Tips and Tricks: Using Light to Simplify Compositions in Travel Photography

Living in Saigon, street scenes are usually busy, chaotic, and have a million things going on everywhere, all at the same time. It’s sensory overload sometimes even after a decade of living here. Shooting these scenes, it’s often easy to fall into the trap of trying to capture everything all in the same frame. We see so many interesting things and we snap away. But most of the time, the result is an image with about forty bajillion competing elements and the viewer is left wondering what the subject of the scene is. It’s like drinking out of a firehose. Not great. That said, there are many ways to avoid this, but one of my favourite ways is letting light guide my compositions, and my viewers’ eyes, to a clear subject. It’s a fun way to cut out some of the clutter and refine and focus your images when the scene is otherwise filled to the brim with everything….all at the same time. Look for little pools of light…and wait for it. Have a look around, anticipate interesting things happening in the light before you. Let light create shapes and guide your framing. No leading lines? Use a shaft of light to guide those eyes. Messy background? Drop down that exposure and shoot for the highlights. Put that messy background in shadows so it’s not distracting. And always remember, you don’t need to tell everything in one image. Create a series that’s interesting and tells a story through vignettes….kinda like those little pool of lights you stalked when you were shooting.

For all the folks interested in what gear I use, these were all shot on an old Fuji x100s. Yeah. the S. Nothing fancy. Just chasing the light.

What other little tricks can you think of to make otherwise hectic compositions cleaner and more compelling? Leave a comment below. Let’s see all those little things you’ve learned!

Travel Diary - Sri Lanka Part 3: Black and White Edition

As previously mentioned, I got a bit enthusiastic with my penchant for hitting the shutter and ended up with a mountain of images to go through. Normally, I try to cull down the numbers to have one of these posts, but it didn’t work out that way this time around. I generally don’t like mixing black and white images with colour images when I post, so here’s my take on Sri Lanka in black and white.

Travel Diary - Sri Lanka Part 2 : Southern Beaches and Galle

Making my way south from Columbo, I hopped on a train without a reserved seat. Needless to say it was an experience in standing less than 2 millimeters from every person on the train. Get in where you fit in is the name of the game. After getting off the train, I finally exhaled fully after basically holding my breath for 3 hours and the first inhale I felt that ocean breeze fill my lungs. Perfect. Midigama, Weligama and the old Dutch fort of Galle were on the docket for the next part of the trip. The hustle and bustle of Columbo gone, it was time to enjoy a much slower pace and unplug for the holiday.

Travel Diary - Sri Lanka Part 1 : Columbo

I got a little shutter happy this past trip to Sri Lanka and ended up with far more images that I cared to sift through, but with that, I had the fun problem of trying to pare down the mountains of images into something that would be not akin to drinking out of a firehose. So, here we are. This first batch of images are all from Columbo and it’s not hard to understand how I got a bit overzealous and snapped away if you get to travel here. While most people hop in and out of Columbo, I absolutely love shooting here. The Columbo Fort station, Pettah Market, it’s a street photographer’s dream. Keep checking back for parts 2 and 3 where we head down to the beaches and to the old Dutch fort of Galle. On that note, we’ve extended our Sri Lanka photography tour next year and so sign up over here and join us!

Travel Diary: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Recently, a last minute opportunity came up and I jumped at the chance to have a sneaky weekend in Siem Reap. Home to the temples of Angkor Wat, the last time I got a chance to visit Siem Reap was this past February on a similar last minute decision. I mentioned a slick shiny airport in the last blog post and, as I walked off the plane, I was greeted by a bigger, newer, shinier, airport. By bigger, l mean massive. Towering ceilings, seemingly endless gates, around a 10 minute walk from gate to immigration, it dwarfs the Saigon Airport. Just for a bit of context, Siem Reap, with its population of 250,000 people had 2 million people travel through their previous airport last year while Saigon, with its population of 10 million, accommodates nearly 40 million folks each year. I hope the size of the new airport doesn’t indicate the projected growth in visitors to this little corner of Cambodia. The thought of that many people swarming Angkor Wat makes my head explode.

As I hopped in my transport to the city, I asked the driver how long it would be as I had to hop on afternoon call, and the response of “around an hour” was a bit jaw dropping given the small size of Siem Reap. It’s not like you need to drive across a sprawling metropolis to get to land that would accommodate an airport. In any event, after I spent the hour commute trying to wrap my head around this new airport, I remembered how much I love coming here. Life slows waaaaaaaay down, the countryside is gorgeous, and all that red dirt reminds me of my Georgia roots. Pair that instant slowdown with the awe-inspiring temples of Angkor and I’m a happy man. I only ventured out to the temples for an afternoon, but it paid off in spades. Incredible light completely complemented a nearly perfect backdrop and provided just the cure for the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Saigon.

I’ll be posting more of these images over on Instagram so go give that a follow if you’re digging these.

Travel Diary : Komodo and Nusa Penida, Indonesia

It’s been crazy busy lately, so I’ve had a backlog of images from some travel earlier this year and I’m just now able to get to these. Over the summer, Komodo was calling and I definitely answered. The small town of Labuan Bajo was a dusty little town the last time I was there and while its still a small town, it’s definitely not dusty anymore. Looks like a substantial investment in infrastructure has led to a boom in development. Nicer roads, a massive increase in food offerings and considerably more tourists. It felt like a different place. It doesn’t look like its spiraled out of control, so I’m hoping it retains its laid back vibes for a bit longer.

Following Komodo, I popped back to Nusa Penida to see some friends and have a pitstop before heading back to Saigon. It’s always such a good look to not worry about going to see much and just slowing down to hang with friends. Only there for a couple nights, I didn’t get to shoot much, but the light was incredible and I couldn’t help but including a few frames in this post.

For the photographers, I travelled light and fast so I shot all of these on my little Fuji x100s.

Travel Diary: Coron, Philippines

It’s been over 8 years since I’ve been to Coron and I’d heard things had changed drastically since then, so as I headed back to the land of WW2 shipwrecks and incredible scenery, I wondered how this sleepy town of my memory had changed. While there’s actually a pub that serves craft beer, and there’s a bit more traffic, it still had much the same vibe as I remembered. Super friendly people, incredible diving, and a laid back air that seemingly only island life can have. While most of my time was spent underwater exploring the Japanese wrecks from WW2, I made use of the surface time to wander around and take some street shots here and there. Of course, I tried (key word “tried”) to capture the jaw dropping vistas of the surrounding islands, but I’m well aware of what ticks the boxes as far as what I love shooting. Either way it was such a nice return to Palawan with new eyes!

For the photographers, these were all shot on my trusty little Fuji x100s. I love (and my back as well) having such a little camera for these types of trips.

If you like these types of images, head on over to my Instagram and give it a follow!

Travel Diary: Hong Kong

During my weekly scan through google flights, I came across cheap flights to Hong Kong and impulse bought a ticket so off I went to Hong Kong for a few days. With no real itinerary in mind other than gorging myself on dumplings and catching up with some friends, strolling around Hong Kong aimlessly with my camera was such a fun way to see the city with new eyes while revisiting some old haunts.

The way the tall buildings break up the light into little shafts of illuminated vignettes always hits that aesthetic bullseye for me and that coupled with the neon glow of Hong Kong’s nights, most of my images consisted of little pools of light and textures. Probably one of my favorite places in the world to shoot street photography, I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hydrant when it came to where to hit the shutter. Little alleys, interesting textures, incredible light and how it bounces off the buildings, the juxtaposition of new and old. It’s a street photography dream.