©Mark Alberhasky
Professional photography includes dozens of significant and unique categories. Each type of photography has given rise to its own community of Visionaries. Travel and Destination photography is no exception. High on the list of Destination Photography luminaries is my friend Mark Alberhasky. You have heard from Mark in a previous Visionary article, but here, in his own words, are the reasons for his personal passion for Destination Photography.
Author, inventor, physician and photographer with over 45 years experience behind the camera, Mark's perspective on the world is somewhat unique. In 2004, he became a contributing photographer for Nikon, was featured in Nikon World Magazine and regularly shoots for Nikon advertising. His work has received international awards and appears in placements as diverse as commercial ads, medical journals, sports magazines, and corporate installations.
His unique eye and love for travel combine to produce stunning images, with the four corners of the map as backgrounds for his inspiration. Mark's website and photo blog are "must visit" Internet locations for lovers of the photographic art.
©Mark Alberhasky
One of the satisfying endpoints for my travels is sharing the experience, so a slideshow for family last week was standard procedure. My nephew and his ten year old friend were in attendance (at the request of a parent, "to get exposed to some culture"), and when a Kenyan town image of a muddy street with a young Kenyan boy in weathered sandals came up on the screen, his response was priceless. "You went THERE for three weeks ON A VACATION?" All the adults got a good chuckle from his insight, but it does provoke consideration as to why destination photography is important for photographers at almost any level.
Why should a photographer go halfway around the world on a trip?
I think there are lots of important reasons...
Go to "see the world", but as important, go to "experience" the world.
You'll come home and appreciate what you are lucky to have, and you'll gain a new appreciation for what others have, and don't have.
Going through the motions of planning and executing an international trip will challenge you, and challenges are good. Every time a photographer writes to me and asks, "How do I get to the next level?", my response in one form or another is, "Find a new challenge and don't back away until you've achieved your goal."
International travel, much more than domestic travel, forces you to deal with a dozen new, unique aspects of life, every day. Things as simple as choosing your next meal become a reality that demands your attention. Along the way you learn that you can survive without Starbuck's or Best Buy, and that the richness of the cultural experience is memorable, even when not all goes according to plan.
As a matter of fact, learning to deal with EVERYTHING when it doesn't go according to plan is a big part of why you need to go.
Ever wonder what it is that separates the professional photographer from the talented amateur? Does the amateur make images of professional quality? Absolutely. But statistically, the professional is more likely to succeed with a given subject. Why?
- Better equipment? Yes and no. Plenty of amateurs have equipment equal to (or better than) a given professional.
- Better access? Yes and no. Anyone with a camera and the right attitude can get to where amazing shots can be made.
- It's their hands-on experience. Professionals do many of the same things the amateur does, but they do them over and over and over, UNTIL they see what works and what doesn't. They do so much of everything that it becomes instinct, not a choice or a decision they have to make consciously each time.
I know that you need a faster shutter speed to freeze action, but until I shot birds, for days on end, at rest and in flight, I didn't have the specific shutter speed number in my head that was going to ensure razor sharp images worthy of species you travel 3,000 miles to see. I know that as you choose a faster shutter speed, all things being equal, you have to increase the ISO to compensate. But I didn't have the ISO range in my head for the cameras I was using that would guarantee exceptional file quality.
Chew on this.
Each day, I'd shoot anywhere between 500 and 1000 images, download and sort them, and make selects based on content and quality. I'd see potentially great shots fail, because although I'd recognized the creative moment, I hadn't understood the parameters of the scene I was shooting well enough to make informed choices.
I might make that mistake during the morning shoot, but you can be sure that as I went out that afternoon, I was smarter than 3 hours earlier, better prepared to pull content, technology, and opportunity together. By the end of the trip, I could feel a difference in how I was shooting. Instead of thinking, "This ISO should probably work...", I was playing the camera more like a musician, and the images became a performance that I savored at each download.
©Mark Alberhasky
Most of us will never match the experience of a professional who has been shooting year in and year out as a career. But, I can assure you that taking a week, or even better, two weeks (or more depending on the level of your photo addiction), and traveling to an international destination JUST TO PHOTOGRAPH, can be a talent changing milestone in your photographic timeline.
What stands between you and exceptional images may just be "experience", and there is only one way to put that in your camera bag.
Find a destination and begin your journey as soon as you can.
