A stunning scenery and a person (most of the time super stylish) observing the scenery....
How often do you see pictures like that? Almost everytime you open your social media feed.
‘What a great time they must be having. And I am sitting here in my bed, eating Nutella with a spoon and stalking other peoples lifes, which seem to be so much more exciting than mine.’
The next time you go on holiday you do the same. Pretty scenery, melancholic view into the stunning landscape.
That you maybe just stepped into dogshit on the way into the spot, your friend commands you to go for the best picture, is invisible.
Also maybe is invisible that you sit the whole first evening with your smartphones in the hotelroom because there is no bar to go to.
Maybe, maybe. And yes you can say, why should I take a picture of me sitting bored in the hotelroom, when I thought the landscape makes a better one, is far more special and needs to be shared?
I am writing here from a travelwriter point of view. Why and how you share pictures in private is a whole separated topic and can be discussed for hours.
As a travelwriter, you normally want to inspire people to travel.
Therefor you make good pictures from stunning places. The main message for the reader then is that you are having a blast the whole time. Flying from one place to the other, enjoying life. No worries just being free and full of joy.
And in general this is the case but traveling also has it’s ups and downs.
thx @liokn for enlightening my day today;)
I just realised that with showing only these stunning pictures the readers are tricked without intention.
I just want to raise the awareness a bit that traveling is not always as nice and simple as it seems to be.
There are daily problems and issues like the language barrier, finding a toilet or an ATM or being sick.
The story behind my Travel Pictures:
Panama. My idea was this picture of smashing waves and my friend standing there in the middle of vulcanic stone formations. I asked my friend to go down there. The only problem was that the tide was about to rise and the waves became bigger and bigger until a huge one smashed lot’s of water into the rocks and my friend almost fell down. She was screaming and holding onto the rocks what luckily worked out. I stood up there on this hill and couldn’t help her. When the wave was over she ran to the hill and made her way out of the rocks. On the way down of the hill I managed to get little stings all over my feet and hands. I still had some of them even the next day. When we walked back to the hostel from our little adventure my friend stepped into a huge worm in the sand which put a sting into her feet. It really wasn’t the best trip for us.
Panama. It looks like I went surfing with a good looking friend of mine, right? Well behind me was my friend and the watertaxi driver who drove this guy, I never met before, to the surfpoint he wanted to go for a morning surf. He just jumped out of the water and I should never see his face...
Sweden. Does this look as if I am about to go surfing? For a surf expert probably not. I am paddeling wrong and where are the waves? But on first sight this gives the impression, which I really liked when I was 17. Who doesn’t wanna look like a surf chick?! Well there were absolutely no waves. I just paddled around for fun and saw a seal.
New York. I did this picture on a sunset cruise tour in Manhattan. I got the time wrong and thought it started an hour earlier, so I ran through the subway tunnels and down to the pier just to see that you couldn’t even go on board. I planned to meet four collegues of mine there who somehow missed the boat in the end and I was on it alone with only couples. This guy then came up to me and started talking to me the whole three hours the tour was lasting. I couldn’t escape. It was a boat. The picture doesn’t tell any of this.
New York. A night out in New York City. After bar hopping my friends left to another house party. I couldn’t join cause it was out of town and I didn’t know how to get back the next day. I was so sad the night was over I went to dunkin donuts and ate 3 donuts during a 1,5 hour subway odyssee back home.
Panama. Looks like a great place to be right? Well naturewise it was but we barelely slept the two nights before. The wind was so strong up there in the Panamenian mountains it was super loud. The first night we stayed in a dorm with 24 bunk beds on three levels. Two people snored and 3 drunken Danish heavy metal guys entered the room in the middle of the night. Later an Australian couple wanted to climb into their bed and then found out that there were two people already lying in there. The discussion started. When we fell asleep again there suddenly was a metal spring from the mattress which stabbed into my butt and left two wholes in my shorts.
Panama. Melancholic view into the landscape. A classic. We enjoyed the landscape though but the situation was as follows: We got dropped off by the public bus in the middle of nowhere. The driver just pointed in this direction. There was no sign, nothing. We knew the hostel was set in a abendonned place, but we kept walking and walking and nothing came. Then there was this river. We put our shoes off. Well I did and my friend destroyed her flip flops and almost fell into the water with her two backpacks. I was carrying a huge plastic bag with stinky and wet clothes which then broke and everything fell into the muddy street. We kept laughing the whole way cause the situation was so stupid and then eventually we arrived in the hostel.
But hey, there is still hope!
So there are these pictures that are pretty but don’t reflect the situation or reality at all.
But then there are these pictures you take, that just exactly reflect the situation how it was.
I love those pictures. It is so satisfying to capture these moments how they really were.
Here are some pictures which captured very well how the actual situation looked like. I think this is the highest level of photography and to me it happened very seldomly. My dear friend Julia W. is a real pro in capturing those moments but see yourself:
Paris. By Julia W.
Jump in Portugal. By Julia W.
Wale Watching in Cape Cod. By Jenny O.
BBQ on the beach in Bournemouth UK.
Best Tourguide in New York.
Spotting some wolfs on wallstreet in New York
Enjoy capturing REAL moments and not only create them as if they were real. It's way more fun!
Check out these inspiring Travelphotographers:
Now it's your turn! Tag a picture in the comments, that you think captured a moment very well...