Holiday photographs
(For hints and tips on improving your holiday photos visit taking great travel photos).
We are lucky enough to live on top of a hill with west facing views across miles of countryside. Sometimes, like this morning, the mist lies across the valley just as the sun rises, and the view is spectacular. But one thing I have never managed to do is take a good photograph of it. Shame really because bookings of our gites would double if people could see what they are missing (although most are still asleep at 6am while I’m out enjoying the sunrise).
I came a cross a website that might just help me, and you as well if you’re just dusting off the camera for your annual holiday, at Agunther Photography. Apart from having some great destination photographs that give me the urge to get out travelling the world again, there is also lots of good photography advice.
Funny thing is, I used to take lots of slide photography (and was quite good, I think) but with the advent of digital cameras I’ve got out of the habit - if I don’t need to carry a heavy bag of lenses up a mountain why bother taking a photo at all? And carrying a camera when I’m out cycling, which is when I see the most interesting things, isn’t always practical.
One great idea from the photo tutorials section is to use Google Maps to identify the best location for taking a shot. But my favourite tutorial is perhaps the one about the ‘Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes’. Yes, I make all of them.
Your ultimate goal perhaps is to take holiday photos which will be the envy of your friends. Photos that they actually ask to look at, rather than grimacing, and then grudgingly agreeing to take a quick look, after you have suggested the idea a few times. “Why yes, I’d love to see 27 pictures of the inside of your tent. Please can I have a second look.”
Unfortunately though, the photos of the Western USA have reminded of Arches National Park, and the travelling we used to do pre-children. It’s a long way from here to Utah but Arches is one of my absolute favourite places in the world (along with nearby Monument Valley and Bryce Canyon).
I could quite happily sit on a rock and stare at Delicate Arch for a week and call it a holiday. Mrs B and the girls might not agree to such a minimalist trip, so I suppose I’ll have to wait a while. About 10 years probably.
Meanwhile, I will have to be content with taking pictures of fields of sunflowers and golden haybales, medieval villages and ancient castles. Things could be worse. Anyone want to buy a complete set of African Safari slides from 1990?
