Travel photography is one of those wide sweeping titles that can encompass everything. When someone says travel photography you are often flung into an expectation of amazing landscapes, tropical beach’s and lavish hotels. If you flick through the pages of travel magazine this is often what you find, even in National geographic – traveller you will find many advertisements with these sorts of images. Beautiful images, but they often feel like very westernised versions of the country you are going to. I find these images do elicit emotions but not the sort of intrigue that I look for in a photo.
Landscape not including people - Palawan, Philippines
When looking through those travel photos I find most compelling they all include people. Whether that is a direct portrait of an individual from the country in question, or if they are used as a compositional element in the photo it suddenly adds perspective, context or a feeling of connection with whoever it is in the photo. This is something you her constantly when watching YouTube videos on the topic or reading blogs and it is for good reason. From a photographers perspective too it can only be seen as a benefit to include people in your travel photos. A large amount of travel photography is about the sweeping landscapes and these photos are integral to collecting a working set of photos form a location but these photos are often very reproduceable unless you are genuinely in a far-flung place. By including people in your photos you suddenly start making them unique. When will that person walk through that scene again, in those cloths are that time of day? Is there an event on in that location that is making this scene unique on this occasion? Why are they walking through? These are suddenly questions that can be asked.
People Included as part of a scene - Palawan, Philippines
However the big questions in, how do you go about photographing people? This is honestly a terrifying thing. In the UK we are brought up being told not to talk to strangers, don’t trust strangers and the media outlets are constantly reminding us of the dangers of people we don’t know or of fraudsters. Of course, this is true to an extent but the vast majority of people are trusting and nice, this can certainly be said for the Philippines. There is still a certain level of discretion you have to manage. Throwing a big camera in someone’s face isn’t always welcome or nice and if you do it forcibly no one’s going to enjoy it. Not only that but the photo you get won’t be sincere or possibly as good as if you took it from a willing subject. Meet people with a smile and small talk, let them know who you are and treat them with respect. Once you have spoken to them and exchanged basic human interactions of kindness you can ask for a photo. This small interaction that took place before you took the photo helps build a certain level of trust between you and your subject. A perfect example of this was when I was in the Ifugao region in northern Philippines, I was walking along a track in the rice terraces when I came across a farmer walking the opposite way. I met him with my best filippino ‘magandang umaga’ and then followed with a sweeping arm across the view saying ‘maganda’ to which he looked at me blankly. I had spoken tagalog (the basis of filipino) while in this region they spoke Tuwali. I then said ‘beautiful’, he laughed and corrected me on how to say beautiful in Tuwali. We stood and enjoyed the view together for a bit and then I asked if I could take his portrait. He smiled and agreed. It is these moments that give you confidence in asking people, these are the easy times.
Rice Farmer - Ifugao, Philippines
There are often quite big language barriers in non-english speaking countries – you cant speak their language and they can’t speak English. Coming from and English speaking country it is often the case that we don’t know how to speak other languages, we have been brought up knowing that in most places we go we can find someone who speaks our native tongue. It is the benefit of being English and a legacy of the British empire. However, a lot of the time the subject you wish to photo will not speak English. This is when body language is so important, it is genuinely universal. You smile, people understand. You look intrigued, people understand. If you are nervous and sneaky, people understand and will be suspicious. Try and be open with people, smile and communicate with hand gestures and pointing, also read their body language. It will be obvious if they don’t want you there and even more obvious if they don’t want the camera. If it’s not clear you can still ask, if they say no just thank them and leave.
Man combing Moustache - Manila, Philippines
Of course, not every photo that includes people requires you to talk to the people in the scene and ask them. If they are part of a larger landscape or at a festival and part of a crowd this might not need to you talk to them, you can take the photograph and continue. It is only really when they are the subject of the photo or it is a portrait of them that you really need to ask. However, this is really on a photo by photo basis, you have to judge it carefully. Sometime a simple nod to the camera and a smile is enough of a question. I have done this a number of times and been met with a nod and I take the photo or a shake of the head and I leave it.
Boy Displaying Crab he Caught - Manila, Philippines
It is very easy to exploit people with and photograph and that has to be remembered. The main thing to do is to respect whoever you are photographing. Respect them as a person, respect their culture and say thank you, even show them the photo if they are interested. All these things will make taking the photo easier, make the experience more pleasant and not leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth about the photo you just took. But if you do this, it will for certain make your photos much better.