every day on their cellphones. But you know you have a specialized device and experience or will to experiment. Ask yourself - what can you do to do it better than most of the tourists?

Find a better angle. Keep your lines straight, horizon level, maybe use a shift lens or fix the lines in post. Capture some of the context nearby. Maybe try a lenticular print?

In that video there was a pretentious photog mentioned, shooting the famous places, but rotated away from the point of interest. Ok it tells you a lot about society (bottom text), and that's one way to engage with it. I strive for more technical skill myself, but my audience is usually normies who wouldn't care much beyond the main selling point, rather than high-brow artists.

A lighthouse on Nanao island

Yeah you can find high quality images, often on wikimedia, for free usage. Would you print a picture like that and put on a wall though? How about your own? For your own enjoyment. Yes, there's many people better than you in the world, and the locals have an advantage here, but that shouldn't stop you from doing your best regardless.

Train tracks in Shifen

Good images come from knowledge, planning and luck

Have fun and do your best, but understand your limitations. You're not gonna take better pictures than a professional photographer living in the area. Of whatever genre.

Landscape or architecture is easy to explain in this context. Locals know the angles. They probably visited the best location multiple times before. They can afford to wait for perfect weather. You don't have the time. I climbed Kowloon Peak thrice with the 4x5 and necessary equipment before it was finally good enough to take the panorama. And still, I could take it few minutes earlier, or later, and it would make a better image.

Yeah, I got lucky with the Taipei weather and got a nice image. Went in quite blind, so just went from a viewpoint to another until I was satisfied (and saw other photographers already set up).

Elephant Hill view of Taipei 101 at sunset. Taken with Pixel Shi(f)t mode, enjoy the full resolution!

But you know what? Two days later it was pouring rain and I was miserable. Still wouldn't stop sightseeing, though.

Tamsui in rain

Street photography is 99.9% garbage anyway and streeters often take thousands of mediocre pics (at best). Locals know the alleys, the spots, can return to places, but surprisingly may be at a disadvantage of treating everything as normal. I roll my eyes whenever I see a Liecaman posting on Hong Kong forums the same images of cha chaan tengs, old ladies pushing cardboard and meat markets. But that may bring joy to you (unless shoot the red dot, then you deserve no joy) and still provide a fresh perspective for you and your friends.

Be mindful of what you can control. It may rain, or be com. You may not have the energy to get up for the sunrise, or you may be still having dinner at sunset, and we all hear how shooting at midday sucks. What will you do about it?

Temple roof in Chaozhou

You can still find unique opportunities

You may stumble upon a performance of a small local group, or a protest (in Western world). Something locals would still go for. And then you can go full out - maybe not with the best angles, but still make it exciting. You may not have full knowledge, but the opportunity is equal.

Dancers in Swatow

More focus on individualism

But what can you do that locals cannot? Put yourself out there. On the picture. Yes, you. Or your traveling buddy. Or both of you.

It's your trip, and despite my previous ramblings, it's not just about taking pictures, really. The food and drinks you had. You in front of the famous building. Inside of the bus from the airport. Another picture of an airplane wing, or a reflection of a bridge on a romantic evening... so you have something to look back for.

So I'll go back to how I described this type of travel photography - enjoying a holiday, and taking some cool pics while you're at it. You're not gonna win any competitions, but that's okay - you just use your skills and gear to have nicer pics than others. In this case, travel photography is more of a documentary photography, where the rare species you follow is actually you.

Print out the images later too, don't just tuck them away on a hard drive that may fail one day.

Why put so much pressure on yourself?

It's a bit of a side ramble, but of course social media has changed the landscape of landscapes forever.

Before the smartphones were really a thing, most people would show their pictures to friends and family. Even those who knew how to handle a camera. Big names would have have their own galleries to huff farts in, and yet the world has changed and we all got pulled into one massive pot.

On one hand, it allowed smaller artists to at least try to get out of it. On the other, you can't help but compare yourself.

You have to have an Instagram PixelFed profile. That's where everyone is, and where everyone consumes photo media from friends, and strangers alike. You need to have an online portfolio, viewable globally. Suddenly, your photo approval rate went from 90% from friends and family down to 0.000001% of the global population.

Of course you'd feel inadequate, maybe try hard to be different. Nothing wrong in trying to get out, but you're not the only one, and beyond technical skills or a good idea, you still need to market yourself, get connections - being an artist probably always has been more about luck and networking, than the creations themselves. On social media it may mean paying for followers, purchasing advertisements and purposefully making viral content that most people find enjoyable. You know, the definition of "selling out", except there's no one to pull you into the dark side; rather, you do it yourself.

If your ambitions are above snapping pics for yourself, godspeed, and wish you luck. At very least you'll pick up some skills that may come in useful, and have some fun. Just don't let it get to you if you don't succeed.

And don't forget to actually rest up (or sightsee to the max and rest when you get back to the office) during your trip.