‘A photograph is a form of time travel so enjoy the ride’ – unknown
I had a blog post all mentally prepared in my head but I just wasn’t excited or in the mood to write about it. Writing up a post begrudgingly is never a good idea so instead I’m sharing my A to Z travels through photography.
I was inspired to do this post as I saw it was World Photography Day on 19th August as the hashtag trended on my social media platforms. So even though I’m late it doesn’t matter, I wanted to celebrate this day in my own way since I have always loved taking photos. Ironically I had been discussing with my uncle last weekend about how far photography and cameras have come historically, without even realising we had such a day to celebrate it.
The purpose of World Photography Day is for photographers around the world ‘to share their world with the world’ and celebrate the history of photography. Below is essentially the first travel photo taken in 1839 by Louis Daguerre of Boulevard du Temple in Paris.
However travel photos can be a plethora of things, moments, landscapes, activities, etc – the list is endless, so lets jump into my A to Z of travel photos:
A for Aerial views
With the ease and relatively low cost of flying aerial shots of cities and landscapes is now open to the masses and no longer restricted to companies or the privileged few and even less so with the purchase of drones. This photo is one of my favourites as I flew into Salvador in Brazil.
 
B for Bridges
Do you have a favourite bridge? I do! My favourite bridge in the world is not my favourite because it in itself is beautiful but more because of the beauty you see standing from it – Waterloo Bridge in London. On one side you have the Oxo Tower, St. Paul.s Cathedral and the different shaped skyscrapers of the City of London with all the their nicknames and the other side you have the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. Plus it has such special memories for me in my life; I used to walk it every day for four years to usually go drinking at my uni bar and thus walk back across with my friends in much merriment.
C for Churches
I love photographing churches on my travels – they are such places of peace and beauty in an urban crazy paced landscape and often you can witness really beautiful intimate moments and listen to gorgeous singing full of emotion. They can hide so much inside them. One of my favourite memories was wandering away from my friends in Rome and entering into Trinità dei Monti (a Roman Catholic church) and being mesmorised by the singing of nuns it was spine tingling.
D for Dark Hours
You can fall in love with a place by wandering it at night time and that happened with me in Cusco, Peru. I could wander for hours at night here, it just to me became alive at night and the architecture looked alluring. It is a skill to capture beauty at night and I am still working on mastering it.
E for English Heritage Sites
Exploring these sites is a good way to learn about history, wander pretty gardens and mazes, admiring architecture and just contributing to maintaining the history in the UK. English Heritage is charity that looks after over 400 places in England. I took both my American cousin (on my Mum’s side) and my Nigerian cousin (on my Dad’s side) to visit Audley End, in Essex one summer and we had a swell time marvelling at the architecture and grounds.
F for FOOD
You cannot talk about travel without talking about food; it is so intertwined in learning about a country’s culture. Now food photography is a whole genre that I can make food look so appealing. I never really got into photographing food, always gobbling up my food before I snap but on my latest South American I got a few in.
G for Gardens
So my love of period dramas means I love a good daytrip out to a stately home and the UK is full of them and often within the grounds are beautiful gardens and mazes to enjoy like in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, UK.
H for Hot Air Balloon views
I took my first hot air balloon ride out in Egypt at sunrise over the River Nile and all I can say it was magical. I hope to take another one in the future.
I for Islands
Recently I was on Isla del Sol in Bolivia and I loved it. I spent two days just walking, taking in the sun, sleeping and eating all alone and it was glorious because this island was glorious. Islands really can be pieces of heaven on earth.
J for Jungle
Since I learnt about the Amazon as I kid I had wanted to visit this fascinating landscape for decades and this year my dream came true. Its truly an adventure of a lifetime visiting here.
K for KayakingÂ
Kayaking is one of my favourite water sports, which is odd given that I don’t like swimming! I have kayaked along the Dalmatian coast, around the island Lokrum in Croatia and this year I got to kayak in the oceans surrounding the Galapagos islands. Adventure activities like this allow you to get up close and personal with your photography rather than straining to take a picture from a big boat.
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L for Lakes
Lakes are a beauty to gaze upon and one of my favourites I visited was during my hike in Snowdonia, Wales of Llyn Llydaw – the lake that looks like the shape of Great Britain.
M for Mountains
My mother used to tell me not to climb mountains; now she’s stopped that when I would show her a picture of me on top of xyz and she just prays I come home safe. Mountains take my breath away so I won’t ever stop climbing up them even if I am the slowest!
N for National Trust
The National Trust is also a charity similar to the English Heritage in the preservation and upkeep of environmental and heritage sites but has a lot more sites and covers Wales and Northern Ireland (not just England). One staycation I had two years ago I visited Old Harry Rocks which are chalk formations found in South West England coast near Dorset.
O for Old Towns in Europe
Old town, the historic core of a city, are just great for wandering aimlessly but without really getting lost as most old towns of a European (or historically colonised) city tend to follow the architectural design of being focused around a square which is bordered by a church and/or governmental building. To some they can get repetitive, to me that is where the beauty of the city lies and the best place to people watch.
P for Parks
My favourite park is Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain. My first experience in this place was so peaceful.
Q for Quirky museumsÂ
What has been the quirkiest place you’ve visited?
For me visiting a toy museum in Basel, Switzerland. Don’t ask me why I did it but again it made for some interesting photos.
R for Rainbows
I often don’t get the chance to photograph rainbows, mainly because one, for me they often don’t photograph how I want it and two, I’m just taking it in so I don’t snap in time. However I have been lucky twice; one, when I visited Iguazu Falls in Brazil and the second time this year when I was in Vicabamba, Ecuador and I captured this beauty.
S for Sunsets
Sunsets are my favourite time of day! I remember once wanting to talk my boss into giving me sunset breaks when I worked in Oxford – it would not have gone down successfully I’m sure. They say ‘sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful too‘ and I could not agree more. It was difficult to pick one to share below as I could easily have a whole separate post on them.
T for Temples
I have visited only, a paltry one, country of the Asian continent and that was Thailand. Despite my love of travel its my least explored continent with me always being drawn back to Central or South America. However Thailand is in my top five places I’ve visited and I must say the temples alone had my camera memory card filling up quickly – such exquisite architecture.
U for UNESCO World Heritage sites
I have no idea how many UNESCO World sites I have visited since I begun travelling. However what I do know is when I visit them I’m always nodding in agreement as to why they were chosen.
V for Volcanoes
Nicaragua was the country where I attempted to hike my first volcano (and failed miserably doing so) on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua.
W for Waterfalls
‘Don’t go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to…’
So I never abide by this and thus on one occasion out in Ilha Grande, Brazil it was a race to find the waterfall and make it back before it got dark or we would have been stuck in the rainforest with the monkeys and neither of us had a torch!
Would I do it again?
Yep!
Why?
Well just look at this waterfall in Morocco…. they are worth the chase!
X for Xmas Markets
I try to make sure I visit a Christmas market every year during this festive time as you can get great captures of the magic of Christmas. I have a plethora of pictures of my time in Prague at Christmas on this blog post but today I share the Birmingham Christmas Market.
Y for Yacht life
I’m not really a luxury traveller, being an adventure seeking girl doesn’t often have me relaxing on a yacht and the two times I did they were on hen dos (go figure). Taking photos in a relaxed chilling state can yield different photos than I’m used to capturing.
Z for Ziplining
I’ve done this once in the forests of Nicaragua and once only it will be! It was amazing to do but my smiles of fear could be seen in all my photos!
And there you have it my A to Z round up of sharing my travel experiences through photography. I hope this inspires you to take photos from different points of views and of different things.
Happy snapping,
The 5 to 9 Traveller
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