5 Ways to Take Photos that Truly Capture Your Journey

Taking beautiful photographs in exotic, far-flung locales is a surprisingly easy thing to do, once you’re there. But really showing a place—its ins and outs, its people and its surroundings—is a much more difficult pursuit.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed, to find yourself walking around wide-eyed, your camera still lost somewhere at the bottom of your bag; or, conversely, snapping off rapid fire shots of anything that moves (and many things that don’t), only to find when you return home that you haven’t captured anything meaningful or worthwhile from your journey.

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again. Below are five things I try to do before, during and after any trip; I’ve found they help me get the most out of my photographs.

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again. Below are five things I try to do before, during and after any trip; I’ve found they help me get the most out of my photographs.

1. Do some research

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again.

First, do some research and learn about a place. We do it before we travel, so why not do it before we photograph? Find out about the history, the culture, the customs and the surrounding towns, regions and countries. This should inform not only what you photograph, but how you photograph.

Obviously, you’ll probably shoot a trip through Thailand’s southern islands or a resort in the Maldives slightly differently than you would a refugee camp in Uganda or displaced Burmese in the Irrawaddy Delta. I like to make lists of the things I want to photograph once I arrive in a place. I tend to forget them otherwise.

2. Take less equipment

Second, pare down on your equipment. I appreciate practicality and mobility above most things, and carrying backpacks filled with camera equipment just isn’t for me. In the end, most accessories hinder more than help when I’m photographing a place, especially if there’s a lot of moving around or a lot of ground to cover. Keep that in mind.

If you’re making your way across Rajasthan in two weeks, taking night trains and buses and generally hoofing it from one desert fort or palace to the next, you might want to be mindful of how much crap you’re lugging along. Bring one lens instead of four. Take off the battery pack. Leave the tripod at home. Learn to photograph efficiently.

I mostly work and travel these days with one full-frame camera, a 35mm lens and a few small off-camera flashes. I also keep a film rangefinder and some gaffer’s tape on hand in case of an emergency.

3. Get off the beaten path

Third, while you’re traveling, get off the beaten track. Spend a day or two just walking through the streets with your camera. Go down alleys. Get lost. Look through windows. Talk to people. Have lunch at a local eatery. Drink a beer by the side of the road.

If I’m traveling with my girlfriend, I always split away from her for a day or two. The photographs I take are much different when I’m alone. I’m more likely to put myself in awkward positions and to impose myself on people when I’m by myself. And this is usually when I get my best photographs. Which brings me to the fourth point.

4. Smile

Smile. Don’t forget that you’re a visitor. With a camera. A smile will get you everywhere. In all my travels, I’ve never met a person who enjoyed being intimidated or lied to. The best advice I can give, particularly when photographing people, is to be honest and open about your intentions.

I tend to walk slowly, with my camera in my hand, pausing often to at least look through the viewfinder, searching for shots. I smile whenever I make eye contact with someone. They almost always smile back. In this way I’ve been invited into homes, fed, given family histories and gotten drunk on local spirits on more than a few occasions. I’ve played volleyball and badminton for hours, been taken out on fishing boats and have even been given small gifts to take away with me.

Other times I’ve just sat there, on a stoop with some older man, watching the world walk by one body at a time. Not everyone will want their picture taken. Respect that and smile when they say no, then move along.

5. Edit your images

The final thing is to edit your images when you get back home. A great slideshow can say thousands of things about a place, but a bad one will have your viewers checking their watches, slurping their drinks or quickly clicking away from your blog. Try to pare what you have down to 20-25 images. Remember that less is more, and that sometimes you have to kill your favorites.

Try to show a good mix of people, landscapes, objects and quirky or interesting scenes that you’ve captured. Have the photographs tell a story. Your story. Leave people wanting more, not less. And then start preparing for your next trip.

About the author:

Aaron Santos moved to Hanoi, Vietnam in mid-2007, where he works as a photographer for a local magazine. His blog, From Swerve of Shore, is filled with beautiful photos captured in Hanoi and on his travels throughout the region.