Travel and Photography Inspiration - How I Became A Travel Photographer

Nothing says amazing like capturing an amazing view while suspended way above air looking down on a beautiful canyon. Amazing is capturing a beautiful woman standing in front of a romantic scene of a giant waterfall. Amazing is clicking away at a beautiful secluded beach scene that you will only see a few times in your life. Amazing is capturing a culture that you have never experienced and sharing it with everyone else through photography.

The Travel Photographer

Photography is amazing. Travel photography is even more amazing. The job of a travel photographer is to tell a story about people and places to entice others to visit. And although I am no expert at it, I try my best to entice others to travel. Why? Because it is hard to pass up the experiences and views that I have come across. It is amazing when others can also experience what I have seen and done. That is why I created this website to begin with. I want other to explore the grandiose waterfalls of Iguazu. I want people to know how it is to experience the extreme passion when dancing Salsa in Colombia. I want and enjoy the friendly nature of the people of the Philippines.

The Beginning

How did I start off? Well I never thought I would have gotten into photography. I thought I was not artistic enough or even could learn to use a camera. Aperture? Shutter speed? ISO? It seemed so sophisticated and complicated to me. What are all those dials for? Why are there so many buttons? I am certain I was not alone. I know you are saying some of the same things or said some of those same things at one point.

I started off with simple point and shoot digital camera at the age of 19. Nearly every year I would upgrade to a slightly better one. I have always been a fan of Olympus and always went with them. That then is when it happened. My girlfriend at the time invited me to visit her in India. I seized the opportunity and said HECK YA. Travel way across the world to be with a girl I loved and experience a new culture? It was a no brainer. But I figured my point and shoot camera would not due for this trip. I wanted to document it and with a higher quality photos than the snapshots I was taking with my point and click cameras. So that is when I purchased my first DSLR. It was a Canon Rebel t2i. I had ditched my Olympus (and recently returned back to Olympus) for a Canon DSLR. I wandered India grasping shots of the experiences I was having through out the land. I was documenting the faces and people I was meeting and framing to the views around. I tried to get the artistic shots of beautiful places like the Taj Mahal, but I would have to admit, the photographs were mediocre at best.

Persistence

Most of my time was spent trying to learn my new camera and at that time I had no concept of photography techniques. After my trip I found that my photography was lacking. I was studying Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University at the time and was learning a lot about space and shapes and how people perceive communication. At this time I was also noticing how my photography was lacking. At this time I found that it was time to learn more about camera techniques. I taught myself my camera through Youtube videos and posted my photography on travel photography websites and asked for feedback to help me improve.

Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong and India again, I started pushing my technique more and more. I forced myself to travel on my own, with friends and meeting people who invited me to their country. I took photos, not just a few but A LOT. Same shot, different angles, experimented with the lighting, settings and tried some new dials on the camera. I was gaining new insights and different skills. All of this was self taught with no schooling in photography at all.

The Break

I was visiting my ex-girlfriend in India, the girl who was my girlfriend the first time I was in India. We were to visit the town of Ladakh. To make a long story short, she had to leave and I was on my own to travel to Kashmir. Her family set me up with a guide. Kashmir is rarely visited by most Americans, due to the bad press it gets. But there I was in Srinagar, in one of the most beautiful places in the world. There I documented story of an amazing area that many have no experienced outside of India or Pakistan. When I returned I entered the photos into a contest. I did not win, but I did get noticed. At that time man contacted me from a publishing company asking to purchase the rights to some of my photos. This was a break into the industry I was looking for. They bought my photography and it was published in a new magazine. From there other started contacting me do some work for them. I was now starting to get paid to travel and to photograph.

The jist of this story? I am not a trained photographer. I never knew I was going to be a photographer. Heck my schooling is in Architectural Engineering and Graphic Design. What made what I do happen was devotion and persistence. I then started this website. I wanted others to accomplish their dream. To be a photojournalist, journalist, traveler, photographer… what ever it is. This is why I am starting to make a new commitment to this site. I will start to be offering more articles of photography. To help those learn the skills, become persistent and accomplish their dream. Look towards the beginning of next year for classes on photography and tools for photographers.

Why?

Why did write this article? I want to let you know the following:

1. I started off not knowing what I was doing as the most of us do.
2. Persistence with a passion to improve is a great way to accomplish a goal.
3. I love traveling, I love photography and I want others to love them too.
4. I want to let you know I am here to help you accomplish your goal to travel and photograph.

So what is a dream you want to follow? What goal have you added persistence to? Did you ever get a lucky break? I want to know. I want to share you story. Leave a message below, send me a tweet on twitter, or post on my facebook. Heck even send us a message. Let me know, we want to share it with others.