Don’t shoot! 4 Ways To Take Better Travel Photos

Does this sound familiar? You go on a trip, take hundreds of photos, then get home and discover…they’re boring. Like photos you’ve seen before, just not as good.

I get it. It’s a big world. There’s a lot to photograph and everyone seems to be a photographer. As of early 2024, 66,000 photos are uploaded to Instagram every minute — that’s about 95 million a day. A single snowflake has a better chance of standing out in a blizzard than one of your travel photos has on Instagram. Not because you’re a bad photographer, but because most people would rather watch cat videos.

So on that bright note, how can you capture unique travel photos that stand a chance of being noticed?

Here are four lessons I’ve learned:

• Don’t shoot anything you must stand in line to see

In Sedona, Arizona there is a natural arch known as Devil’s Bridge. People flock there in droves, then wait in line for up to an hour to walk out on the arch and have their photo taken. Why? To prove they were there in case they need an alibi? Odds are, every photo taken there will look the same: a person standing on an arch with red hills behind them. Yawn. I’ve been to dozens of other Sedona locations just as spectacular as Devil’s Bridge with no lineups.

You know where there are no lines? Off the beaten path. Go on a long hike, preferably off-trail. But only if you’re properly equipped and know how to read maps. You don’t want your unique photo to be the one the search and rescue team finds on the camera beside your coyote-ravaged body.

If hiking isn’t your thing, find a different vantage point. Climb to the top of a building and shoot down. Walk down a stairway and shoot from street level. Just don’t wait in line.

• Don’t shoot anything that’s on a postcard

Postcard photos are spectacular. That’s why they sell. More than likely, the person who shot the postcard photo waited for just the right light and experimented with dozens of compositions. You can’t match that during a quick run-and-gun photoshoot.

If you do visit famous landmarks — and you should, they’re famous for a reason — find your own, unique point of view. Channel your inner artist and come home with something new.

And if you like the postcard photo, buy the postcard.

• Don’t shoot anything a group of people is photographing

Years ago I was caught in a photo scrum in Hawaii, trying to shoot a recently emerged lava lake at Kilauea. All around me, photographers jostled in the dark for tripod space. I had claimed my patch and was getting ready to shoot when THUNK, another photographer parked his tripod right in front of me, completely blocking my view of the volcano. I offered a few choice words and he moved on, claiming he hadn’t seen me. Later I saw my photos were nothing special — just a pool of red-hot liquid rock with no context and no other redeeming features. Certainly nothing to look at twice.

Don’t go through that kind of abuse. Instead, hang back from the group and shoot your own shot. If you see a group photographing something large, shoot a small detail. If the group is shooting closeup photos, back up and shoot the environment. Better yet, wander off and shoot something completely different. Because by definition, shooting what everyone else is shooting won’t result in unique photos.

• Don’t shoot in the middle of the day or in good weather

Landscape photographers often say bad weather is good weather. By that, we mean the most dramatic and interesting shots come when weather systems are changing or chaotic. Blue skies look nice on vacation, but make boring photos. Unless they include a UFO landing or something.

Similarly, shooting at midday under sunny skies is almost guaranteed to produce lacklustre photos. Photographer Bryan Peterson calls this “poolside light,” because under those conditions, you’ll find him by the pool, not making photos.

The lesson? Get up early. Stay up late. Go out in marginal weather. Get soft, golden tones in your photos, or big, dramatic clouds. Don’t settle for harsh shadows, washed-out colours and boring blue skies.

These are some lessons I’ve learned. Try them the next time you travel. At the very least, you’ll come home with different photos.

A Week on the Water: Photos of BC's Cariboo Region

In this collection I am sharing photographs I took in September 2023 in British Columbia’s South Cariboo. Although the Cariboo is possibly best known as the site of a late-1800s gold rush, today its chief industries are forestry, agriculture, ranching, mining and tourism. Home to forests, rivers, creeks, mountains and hundreds of lakes, the Cariboo is tailor-made for outdoor recreation.

My wife Diana and I planned months in advance to come to the Cariboo to camp with friends. As the trip grew closer, though, it seemed we might be out of luck. We had planned to stay in our travel trailer, but found we could not access it because it was parked in an area under evacuation order due to a nearby wildfire. We had all but given up on going when the campground owner let us know he had a fifth-wheel trailer onsite that we could rent. We gratefully accepted his offer.

The trip was wonderful. In a region so replete with lakes it makes little sense to stay on the shore. Our days were filled with adventures on nearby lakes, Diana and I in our red canoe, our friends in their bright-orange kayaks. The area was gloriously quiet, the waters glassy and still and, except for a few days when wildfire smoke drifted in, the air cool and sweet.

Technically minded readers may be interested to know that almost every photo in this collection was taken with a single lens — a 40mm f/2 — as part of a challenge I set for myself. The challenge was both inspirational and, at times, frustrating. I’d be curious to see if you can tell which images were a result of inspiration and which resulted in frustration. As always, these are my first edits. In coming months, with snow piled high against my door, I will most likely edit the photos further or differently. If that is the case and I find something worthy I will share it with you.

I hope you enjoy these photographs. If you’re interested in prints of any of them, please drop me a line at timidturtlecreative@gmail.com.

Download A Week On The Water here:

A Week On The Water Collection.pdf

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Shades of Red: Images of Southwest Utah

Today we're releasing a collection of photographs I took in the fall of 2022 while we were visiting Southwest Utah. Rather than displaying the images one by one on social media, where they would at best be quickly viewed then forgotten in favour of cat videos, I chose to create this collection so the images could be enjoyed at leisure and as a group. In most cases these images represent my first edits; in coming months I will likely edit and re-edit each image until they fully reflect the moments and feelings I hoped to capture when I held my camera.

This wasn’t the first time we visited Southwest Utah and if all goes well it will not be the last. Diana and I visited the same area briefly about eight years earlier to backpack in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park. It was a wonderful trip but much too short; we wanted to return to stay longer and see more.

This time we were fortunate to stay three weeks in a location that allowed us to access many scenic areas and enjoy downtime when not out hiking. And though we had not planned it, everywhere we went the dominant theme was red, even in areas outside parks. Red rocks, red dirt...even red-tinged skies. Hence the title of this collection: Shades of Red.

I have presented photographs from most of the areas we visited, including Zion National Park, Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and other, less-celebrated areas. In most cases I have not cited specific locations, though many are well-known and identifiable. Instead I refer to each area generally and leave it to the viewer to explore on his or her own.

I hope you enjoy these photographs. If you’re interested in prints of any of them, please drop me a line at timidturtlecreative@gmail.com.

Download Shades of Red here:

Shades of Red Collection.pdf

Download PDF • 65.65MB