Travel photography is a tremendously popular niche. In fact, taking stock photos while travelling initially attracted me to professional photography. As my focus shifted from “places” to “people” over the past ten years, I find it increasingly interesting to review my own and other photographers’ photos of various destinations.
I believe that a good photograph contains a story with some emotional content. It conveys the personal view of the photographer to the viewer. Nowadays, with so many images of various destinations and events around the world available online, I often have an experience similar to what Akira Kurosawa brilliantly shown in “Rashomon,” where the same event is shown from the perspective of different people, each telling a personal story.
Interestingly, this effect is present even if I am reviewing only my own photos. As Daniel Gilbert, the author of “Stumbling on Happiness
,” notes, people often under-estimate how much their personalities change, particularly, how much they will change in the next few years. I often view my photographs with the eyes of a different person from the one one who took them. Indeed, it is not possible to enter the same river twice. It turns out that we have multiple chances to experience the same place or event thanks to photography. As a bonus, each time, the story is told by a different person.
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