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With sophisticated digital cameras becoming increasingly affordable, anyone can take a good photograph.
But as Facebook demonstrates, not every photograph is worth a thousand words. So, what’s the key to a good travel image?
For professional photographer Kris LeBoutillier, a little study pays in getting that arresting shot.
The Singapore-based freelance photojournalist contributes to the National Geographic Traveler, among other magazines, and last year published On the Iron Rails of the Orient: Train Journeys in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Tibet, a book featuring his photos.
LeBoutillier gave a lecture on photography with National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita at the Arts House two weeks ago.
TODAY asked him about his job and for several photography tips.
What makes a good photograph?
It always boils down to one thing. Impact. The best pictures tell a story. You may not know where the place is but the picture draws you in.
Do people envy you your job?
People think that when you go to a place, voila! you photograph it, but it’s a really stressful job. You’re working with tight deadlines and you have to produce or you don’t get more assignments.
So, when I am doing this, I’m always very tense. If I don’t capture what the National Geographic Traveler editors call “a sense of place”, the whole assignment falls apart.
How do you prepare for assignments?
Logistically, I work with a fixer, someone who knows the place and the right people, to get things done.
Unlike travellers on holiday, I usually go where no tourists go.
I also read as much as I can about the place. I try not to look at pictures too much because I might try to recreate those pictures unconsciously and I don’t want to do that.
I take a guidebook with me and a novel or a book that is written about the place. When I was in Hue, I read a book called The Cat from Hue by John Laurence and Dispatches by Michael Herr. Both are Vietnam war correspondents.
This gives me a sense of history and context. I’m capturing a slice of time — how modern the place is, how old, the contrast between the old and new.
Any tips for travel photographers?
Dawn and dusk are perfect times. The light is perfect. But you also have to be there when the people are doing their thing. If it’s happening at one o’clock in the afternoon, you’ll have to be there then and figure out how to take a good picture at that time of the day.
Don’t be afraid to talk to the people you’re photographing — especially if you’re doing portraits — to engage them.
Start with the rule of thirds [where the subject is positioned to one side of the picture, not the centre] but you also have to fill up the frame, so that all of the elements of the photograph balance out, that’s the hard part. - TODAY/ra
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