Travel photography has changed in the last few years in so many ways. Our cameras, our platforms to share our photos, the type of photos that people want to see, the amount of time people have to look at them, and much, much more. But in so many ways, the basics of travel photography have not changed. Unsurprisingly, people take travel photos for the same reasons they have always done. They do it to record memories of places they have visited and things they have done. To capture scenes they experience along the way. And to show others where they have been and what they have done.
Starting with Analog Photography
Did your parents and grandparents have to wait weeks or even months to see their holiday snaps develop? Before the dawn of digital cameras and smartphones, holiday photography typically involved using film. A camera would use a roll of film containing only a finite number of exposures – typically 24 or 36 – and each shot would have to be carefully considered. There would be no instant printout to check if the photo had worked. And there was no way of trying again if it didn’t.
Most people would plan their major photos. An example would be if they were visiting Paris, they would take pictures of the Eiffel Tower from many different angles. They probably wouldn’t take dozens of the same photo, though. If a family was going on a holiday to the beach, they might take a family photo, a few casual photos, and maybe one of the sunsets. There would be some point to every photo.
This film had to be developed at home and could take from days to weeks to fully develop. Once ready, the pictures would be printed and put into photo albums. Which would then become part of family history. The family would sit and look through the pictures together, talking about the trips and adventures they had in between looking at the pictures.
Back in the days of analog photos, you had to wait weeks and months to get your negatives from the holiday developed.
Preserving Analog Memories Today
Most of us today take our holiday photos digitally, but there are bound to be plenty of old pictures lurking in the back of a drawer or lying about in old trunks. Perhaps there is even some old unprocessed film, not yet made into holiday postcards. If you have lots of old holiday photos that you are starting to lose interest in because you cannot find the time to look through them all, a photo album scanning service might be what you’re looking for. This will not only make it possible to see all of your holiday photographs with ease, but it will also preserve them for the future. By digitally saving them, they can be easily distributed to friends and family.
For example, someone might be tasked with scanning their summer holiday photos from the 1990s and creating a digital archive that can easily be shared with their relatives in Sweden and Singapore. Or, they might want to scan their childhood holiday albums. This is because they are made of photos printed on paper and could easily be damaged or destroyed over time.
The Shift to Digital Cameras
The advent of the digital camera has altered travel photography. With a digital camera, one can now take hundreds or thousands of photographs with no more investment in film than would have been the case with one or two exposures on a 35mm camera. A digital camera allows one to see instantly whether the exposure has been a success, and one can later dump the ones that were not.
This change in iPhone and smartphone software led to a change in behavior in everyday life. After the change was introduced, people were more likely to take their phone on a holiday and take more candid photos. They would take numerous photos of a street scene in the hope that one would be perfect. Digital cameras also made editing easier. Adjustments like brightness, saturation, contrast, and cropping became accessible to everyone.
Smartphones and Instant Sharing
Today, many of us depend heavily on our mobile phone cameras for photography. If you’re on a trip to a place like Chicago, you could be snapping away all day with your Smartphone camera. Take pictures of your meals, some of the iconic landmarks and architecture of Chicago, and some street shots, along with a few moments that are memorable to you. Because the camera is on the phone, you do not have to carry around another camera, so all of your subjects can be caught unscripted throughout the day.
But new features have been added to smartphones that allow for instant sharing. You can upload a photo right away to social media sites. It’s possible to take a photo of a great view while on a hike and share it with loved ones in real time.
The Influence of Social Media
With the dawn of social media, people now have certain expectations of what a good travel photo should be. This new world of digital social media makes people think that they need to get that perfect shot or that it was taken from a very particular or iconic perspective.
Often, people visit popular overlooks because they’ve seen so many great photos of that same spot online. While capturing beautiful scenes and historical landmarks is not anything new, the fact that social media provides travelers with an audience is. Most people have a smartphone that can be used to capture scenes and upload them to various platforms. Using these social media platforms allows travelers to share their adventures with loved ones back home. This has also motivated amateur photographers, videographers, or travel vloggers to take up the hobby and start sharing their journeys on the internet.
Travel photography is now possible with just a smartphone you carry around with you every day.
Professional vs. Personal Photography
One of the many trends observed in contemporary photography is the increased overlap between personal and professional travel photography. In the past, the work of travel photographers who focused professionally on travel photography differed from that of amateur or personal travel photographers. A travel photographer who worked in a magazine would like to see some of their work published in that specific magazine. And they had to use appropriate and specialized cameras and other photographic equipment in order to achieve professional results.
Travel Photography Then & Now
It seems like a long time ago when all you needed for making your way around the world and for documenting your travels was a good pair of shoes and an honest-to-goodness camera! Today, the lines between travel and photography have become somewhat blurred. An increasing number of travelers bring better quality cameras. They also use special applications on their mobiles in order to document their trips. With many people today building entire careers based on social media and documenting their travels, the original terms of engagement, as it were, have become quite distorted.
People started taking and posting online photographs because they were away on holiday. Then, they simply wanted to share their experiences with friends and family through the various social media outlets such as Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo. They started blogging simply as a means to record and to share their travel experiences with others. As their online audiences start to grow in numbers, they may start working with tourism boards or companies. This is in order to financially support themselves in the pursuit of documenting and showcasing different locations and cultures for the benefit of others. Despite the somewhat professional working nature of the subject today, their initial intention when starting was simply to record their own personal travels for their own enjoyment and that of their friends.
However, a large number of people still have a personal, private relationship with photography. It extends beyond the social media platforms.
Printing vs. Digital Storage
We’re taking fewer print photographs these days. Instead, more of us are storing our holiday photographs on our mobiles, hard drives, or online in the cloud. Here’s a brief look at some of the changes we’re seeing.
People don’t sit around looking at record albums. Rather than sitting around looking at photographs in an album, people spend their time browsing pictures on a screen. This is convenient, but perhaps different. It’s a different social experience. Rather than looking at snapshots with a group of people, there’s less interaction involved in screen browsing.
Final Thoughts
Travel photography has changed a lot over the years. Each evolution has brought new opportunities and new ways of working. Although technology has evolved, the underlying reason for the camera has not. People still want to capture moments from their lives. They still want to document experiences and keep them safe. They still take photos for later use — to document trips and to share with friends and family.
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