We have all heard this before. The demise of the travel photographer is having to photograph iconic scenes from the same place where hordes of tourists have photographed the same scene. To separate yourself from the masses, and catch the eye of editors and viewers, you have to find a fresh perspective. And even though this might seem almost impossible, I can’t tell you how many times I have seen a shot from a classic overlook that is different from the others. Maybe the photographer shot on the ground. Or photographed through a tourist’s legs. Or brought a ladder to get a high perspective. There are ways, you just have to get create. Don’t stand there and shoot, everyone sees the scene this way.
The above shot is a good example. Traveling through Greenland I wanted to photograph the native kids in small villages. I did the mandatory kids smiling at camera shots. These are nice. But what was really interesting was all the trampolines in this village, and the constant laughter of kids jumping on the tramp. You could shoot the kids on the tramp at eye level. But did you know when you shoot through a tramp from below it is almost transparent (we have a tramp at home so I knew how this worked)? The ‘below the tramp angle’ is fresh and eye catching, something a little out of the box for a ‘portrait’. But this better captures these kids and their lives in a small Greenland village.