In 2006, I had the fortune of returning to India (after living there as a child years before). India fascinates me as a photography subject—the colors are typically so bright (including the clothing, buildings, and vehicles), the high concentration of people results in ready subjects, the people are often so willing to be photographed, the landmarks can be iconic or everyday and still make an interesting subject, and the festivals are frequent and exotic to my viewers.
As my business assignment wrapped up, I took my family on a tour of South India. South India is really my favorite destination on earth (someday, in fact, I’m going to host photography tours of the region). The people are so friendly, the topography is rich and lush in most places, you can get from plains to mountains to coast in under a day, and for the most part the lifestyle is less hectic than in the touristy north.
As we transited from a beach destination to the bustling city of Cochi, I was riding in the passenger seat with my camera in my lap. Traffic stopped, and I noticed this man sitting quietly in a doorway. I motioned to him, motioned to my camera, and non-verbally asked permission to make a photograph. He nodded back, and this is the result (almost straight out of the camera).
This image was made on a 10-megapixel Nikon D70, with an old 24-85 f/3.5 zoom. This zoom is one of Nikon’s lowest-rated lenses, but I love it. It gets kicked around a lot in reviews due to its slow speed, lack of VR (Nikon’s version of image stabilization) and lower quality, but I’ve had this lens for years and by far the majority of my portfolio images were made with this glass.
One of my objectives in travel photography is to capture the essence of a destination – to share with viewers something that I saw or experienced that stood out to me. My photography is a way of connecting viewers with a destination where I play an intermediary role. I try to avoid over-processing, but I do use Lightroom (and, where needed, Photoshop) to bring back out in the final photo what I saw in the original image but what got lost in the capture process.
My goal with travel photography is to also leave the viewer with a story – whether it’s an obvious story such as from a worker in a field or a less obvious story like this man in the doorway. Who is he? Why was he just sitting there? Does he have a family? Is he happy? Does he know God loves him? What does he do to make a living? Does he have free time?Does he look forward to visiting his grandchildren like I do? The unanswered, unspoken story of a travel photograph is sometimes the more interesting story.
Man in Doorway isn’t the only shot I’ve made like this. I had another very similar experience two decades prior, when I lived in India. I had a Nikon N2000 with me at the time. I was on a short visit to Bangalore, in Karnatika state, when I made this photograph.
It haunts me to this day – even more so than Man in Door. Who was this man, what was he doing, where was he going?
This isn’t the first time I felt drawn into my photograph like this, and that experience has been my inspiration ever since. In fact, shortly after making that photo, I had a very similar experience with a man selling spices in Jaipur’s Amber Fort.
The lessons I keep learning from these photographs, over and over, are numerous. It boils down to a few for me:
- Be there. If you want to shoot travel photos, you have to travel. It doesn’t have to be far – it can be in your own home town. You need to get out.
- Have a camera in-hand, ready to go.
- Be bold. Ask. Gesture. If you are comfortable with it, street shoot.
- Know your craft before you apply your art. Buying your first camera a week before a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe is likely to leave you wanting. Get familiar with focus, exposure, and light.
- Know the basics of good art, as well. Know how to frame your subject, how to draw the viewer in with leading lines, subject spotlights, etc.
- Put the camera down sometimes, too. How can you communicated the essence of a travel destination if you don’t experience it yourself? If all you do is sit behind a lens, you aren’t experiencing a destination. You’re simply snapping shots of it, and you’ll struggle to pull a viewer into your experience.
- But above all, be ready. Have an eye for the “story,” and when you get the shot, make it.
Thanks for reading. Have a comment about a photo in this “Story Behind” post? Have a similar experience yourself? Post a comment and link me to your image. Remember, my photographs can be viewed online at www.johnoverbaugh.com, and I’m always ready to share a lesson or hear a lesson from you!
Many of my images are available for purchase. To learn more, see my hand-picked selection of fine art images.