Travel photography
Photography for me is fantastic way to record and capture the things I’ve seen on my travels.
Some people feel that taking a lot of photographs when travelling distracts us from why we are there and we end up spending more time taking pictures than we do absorbing and experiencing a place or it’s culture.
This is certainly worth thinking about as it is something I’ve been guilty of myself at times and I’ve also spent long hours in Internet cafes uploading photos to Facebook or Flickr in the past.
I don’t do this anymore though as I’d rather spend the time exploring the place I’m visiting (most likely taking more photos I admit) rather than sitting in a poorly lit, smokey room getting frustrated by slow Internet connections (bad memories from China!).
Nowadays memory cards are bigger and of course you can take a portable hard drive, or laptop if so inclined, so less need to waste time.
One of the best things about travelling is the memories and experiences gained from it – someone once said “travel broadens the mind” and this is very true. Travelling for me is also about escaping from normal life and seeing how people live in other parts of the world – in some cases before their lives are too modernised. Unfortunately all too soon the adventure is over though and you’re back home again.
Photographs can take you back there whenever you like though, which is the primary reason I take a camera with me when I travel.
When I was young we’d have family photo albums or nan’s old biscuit tin full of photographs which would come out every now and then for a trip down memory lane. Nowadays though photos tend to be shot on digital cameras and don’t see the light of day – I miss the joy of holding a load of random photographs in hand and passing them around asking “Where was this?” or indeed “Who is this?”.
Nowadays I use this website as an excuse to take a retrospective look through my travel photos to trigger memories of the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met along the way. Sharing the photos and memories online allows them to be shared rather than hidden away in my head and allows me to revisit places I’ve been whenever I like.
Explore my occasional retrospective travel articles or travel photography through the pages on this website or visit my galleries on other sites.
- Instagram examples – @etrotraveller on Twenty20
- @retrotraveller on Flickr
Retrospective Traveller on Flickr
Popular photographs
Check out some of my most popular photographs on Flickr… they’re never quite the ones I’d have expected.
