Travel Photography

To the question, “Do you travel to take pictures, or do you take pictures while you happen to travel?”.  Well, the answer is that I try to capture most of my travelling moments, more out of compulsion to  preserve my memories of those journeys intact than to showcase my non-existent photography skills. Suffering from a condition known as 'short term memory loss', it was essential that I record my travel moments in case my memory fails recollection. 

It was during my trip to Iceland that I traveled for the first time with my NIKON DS5200. I was clicking blurred pictures and ridiculous snapshots of what could have been a treasure trove for professional photographers. Geysers, natural geothermal spas, waterfalls, large extents of lava fields, native Icelandic horses, lush green meadows with wild flowers, a scenic flow that would have made for a visually stunning movie.

I later picked up a magazine on digital photography and read up some blogs.  I learnt that the Programmed Auto mode can help one click some good pictures while on the move, with little or no time to focus and shoot.  The mode has helped me capture some pretty pictures to create landscape art. Most of the pictures posted on my Flickr account have been taken using the Programmed Auto mode, except when taking close up shots of flowers.  Birds and flowers are benevolence of nature created to appeal to our visual and aesthetic senses.

After my sojourn at Iceland, a cruise along the Sognefjord of Norway, the second largest in the world, opened up to a landscape that was breathtakingly beautiful and unique.  I did not allow the constraints posed by my limited experience with a camera, I still managed to shoot some fabulous pictures of villages that we encountered during the cruise.  A telephoto Zoom lens might have helped in getting better pictures of the fjord with its numerous waterfalls.

After a few trips to European cities, I noticed a pattern emerge from among the thousands of pictures that I clicked. I believed in shooting long distance view of landscapes, window dressings, lone standing trees, empty roads and cobbled streets. Clicking empty roads, cobbled streets and spaces required some waiting that yielded awesome results. I must admit that none of my pictures are photo shopped, except to adjust lighting preferences. 

I clearly avoid taking close up pictures of people at random unless of course, they are a part of the larger canvas involving public spaces or if facial recognition is not so easily possible.   When required, I sought permission from those I chose to click, a gesture intended to respect their privacy. There was this spontaneous picture that I clicked when I watched a man stretch his hand  to reach out to the ‘Angry Boy with Golden hand’ at the Sculpture Park, Oslo. It was almost as if the gesture was an attempt to infuse life into the statue.  I remember walking up to a young lady to show a picture that I had clicked of her and her reflection as she sat on the slopes of the Opera House, Oslo. She seemed particularly pleased with the effect.  I am hoping to freeze some fabulous moments that life throws at me and enjoy the art of photography.