How street photography improved my travel photos

Before I got into street photography I had no destination what exactly to do with my camera. I took my cam always on vacations and the resulting images were quite good. But they were missing something. After hanging out in the streets and the study of some philosophical stuff like taoism (thanks to Eric Kim for his wonderful blogposts) I found out that I was missing the living element in my travel photos.


I was so fixated on architecture or nice landscapes etc. that I forgot to tell a story and add some people to my shots to add some movement or simple said: life. It is important for me to tell a little story now to give the viewer (also yourself) a path to follow.

a story about watching bears (quick´n dirty triptic)

From street photography I learned how to look at the details and the whole thing at once and how to quickly react to different situations.Maybe something is moving into the frame making the shot more interesting or there is a special light seen from a different angle. And you have a more relaxed view on things and less fear to interact with different people.

Even as a hobby photographer you should just pretend to work for a travel magazine. Just fool yourself! What kind of story lays behind the images? What can I tell the viewer after the trip? Is there a special topic like the different kinds of manhole covers in this city for instance?

This will add more punch to the whole thing. Even if there is no contract or customer behind it. But it changes a lot and make your precious memories shine on!




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