Inspired by travel photography – NYC
Having been a photographer for many years, it can be difficult to find and see new inspirations for shooting when stuck in the same environment over time…everything looks familiar leaving no new sights to find and focus on. This is a challenge which pushes me to look at familiar scenes with a critical eye; to find the angle or subject showing something in a new way…I love this challenge and have based a lot of my work on finding new ways to shoot familiar situations or scenes.
My wife and I are fortunate to travel a lot more over the last few years, whether locally in South Africa, or overseas destinations. Here, as a photographer, I find amazing new environments to inspire my work and imaging. Traveling has always taught me that we all live in similar ways (we all need to eat, work, travel and socialize), but that we all do things slightly different when we operate in different cultures and countries. The joy of re-imagining these day-to-day tasks and journeys has always taught me about our shared interests and living goals…the flavor of each local climate dictating how we live and our daily goals.
Sanet and I recently spent some time in New York City, and I love the energy and culture of the people and the city…amazed how so many people from different cultures relate and work together in thus frenetic city (we live in a semi-urban area outside Cape Town where we have a lot of space and quiet)…the energy and 24/7 nature of the city is enticing but can also be very tiring as a tourist as we were there to explore and get the most out of our trip.
The larger cityscapes are easy to identify and shoot, but I find the greatest reward in finding the commonality between the people we see and how they navigate their lives in such a big city. Everyone finds their space and ways to operate, giving and taking equally to allow space for each to share the city.
While shooting the city and it’s people, travel photography becomes both a record of the places we travel, as well as documenting our journey into that land…both introspective as well as recording the external environment we are visiting. Sometimes a wide landscape image of the city , other times the close-up abstract of something that catches my eye…learning that to show the smaller details can teach me and share our commonality of those daily things we all need to do to survive. In this way, I find travel photography enriches my view and understanding of a different culture, teaching me of how I live and being able to take home some wisdom from my trips
