What is travel photography?

To some, it means signing for a generic tour and taking photos along the way during the trip. To others, it means signing up for a tour organized by a photo club or school and go along to wherever the group where. There may be local models arranged for stage shoots. (Think of photos of monks praying in candlelight in a Thai temple). One photo school even have a tagline that say something like good photos are guaranteed.

Some folks may like to go to such trips because they only have limited days of leave and could not afford to spend time researching the places they go to. Or maybe they only want to take photos and not want to learn more about the places they go to. Well all these are valid reasons.

To me, travel photography is to travel first and take photographs later. Before I go on a trip, I usually spend time reading about the place I will be going. This can be done by reading a guide book or reading up on the Internet. Next on locations, I will take my own time to roam around. If I need to wait for good light, I will stay on and wait. I?prefer nonposed setting even for human shots and I am more than willing to engage them in a good conversation.

“The Independent Traveller magazine is a quarterly travel and photography magazine for the global citizen with an Asian perspective. Our contributors scoured the hidden pockets of the world for fascinating stories and scenery that are one of a kind. Through vivid and colourful experiences in every issue, the world is being brought closer to our readers.”

I have contributed an article on my independent travel to Myanmar for the inaugural issue of this magazine. They have chosen my photo of this little Myanmarese girl as the cover.

This is taken off the Lazyfish Guesthouse in Phnom Penh. I was on my way back to the guesthouse and I saw the beautiful sunset. I made it in time to set up my tripod and take a few shots. The background is empty so I used the few poles in the water as the foreground to hold the composition.

Prof Li Yuan is a US based photographer specialising in landscape photography. I had a face to face encounter with him once in Phaking , Nepal when we were both doing our treks. He was going down while I was on my way up.  In that 1-2hours of conversation, he impresed me with his determination to take good landscape photos in Nepal.

This 113 pages book is his take on landscape photography based on his 3o years of experience. Written mainly in chinese,? he shared his experience on topics like

• use of light

• atomspheric effects on color

• composition

• use of different lenses.

The book is loaded with lots of landscape photo taken by Li Yuan taken in countries like US, Nepal and China. Printing quality is good.

If you have difficulty trying to buy a copy, please let me know?

what do i bring for a photography trip?

Here is my list

What are the usual equipment that I brought along to a photography trip? By photography trip, I meant it is a trip that I can manage my own timing. If I need to stay at a spot longer, I can do so.

• Nikon D70 DSLR Body
• Nikon FM3A Film Camera Body?
• Nikon 17-85 kit lens from the D70
• Tamron 90mm SP (Macro)
• Nikon 50mm 1.8
• Cokin ND Gradual Grey ND8 (P121L)
• Cokin ND Gradual Grey ND4 (P121)
• Kodak Trix 400 Black n white film ?
• Slik Sprint GM Tripod
• Batteries, Chargers , Memory Cards, Portable HardDisk device
• Cleaning kit: Brush, Blower and Microfiber Cloth

For my last Laos trip, i just used a normal haversack to carry one body and one lens and whatever accessories that I might need around. The rest I would leave in my big backpack or in the guesthouse.