Comments on: How to Shoot Travel Portraits

By: My 7 Links « Neil Wade's Photography Blog

My 7 Links « Neil Wade's Photography Blog — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:33:36 +0000

[...] an easy one, it’s a step by step description on how to shoot travel portraits. I posted this one back when I first started blogging and it never really got the attention I [...]

By: rileyphotographic

rileyphotographic — Fri, 13 May 2011 07:25:49 +0000

Really!

Nice one, thanks a lot for posting these quality photos.

By: David Galalis

David Galalis — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:29:00 +0000

Neil,

Thank you for these techniques. I wandered over here in response to Mario’s post on IGVP, challenging you to rethink the “Hunting” and “Trapping” language/mentality.

(http://visualpeacemakers.org/index.php?/blog/entry/a_response_apology/).

I humbly suggest “Seeking” and “Receiving” as replacement terms that more accurately reflect what the role of a photographer ought to be in front of reality.

Best regards,
David

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:30:42 +0000

Thanks Shawn. That’s good to hear at a time when people are attacking me all over the place. It’s times like this that I question why I even bother to try to help other people. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

By: Shawn Carson

Shawn Carson — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:44:55 +0000

Hey Neil…great post. I am an amateur shooter with way more passion for taking shots while travelling than any actual skill. I have been following your blog for a while and loved this post. It’s full of lots of great practical info that will help me develop my skills. Thanks for all your great photos and knowledge you’ve been sharing. Don’t worry about some of the overly critical posts about your choice of wording…we get what you’re saying and know you’re good intentions.

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:53:36 +0000

Hi Gavin, thanks for the thoughtful response. Honestly, I’m not sure what you’re getting at other than my clumsy use of a few words that were meant to be taken light-heartedly.

As explained in the beginning, this is a post to help photographers APPROACH (and interact with) the people that they might like to photograph. It’s a post designed to help motivate photographers to interact with people they meet while traveling. I spent most of this post talking about the technical side of how to about take portraits such as this… I even explain that it’s a “scientific process” in the beginning. Nowhere do I mention the motivation behind why one might want to engage a subject, nor do I mention my motivation.

An example that we agree on this subject is that your post implies that it’s bad for photographers to use 200mm lenses and not get engaged with their subject. I couldn’t agree more!!! That’s why this post is full of ways to get engaged with people and recommends using a very short focal length of 50mm.

As a final note, if my obviously tongue-in-cheek titles of “hunting” and “trapping” are disturbing you that much, I apologise. I’m not the most eloquent writer and am learning all the time!

By: Gavin Gough

Gavin Gough — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:40:23 +0000

“I think it’s worth examining what our own aims are when we set out to photograph people we don’t know. I believe that too often the aim of many photographers amounts to little more than getting a close-up shot of an exotic face.”

This is a quote from a recent post on my own blog entitled “People like to be honoured”, which you might enjoy reading and which might prompt you to think a little more about how you interact with people when you travel and when you seek to take photographs.

http://www.gavingough.com/2010/11/people-like-to-be-honoured/

“If photography is about communicating an experience, and it is, then you need to have had the experience in the first place”.

Better than “hunting” or “trapping”, think about “engaging”, “interacting” and “experiencing”.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:37:58 +0000

I just read this not that long ago and tried to follow your advice to take a picture of Ross when we were hiking. The picture is on my flickr page (i wont bother linking it). How could I make it better? (other than not using Ross as a model)

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:07:33 +0000

Thank you! All it take to approach people is a little practice, even for us shy people!

By: Wayfaring Wanderer

Wayfaring Wanderer — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:19:58 +0000

Awesome tips! I’m not a shy person when it comes to just interacting with people, but when it comes to asking to take their photo, I hesitate.

I also try to remember that it doesn’t hurt to ask! You’ve also got a great idea with the trapping bit. Genius!