Wednesday, August 11, 2004

On the Road Again

Travel photography evokes all sorts of images, from the 19th century vistas in fading albumen prints to satellite images made miles above our planet. The aim of most travel work is to share a sense of place, a feeling of "being there" that only the camera can capture. It can mean a sense of adventure, of the survey photos made in the days of exploration of the American West, or simply trophy shots of totems like the Eiffel Tower, which say, "I was there". And some would say that any shot made outside your front door constitutes a travel picture, with some notable teachers, such as Ruth Bernhardt, creating assignments for students to discover images not more than 50 ft from the steps to their house. However yo define it, and whatever images it evokes for you, travel is a way to "skin the eyes", to look with fresh vision upon the world. A photographic traveler is open to the world and all its beauty, something that we should all aspire to every day of our lives. It is to maintain the eyes of a traveler that all photographers should aspire. For many photographers, a journey early in life made with a camera sets them on a career path. In discovering how photography alters their experience they discover their passion for its art and craft. They see how it brings them into places they would not have ventured, makes them explore less traveled roads, and creates encounters with people they might never have otherwise met. It engages them in seeing and considering how to render and express their personal vision that no studio, no amount of academic study can provide. Travel and photography are inextricably bound. The pictures we capture on the road are more than just memories, they are the record of how we saw the world in a certain time at a certain place in our lives.

...Editor´s note of Shutterbug magazine.

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