Travel Photography

For Assignment 4 I decided to research some travel photographers. I began by looking at last year's winners of The Travel Photographer of the Year competition. http://www.tpoty.com/2009/winners/gallerytpoty2009.html#tpoty
I love the black and white portraits of the winner of the Young Travel Photographer of the Year, Courtney Krawec, in particular the first moody shot of the young girl. The detail in the face and the texture of the head shawl is amazing. In the People of the World Portfolio, Martin Edstom's mountain shot with the village huddled at the bottom of the peaks against the sea is stunning. I love the way the light catches the village. Lasse Damgaard's black and white portraits are also fabulous. Craig Churchill's polar bears also caught my attention. I agree with the judges' comment that these are more gritty images which makes a change from the cuddly toy shot which is very popular (not that I wouldn't mind the opportunity to get one of those too!!!) Daisy Gilardini's white on white shots are also eycatching and unlike the gritty polar bears the penguin parents and chick by Sue Flood are eycatchingly cute. I really like the framing of her shot of a penguin through an archway of ice. The colour of the ice is stunning and the shot shows that the subject doesn't have to be large in the frame to be a winner. Louis Montrose's back and white landscapes are amazing; they are reminiscent of Ansel Adams. I particularly like the second one with the complicated interlinked rock patterns. Cropping in close has made the picture for me. I agree with the judges comment on the portfolio of Poras Chaudhary from India where they comment on the way that he has captured the vibrant life and vivd colours of the country. My attention was caught by Ron Tear's unusual shots of the Millenium Bridge in London and I have a similar shot of the empty Turbine Hall at Tate Modern although in colour! The lighting on Craig Easton's Homeland shot is tremendous. I wonder how long he waited for that! Finally I love the slow shutter speed effect of Tareq Alhamrani's image of a big wheel.

I first came across Paul Harris through his work in Outdoor Photography Magazine.
http://www.paulharrisphotography.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1
Since becoming a freelance photographer in 1990, Paul has travelled and photographed extensively around the world. His most recent expedition assignments took him by camel through the Western Sahara and a journey across the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Conservation and the environment have long been close to his heart and three assignments in 2006/7 took him to Fiji and The Philippines for Coral Cay Conservation, South Africa and Kenya for I to I, Tanzania and Peru for Earthwatch.
I like all of his work but particularly enjoyed his images of Ladakh. I love mountains and had a great time trekking in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco but Ladakh is so much more exotic.

I have also consulted National Geographic magazine and looked at the work of some of the photographers featured in their pages.

I have looked at and enjoyed the work of :
Peter Essick http://www.rayoflightphotographs.com/
Tyrone Turner http://www.tyronefoto.com/index.html
Michael Yamashita http://www.michaelyamashita.com/
Matt Moyer http://www.mattmoyer.com/
Mel White http://www.melwhitephoto.com/home.html
Flip Nicklin http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-flip-nicklin/