Travel Trends with Dan Christian
#1 B2B Travel Podcast. If you are looking to stay ahead in the travel industry, this new podcast hits all the highlights! The Travel Trends Podcast is where industry leaders converge to share & shape the future. Whether you're an emerging entrepreneur, a seasoned industry executive, or a dedicated travel professional, you’ll be able to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Uncover valuable insights, innovative strategies, and meaningful connections that will elevate your travel business or career to new heights.
Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Picture-Perfect: Expert Tips from 3 Top Travel Photographers
Want to elevate your travel photography game? Or learn how iconic visuals are shaping travel marketing? This episode brings together 3 industry-leading photographers, Paul Teolis, Kateryna Topol, and Jeffrey Garriock, to share their secrets on capturing unforgettable shots for top global travel brands. Plus, we have a bonus segment featuring Flytographer’s Natalie Schulte, who has created incredible in-destination images for thousands of travelers worldwide.
Whether you're working with a smartphone or a high-end SLR camera, this episode is packed with expert advice to help you create stunning images that tell a compelling story.
Here’s what’s covered in this episode:
- Essential Gear Tips: Learn how to choose the right equipment—from versatile smartphones to professional SLR cameras—and pack smarter for your trips.
- Lighting Mastery: Discover expert techniques for adapting to any lighting scenario, from golden hour brilliance to challenging low-light conditions.
- Composition Rules (and When to Break Them): Unlock the secrets of strong composition to create impactful, eye-catching images.
- Post-Processing Tips: Elevate your shots with recommendations on the best photo editing apps and professional editing techniques.
- Ethical Photography Practices: Natalie Schulte’s shares valuable tips on respecting local cultures, gaining consent for portraits, and creating meaningful, respectful imagery.
- Emerging Trends: Learn how AI and other cutting-edge advancements are redefining the world of travel photography.
Why Listen?
From capturing your own picture-perfect moments to designing content that commands attention from global travel brands, this episode offers actionable strategies tailored for photographers at any skill level.
👉 Listen to Picture-Perfect: Expert Tips from 3 Top Travel Photographers Now
🔥 Season 5 Title Sponsors: TravelAI, Stay22, Propellic, Flight Centre, Collette, Flywire, Traveltek and Protect Group.
Season 5 Launched Jan 15th. New Episodes Every Weds! Check out our first 4 Seasons.
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/
For me it's. I always try and focus on storytelling. That's usually what I try and teach when I'm teaching or when I'm talking about photography in general, and so I'll always ask people what is the story of this photo? What are you trying to tell me, like? What is the subject? Is there a beginning, a middle and an end? What am I going to take away after seeing this that I haven't learned already?
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to season five, episode three and our second installment of our deep dive into the role of travel influencers. Thanks so much for joining us. This is your host, dan Christian, and this series is sponsored by our friends at Flytographer, who specialize in providing professional photographers in more than 350 destinations worldwide so you can capture timeless memories with your families, friends and loved ones. As part of their support of Travel Trends, they are giving away a free photo shoot to our listeners and providing a 10% discount by using the code TRAVELTRENDS. Check out flytographercom slash travel dash trends for more information. That's flytographercom slash travel dash trends. Now, in our first installment, we heard from Hannah Bennett, the head of travel for TikTok, who shared many valuable insights about how travel brands are leveraging TikTok and working with content creators on their platform. We had so many terrific comments across our social channels, which included TikTok and YouTube, because we are now posting all of our new episodes in season five on YouTube as well.
Speaker 2:Now, for today's session, we're actually going to take a step back from discussing short form video and cover the essential art of photography with three exceptional photographers, one of whom I've had the privilege to work with really closely. Now it has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words and some would say that a video is worth 10,000 words. But there are many instances where a short form video just isn't possible, whether it be a brochure or a book cover, a billboard, a poster, and I'm sure we've all had an instance when an image just stopped us in our tracks. That was always the goal when I was working at Lonely Planet Guidebooks. We were so excited for a new edition to come out and see that final cover selection that best represented the destination. And it was the same when I was at G Adventures and we had to decide on one powerful image to showcase the life-changing experiences that would inspire people to travel with us. And then, of course, the expedition ship to Antarctica, as you'll hear from Paul Teolas today.
Speaker 2:So, as part of this series, I wanted to bring the OG travel influencers, the travel photographers, together for this enlightening discussion on how to capture the best travel photos on your next holiday. They're going to share tips about the type of equipment, from SLRs to smartphones. They'll highlight the apps that they use for editing and provide recommendations on lighting and how best to capture that magical moment to remember for a lifetime. Now, before I introduce our panel, I also wanted to acknowledge that we're going to have a bonus conversation with flytography photographer Natalie Schulte, who is based in Hawaii. She actually compliments this panel really nicely by sharing a number of her own tips, experiences and recommendations, so make sure you stay tuned for that bonus discussion after our panel. Also, we invited each of the photographers you'll hear from today to share the most powerful image they've captured and to give the context and share the impact that it's had. These highlights will be posted on our social channels, which will be on Instagram, youtube and TikTok, so make sure you check those out. At Travel Trends Podcast. We'll be right back.
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Speaker 2:And now back to the show. All right, it's time to introduce you to our esteemed panel that is surrounding me here live in Toronto. First we have Paul Tiolos, who was introduced to me by Bruce Putintip, the founder of G Adventures, and, as you'll hear, we were considering him for a marketing role at the time. He was actually a talented animator with a real passion for photography, and he would go on to become a resident photographer on the new expedition ship to capture extraordinary images of Antarctica. I'm thrilled that we reconnected, as I think very highly of Paul and had such positive experiences working with him.
Speaker 2:Katerina Topol, who runs photography courses. She runs a music magazine and shoots for travel and events, along with also running the Toronto chapter of Travel. Massive Welcome, katerina, glad you could join us. And then, rounding out the conversation, we have Jeffrey Geriok, who is a good friend of Paul's and also works with G Adventures, and he's not only a photographer, he's also a videographer as well, so he's going to give us some additional tips and suggestions. It's great to have you all here. Welcome to you all. Thank you for joining us, paul. Given our connection and our background, I thought we'd start with you, so why don't you please tell our listeners how we met and your journey as a travel photographer.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Dan. Well, we go back to about 2008,. I think when-.
Speaker 2:You don't have to put a year on it. Yeah, you don't have to, a long time ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah so we met through Bruce Poon Tip at G Adventures, when actually you were considering me for a position. Exactly that just wasn't quite what I was looking for at the time.
Speaker 2:And the person who did take that role, who listens to this as well. Yeah, atit Patel took the role, atit's become a really good friend.
Speaker 3:It's great when you actually know and respect the person who took a position that you had turned down and he went on to excel for sure, that role, yeah, exactly, greatly so.
Speaker 2:Um, and you went on to do exactly what you were meant to do which was to live on the ship.
Speaker 3:So the whole idea of um turning down a marketing position but having you send me to antarctica which would have been my second trip in 2010,.
Speaker 3:My first one being on the Explorer in 2005, basically realized that passengers on board ships need a photographer to help them with all their questions and how do you shoot in Antarctica, and how do you shoot in snow, and how do you shoot a penguin properly, and things like that. And so, even though I went down for marketing, I ended up actually helping a lot of the passengers on the ship and that ended up um causing me to like pitch, pitch to g you need a photographer on board the ship. So in 2012, that actually happened and and the photography and residence program is now is in its 12th year. The ship just sailed a couple of days ago and there's a photographer on board and I met Jeff through G at that point, an amazing videographer and a very talented photographer at the same time. So I've spent probably I spent a decade in Antarctica shooting, going down at a minimum of once, but mostly twice a year.
Speaker 2:And, as we're having this conversation because many people are either on their phones or on their laptops and multitasking just tell everyone where they could be looking at some of these images, because I want to make sure all of our listeners can actually wrap their head around just how talented a photographer you are. Because, as you mentioned, I had the opportunity to send Paul down to capture images because we had the new ship at the time and we were very focused on building it out in the brochure and we needed great images. So Paul not only went to capture those, but then it became part of your mission. How long did you spend on the ship at one point in multiple journeys?
Speaker 3:no-transcript shoot. I just built up my photography uh resume and you know 77 countries. Later, a few awards and it becomes a uh a side hustle.
Speaker 2:That's now taken over your life, so to speak.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, well, I'm sure so many people listening to this, their first question is going to be how do I get your job Right?
Speaker 2:That's the yes, and so many people have come to me, and this is why it's rare I would get a lot of pitches for people that were interested in going on G Adventures trips and being a photographer, but it takes a really talented person and that. But it takes a really talented person and that's part of what we're going to cover today is like there's a high degree of specialty and expertise to the work that each of you do to bring those images together. Obviously, there's a lot of amazing amateur photographers, and the technology we have today on our phones that we'll talk about as well is going to empower most people to take amazing photos. Not that they're producing the next cover for a brochure, as you needed to do, but we want to highlight all the different ways that people can do that. So, before we go around and bring the rest of the team into the conversation, paul, I do want to make sure that people can look at some of these images while we're having the conversation. So is it your Instagram account?
Speaker 3:that we should. So Instagram, obviously, for anything recent which is Paul Teol's photography. My website is linked on there and that has a much more broader portfolio of work that I've done over the years outside of Antarctica, traveling around other countries, going to festivals, for example, in Bhutan, where I spent several weeks there. So it's just an overall look at the variety of what a good travel photographer should be uh be doing nowadays yeah, that's great because obviously we connected there and this is where I'll bring everyone into the conversation now.
Speaker 2:But, um, I loved my time. It uh was gap adventures at the time, now g adventures, and clearly we got a chance to know each other and the reason I mentioned that is because we reconnected more recently. We had lunch together. We saw each other at a travel massive event. Our eyes locked across the room when we saw each other.
Speaker 3:Yes, it was very. It's like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and seen each other in years From the past, so I was so thrilled to see you and also thrilled to see the success you had gone on with G Adventures and working with Bruce and the whole team there and just the work that you've done, which is why I want people to go and see your images, because they're extraordinary and you are very talented, and so I think it'll give people an idea of what you've accomplished in the last. Now we can say it 20 years, yeah, or more, yes exactly.
Speaker 2:But let's bring Katarina in the conversation. Katarina, tell us a bit more about your background and how you got into photography, and travel photography specifically.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for sure, I think. As a creative child I was always into photography, and buying a camera was the first thing that I spent my twin money on as the only documentarian of our daily life living in Eastern Europe. But eventually, I think, I kind of decided I wanted to take it on a little bit more seriously and took a few classes, religiously collected UK photography, magazines and so on, and in time it kind of led me all to start my own travel blog, which over time became a much more significant part of my life, and as I switched into working significantly more freelance, I'm able to travel a lot more. And all of these different pieces when it comes to photography, I think, have also inspired my current journalistic passion and traveling with it and along. In parallel, I do run a music magazine, and so music photography is a whole other beast, just as this photographing in the Antarctica.
Speaker 2:But between those two things, music photography also takes me out on adventures across the world, and so combining the two of them is a really fun way to see that photography, but let's make sure everyone also can find your work, as we're having this conversation as well, so please feel free to mention the magazine and where best for people to look at your work while we're having this conversation.
Speaker 4:Yes, absolutely. The travel photography is, of course, going to be on my Instagram, which is at Katarina with the two R's, and my blog is called pathstotravelcom. The music magazine is called quip quipmagcom, and that one is actually going to showcase work of a whole range of other photographers across North America and UK.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool. Well, I'm keen to get to your tips and suggestions in a moment, because I can see the work that you do and I'm sure there is some magic behind it that you're going to kindly share with all of our listeners. But let's bring Jeff into the conversation as well. So, jeff, tell us a bit more about how you got into the space, and especially videography, because I'm sure you're going to share some great tips on that as well.
Speaker 1:Thanks, tim. Yeah, I've been doing this sort of thing behind a camera in one capacity or another for as long as I can remember. I remember in high school having a teacher who taught media arts and it was kind of the first time that I realized, oh, this can be a job, you can actually make money and make a living doing this. And that was really exciting because before it was kind of like we had one friend who had a camcorder and we would make stupid movies in our spare time and it was kind of just for fun. But I did the same thing as Katerina, where I got a camera with my first big spend of my own money type of thing and then would just take photos of kind of anything and everything that I could get my hands on. And travel was always the really big thing that I was curious about. So I always wanted to find out how I was going to do more of that sort of thing and I kind of lucked out where I was at the movies and there was a trailer before a movie for something that just looked like this wonderful documentary or something Like all these adventures were being had, and it was just an ad for G Adventures disguised as a movie trailer, and I was like I wonder if that place is hiring. And sure enough they were hiring a video person. And so I got very, very lucky and applied for that and ended up working there for a couple of years and after that every all of my clients because I'm a freelancer now and I do freelance photo and video everyone kind of came to me and and they're like you do travel stuff. If we were doing a travel thing could we send you?
Speaker 1:And now that's branched out into working with, like, I worked with a not-for-profit called Photographers Without Borders for a number of years and helped them sort of launch their documentary series. I worked with another not-for-profit called Giants of Africa. That's run by Masai Ujiri, who's the president of the Raptors, and we do quite a lot of work together. And uh, and now I've worked all the way up with even folks at national geographic, so you can like we had a series that was nominated for four emmys this year, which is crazy to say out loud, but um, yeah, it's so.
Speaker 1:Now I'm it's anything and everything, mostly travel, and I try and focus my my main focus is natural history and wildlife. I'm a bad at social media but I do have it. So I'm just at jeffrey garyock on instagram and you. I'm bad at social media, but I do have it. So I'm just at Jeffrey Garriock on Instagram and you can. I'm terrible at posting regularly, but you will see posts there and if I'm away doing something, I'll post stories in real time and you can see whatever I'm up to.
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Speaker 2:For most of our listeners, they certainly have an appreciation when they see an incredible travel image, whether it's on the cover of a brochure, homepage of a website or on social media channels much more commonly, and that certainly is the source of inspiration for so many travelers, myself included, when you see a stunning image. You mentioned NatGeo or National Geographic. Clearly, they've been known for decades for that exact reason an incredible cover shot. And there are travel journalism awards every year for the best travel photography, which I'm sure you guys all gravitate to, and I do as well, given each of your backgrounds and experience. I would love to start to break down and demystify for our listeners how this all comes to be, because it's certainly not in comparison to magazines like Vogue. It's not about the brush up and touch ups. After the fact, you really need to nail the shot in the destination with the right lighting. Sure, you can do some touch ups, but people can pick that up pretty quickly. If an image has been a travel image has been doctored. That's my view, but I'm keen to hear your take as well.
Speaker 2:So what I want to make sure, as I set up, our listeners, many of whom are going to be, more like myself, amateur photographers. I post a ton of travel photos at Instagram at DC trips. That's my handle. I'm not a professional photographer like you guys, but I love taking travel images and capturing a specific place in time. I love capturing people, I love culture, I love cuisine, so I sort of have the things that I gravitate towards.
Speaker 2:Um, but I'm I'm going to be able to use the tips that you're going to suggest today myself.
Speaker 2:I guess one of the best places to start would be on equipment, since I'm sure most people listening to this are wondering are we going to give tips for SLR cameras? Are we going to give tips for smartphones? And the answer is both, and, if anything, we're going to slightly over-index towards the tools that people will have with them, which is going to be their smartphone. So how best? And I know Katarina has run a number of workshops on travel photography, so each of you are well-equipped to speak to this, and so maybe what? I'll go back to Paul and just talk about the equipment you typically bring on a trip and again, this particular instance is going to be slightly more for a professional photographer, but at least we'll give everyone an idea of what the equipment you bring and then maybe you can highlight to our listeners what are kind of the essential if they want to become better at photography on their trips. What are some of the devices or equipment that they should consider taking with them on their next big travel experience.
Speaker 3:So, depending on what your destination is, I think it's relevant to what gear you would bring. Antarctica is its own beast because you've got to bring everything. You can't run to a store and pick up something because there's nothing there, so you really have to bring what you need to shoot in that location. So one of the things I was doing prior to a lot of trips is I made it open for passengers. You know, email me. What kind of gear should I bring? I'm a really light packer. I brought two camera bodies and three lenses zoom lens and wide angles. That's it. Tons of batteries and memory cards. I didn't over over gear myself because of the location, which is really easy to do, and, um, yes, for that location I had quite expensive, like my camera bar.
Speaker 3:I shoot with a Canon 1DX, which is, you know, their top of the line. It's perfect for wildlife sports and it's also a uh, you know, water resistant body. So, uh, that was my. Uh, you know I was carrying around 10 pounds, 10, 12 pounds with a lens, so it was pretty good. I was carrying around 10 pounds, 10, 12 pounds with a lens, so it was pretty good.
Speaker 3:But down there, it's essentially when I teach my workshops on the ship. It's just understanding how to see your shot and, because of my animation and film background, I'm all about composition, so I always taught even if you have an iPhone or a Samsung phone any type of mobile device composition is king, so how you frame your shot is key. The rest sort of will fall into place. I want to say it's kind of hard to take a bad image in Antarctica because it's just a stunning location, but you do have to learn how to shoot in snow with bright, bright conditions. But um, it's, uh, it's a matter of just once you hit shore, penguins are there. As I say, we guarantee penguins snow and ice. They're the first things you're going to see.
Speaker 3:Uh, so it's just a matter of finding locations, sitting down and sort of letting everything come to you, so to speak.
Speaker 2:And for other guests that were taking these trips that you were connecting with along the way. Clearly, many people who are going to go to a destination like that, or a safari for that matter, are going to bring a camera, even if they're amateur photographers. But given you're a professional and you've got the high quality gear, you're carrying around the 10 or 12 pound bag. But what would you suggest for relative amateur in terms of the equipment they should bring with them? Because I'm assuming on a trip like that, you would recommend an SLR camera over just a smartphone, or like what would be your essential recommendations for someone, cause that's an expensive trip I mean, it's a lifetime for many people.
Speaker 3:Well, my always rule of thumb was shoot with what you have.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Um, and that always will allow you to get uh images that are, you know, restricted to the length of your lens, a 7,200 down there. In most cases, we'll get you a good image because of the uh distance, the minimum distance that you can be from a penguin, which is still five meters, 15 meters, 15 feet, uh, that hasn't changed. That 7200 will get you great shots landscape, any type of wide angle. Iphones are great for that. I was shooting a lot of my iphone down in antarctica is that right?
Speaker 3:okay, yeah, stick it on yeah, stick it on white, you know, stick it on your widest, setting um your 0.5, your one, and shoot your vistas. It's great, um, mirrorless or slrs, it doesn't matter, point and shoots have zooms on them now. So, um, it was amazing what people were getting with what they had in terms of minimum, uh, amount of equipment, because some, just you know, some are using their ipads, which is becoming very common.
Speaker 2:What the interesting thing it's always funny to see people holding those up with a big screen. It's holding it up like a book and just shooting.
Speaker 3:It's like it's not really what I would do, but it works for people and some of them just want, you know, one image. I always stressed get one really great image you can put on your, on your wall.
Speaker 1:I'm fortunate to also work on the same chip that Paul worked on for many years, and it's a bit of a blessing and a curse, but it often has nothing to do with the equipment that you have in terms of how good of a shot you're going to get. It'll be the one person who happened to be in the right place at the right time, which is really encouraging if you aren't a professional and very frustrating if you are, because you can come with all of the equipment in the world and be perfectly prepared and have the long lens and have the tripod and the monopod and go there and you wait and then, you know, the ice breaks behind you and it's the person who's there with their iphone who happens to get this incredible photograph of the glacier calving off the side of the cliff or the you know whale breaching, while everyone else was looking the other way. So a lot of the time it's just being in the right place at the right time, not bringing the right thing with you. That's so true.
Speaker 3:Good addition. And the interesting thing about having a group of passengers on board is they'll do things that I would never do, and when they start showing me photos, I was going I would never do that and it's such an amazing photograph because they would break composition rules and just I was trying something funky and they get an amazing image and that's great.
Speaker 2:And, katarina, what else did you bring with you? And keen to set the stage for all of our listeners now. They now have a good idea from Paul what to prepare for the Antarctic, and I think that you highlighted it very well that it is a very unique ecosystem. In terms of preparing for the Antarctic, there are some unique circumstances you need to prepare for, especially with the lighting, but, katarina, I know you travel extensively all over the world and then if you're going to concerts, so tell us the equipment first that you bring and then tell us some of the recommendations you'd have for our listeners.
Speaker 4:Yes, absolutely. I actually just upgraded this year to a slightly bigger piece of kit that I've had for the last few years. I now carry a Fuji X-H2S, which also does better video looking after Jeff's talents over there inspiration. Before that I had a Fuji X-T100, which is one of the common ones. They're less and they're much smaller and something I would recommend to people, and otherwise my kit is actually very minimal compared to you, paul. I only carry a Prime 50 and a 23. And those are the two things that I travel with.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 4:That's it. I also have a small drone, but most of my collection is 50 is my go-to. I am obsessed with my 50 um. So in terms of tips, I think I 100 agree with paul is you can have the most expensive piece of equipment out there. But if you don't compose it well, it will be what it will be and as far as composition goes, it's it's.
Speaker 4:It's a few very basic rules and at first you might need to keep them in mind. You know your rule of thirds and just kind of using light and it will eventually become a bit of a natural habit to shoot that way. But in terms of equipment, a few things. I mean your iPhone. Your phone actually has significantly more settings in it when it comes to photography. A lot of people don't know that you can actually change the amount of light that your lens gets in an iPhone and that can make a wild difference in your nature shot or even indoors and in bars and so on.
Speaker 4:But the equipment in general, I had a lot of people recently ask me what they should get and my honest opinion is get what you can afford and that supports the kind of photography you'd like to do. So if it's something kind of travel in general. Get a piece of equipment that doesn't intimidate you and that you're willing to carry with you. I meet a lot of people who will get a DSLR and then they're scared of it and it's too heavy and then they just don't take it anywhere with them. So get something smaller, something less expensive, so you can get really comfortable with it. And the comfortable part of it will take some onboarding air quotes in there, but just kind of knowing what your exposure triangle is, I think is very important. I've also noticed with the workshops that a lot of people tend to underexpose their photos and you lose that crispness and the color of it all, and so I've just been constantly reminding everybody in those workshops to lower the ISO and raise their shutter speed and just let those colors shine, I guess.
Speaker 1:I'm so jealous of both of you. I have to travel with so much stuff. My small camera bag is 30 kilos and that's, I know, absurd, but I think it's very much a tool for every task. Like, if I'm shooting a documentary type thing, then in my bag I have a red Komodo, which is kind of the smallest cinema camera that you can still put on a big screen and have it look nice. I build it as small as humanly possible and then I'll have a Canon R5 for stills, but also a sort of as a B cam or in case something breaks down or you can't use it or whatever the case may be, and then I'll have a couple.
Speaker 1:The lens that I live on is a 24 to 105, because everyone. One of the questions I get all the time is if you can only take one lens, what lens are you taking? And it's always that one because you can have a wide, you can have a close up, you can frame up an interview, you could do like the very, very beginning of a wildlife shot or a documentary type shot. So I think that's the most critical thing. I love to carry primes if I have room, but I don't always. When I'm doing natural history. I have a 60 to 600 that comes with me, and then on bigger shoots I mean, sometimes when we do the things like for National Geographic, or I work with the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, and sometimes we work underwater then I have five checked bags worth of stuff. So that's not realistic. But the other thing is that's not what most people are trying to do. So if you're just trying to take photos that are nice for social media, I think it's important to keep your goals in mind, right, like, if you're trying to make a film, that's one thing. If you're trying to make one nice print for the wall of your house, that's another thing, and then you don't need 30 kilos of stuff, and then you'll get along just fine with one camera or with your phone. And in terms of tips, I know composition is really big for both of you, but for me it's.
Speaker 1:I always try and focus on storytelling. That's usually what I try and teach when I'm teaching or when I'm talking about photography in general, and so I'll always ask people what is the story of this photo? What are you trying to tell me? Like, what is the subject? Is there a beginning, a middle and an end? What am I going to take away after seeing this that I haven't learned already? Because nothing is more, I think, unfulfilling than if somebody's like, hey, look a penguin, that's not a very thrilling story, you know what I mean? Like it's cool to see and everything. But if someone can and sometimes it's just about filling in the blanks if someone can come to you and say, hey, this is an Adelie penguin.
Speaker 1:They're one of the southern most species of penguins. Only them and the emperors breed on the Antarctic continent and they overwinter there, which is really unique. They have this sort of coloration. In their youth they'll look more like this and then in their adulthood they'll look like this and they breed in pairs. You can see the two of them doing this sort of dance together, as the male and the female reconnect after one of them's been at sea and they trade off the egg. It gives you a lot more.
Speaker 4:I just fully imagined the whole thing in my head. Amazing.
Speaker 1:But so that's always. The dream is trying to think about storytelling. You're not always going to be successful and sometimes you know a penguin is just a penguin. But as much as you can try and bring that storytelling idea when you're composing a photo, I think you really get a lot more out of it when you then show it to somebody.
Speaker 2:My only example of that is that whenever I take photos and I post them on Instagram, I try and tell a story and if I don't feel the image does that on its own, I add some context. And my kids constantly tell me that it's cringe. And I look back at some of them and I've traveled extensively and I'm like I got to remove my commentary because clearly I'm I I don't give the um, the viewer, enough credibility that they could figure it out on their own. So it's one of the things I've actually learned on my journey that I just I just post images and, interestingly, I don't even post it. My wife and kids don't want to be on social media.
Speaker 2:That's this new generation, especially given, um, they live on Snapchat. So generation, especially given they live on Snapchat. So the idea, and if you find their Instagrams which I'm not obviously going to put out there, but they don't actually have any posts on them because they only ever use stories, so everything disappears, right and so anyway, I highlight that because if you look at my Instagram, it looks like I'm just a solo traveler traveling around the world, but I post sunsets, so sunset's my big thing and I would love tips on that, too, from each of you, because I had a close friend that had cancer. Thankfully he's still alive, but when he was going through his cancer treatment, he posted a picture every day of a sunset and for me, ever since that happened to him and I was inspired, I try and watch, I put on my Instagram that I capture every sunset that I see and I try and see as many sunsets because, no matter what, we only get so many.
Speaker 2:I'm sharing that because these are some of the things that I gravitate to with some of the images I tend to capture and share, because I'm sure some of the people listening to this will have follow-up questions which they can come back to you directly on, about lenses and some of the more hardcore equipment that you guys have described. But if we think about most travelers and I guess maybe we'll put iPads to a side but if we think about smartphones in general, the quality of the cameras that most of them have now, what would be some of your suggestions? And, jeff, let's start back with you. Knowing that both you and Katarina run a number of different workshops, I'm sure you get asked these questions all the time. What would be some of your suggestions, either on an Android or an Apple phone for how best to embark on that trip and capture really amazing images.
Speaker 1:Thing one is all phone cameras nowadays have quite a few manual settings that you can change. So thing one would be understand what you can change, Like get your advanced settings out or get your phone camera out and look around and see what you can actually change. Because if you know, you know on an older phone or a simpler phone it might be sometimes they just simplify everything to brightness, which is kind of a catch-all for the phone. That does five or six things for you and you can kind of just make it brighter or darker. But on newer iPhones you can do everything you would be able to do on a DSLR. It can be shutter, aperture and ISO, which is really comprehensive, because if you can control those three things you can basically operate it like it's any other camera. So the first thing would be see what you can do. The second thing I think is try a few things out is I find people get they second guess themselves when they're trying to fine tune anything, and so I always think if you're not sure what something is doing, crank it all the way up just to see. You don't have to leave it like that, but just understand the adjustment that you're making by going all the way one way and then all the way the other way, and that'll kind of give you a better idea of what adjustment you're actually making.
Speaker 1:And then, in terms of what you're talking about with sunsets, most phones these days will have an HDR feature, which is high dynamic range. That's a really good thing for sunsets, no matter which way you're facing, because high dynamic range, the way most phones do it is they kind of take two photos and mash them together for you, and so they'll take one that's exposed quite high and one that's exposed quite low, because when you're photographing a sunset, the sun is absurdly bright and then anything in the shade is going to be absurdly dark, and so most cameras can't manage both of those at once.
Speaker 3:So with HDR, you're effectively taking one photo of the very bright thing, one photo of the very dark thing, and the phone's putting them together for you, so you get the best of both worlds also, jeff, if you and you know, if you don't have hdr, um, the old film rule is just underexposed to let all the colors pop, so all that would mean is just close your aperture up.
Speaker 3:A lot of the cameras, and even the iphones now, have like a little ev plus or minus. You can uh sort of hit your thumb and you'll get a little square box and then, if you start pushing your finger, you'll get a little bar and you can overexpose or underexpose your photo and you see the results immediately, which is really great. And to jump back to the previous conversation which Katarina brought up, if you know the location you're going to, iphones are amazing for just doing street photography right, just something with a small prime and iPhones I'm using more and more now just walking around, you can get great results. Play with your composition, your narrative and storytelling, and some people I know are just using that as their camera of choice, and there's nothing wrong with that because the file sizes are big. You can get nice prints out of them now too.
Speaker 4:I think you guys got all the tricks of the camera, but my biggest tip would probably be use it like a camera. Pretend you're a photographer. The biggest mistake I also see people use, you know, along with the overexposing is actually not moving. They just move the camera and then you get too much floor or you get too much sky. But sometimes you just need to take a couple steps back physically and if something doesn't work like, look around, maybe there's something nearby in a slightly different direction that would work significantly better. And sometimes just literally physically moving and making, taking two steps in each direction and turning. You can find so many more interesting angles than just that one quick shot I'm gonna say, actually with an iphone if you want to up your game.
Speaker 3:I'm a big fan of uh, lightroom mobile for the phone. Uh, because my goal for my photos is is to up it a notch so I can do all my fine tuning that I would normally do with a raw image. So uh, and that you know Lightroom mobile?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Adobe Lightroom mobile is great.
Speaker 3:There's there's all kinds of, there's all kinds of tools out there. But I've been on that software since it was beta, so I've grown with it and I've just watched the changes, at least in the last couple of years. So anyway.
Speaker 2:No, it's a good point because I want to make sure that we give people as many specific and actionable tips. So if you have suggestions for apps that people should use.
Speaker 3:There's all kinds of stuff out there to work within whatever budget you have. There's stuff that's free, that does okay if you want to pay for it, which I do. I love the results I get, just to get a bit more flexibility, especially with high contrast images.
Speaker 2:Okay, so Lightroom Mobile by Adobe. Any other suggestions for apps?
Speaker 1:Effectively the same thing. But I'm a Photoshop mobile person just because a lot of the time I mean, I know there are kind of two types of people. There are the Lightroom folks and then there are the Bridge Photoshop folks and, for whatever reason, I'm the latter working doing events. Uh, you need to get those photos out that hour some of the time, so you. But the time between when you've taken the photo and when it needs to be posted is so short that, um, like with the r5, I can just copy the photo straight to my phone, get it into photoshop on my phone, do some quick adjustments and then send it to the social media person so that it goes out. So I have a degree of confidence, knowing it's not just going out raw or untouched or unlooked at, and that way you can also make your adjustments kind of in real time. You're not sitting, you know, in the middle of a field on your laptop or somewhere, somewhere like that. So Photoshop mobile I've gotten into for the same reason.
Speaker 4:I tend to. I don I don't actually use any of those tools, except if I absolutely need to. I'll use the iPhone built in. My personal rule is kind of to get the shot that I want from the start, and it was one of the classes that I took a while ago on Toronto. Image Works used to host workshops. He said something that really stuck with me, and is that if you don't have to do work after, and so I kind of aim to get all the images as much as close to the final as I possibly can, so that way I can pick them up from my camera that very minute and then post them as I want to, which I often get comments about how do I get them out so quickly? Because you do need internet for that, but just try to get it as good as you can at first as he can.
Speaker 2:At first, you raised a really good point, which is clearly you're a student as well as a teacher and constantly learning, so what would be some of the resources that you would point people towards that have helped you on your journey to be able to become a better photographer?
Speaker 4:Always recommend taking like your photography 101 class. Your local community college probably has one that either runs once a week or maybe runs for a weekend, and those are important because they will get into elements of photography and the basics like the exposure triangle and settings on your camera that you get in your booklet with the camera but let's be honest, nobody reads it unless I don't. But they will also force you to do homework, and if you have something that you have to do as homework you're more likely to get out there. One of the assignments that I had to do for those classes was to do night photography and be outside, and it was a little bit anxiety-inducing as an activity, but once I started it was really awesome, and so something like that, if you can afford it, that would be great. Sometimes there are single day workshops or two to three hour workshops, like Henry's and Vistack. Both do photography workshops for professionals and non-professionals. So look within your community and see if there's somewhere that you can go and get free learning even.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those are great suggestions, and Henry and Vistack are obviously Canadian retail camera stores very popular and those are the two go-tos, for as I unloaded my equipment today, I think that's where I got most of my things, especially Vistek, and so, um, those are great suggestions, especially for people in Toronto, but also just given our global listenership, I just want to make sure I clarify where those places were, in case they're looking for them. Wait a second, I don't have a Henry's near me. But, sorry, what else are you going to add?
Speaker 4:But I just remembered that quite a few of the primary cameras, so like Canon, fuji and Sony, they all have their own photographer programs and so they host events across North America that if you sign up on their different mailing lists, they host events that sometimes are paid, but they're like $10, $15 just to illustrate commitment and they will take you on shoots.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool, Great suggestions Both of those because that is going to be globally applicable. So, and I want to make sure that we highlight some online resources, because I mean, many people are taking online courses these days. So is there anywhere else, Paul or Jeff, that you would recommend that people check out to get themselves up to speed? Or where, where do you go to to learn more, get inspired?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. So I would say, come to my workshop in Nova Scotia um, next year. I go to. Honestly, I go to YouTube a lot. Um, if I'm, if I've hit, if I've hit a wall with like, what are they doing, what is somebody doing for, et cetera, et cetera, I'll just I'll Google it and pull up something on YouTube from a photographer or not. I also have a base of a lot of photographers that I talk to, but, um, as well. But I think the average person, the internet is an amazing resource for free, uh, free learning, learning, tutorials. Just type in I want to know what the exposure triangle is and you'll get tons and tons of resources online. So that's the most basic for me.
Speaker 1:I think that whenever you're trying to learn anything, there are known unknowns and there are unknown unknowns, right. So a known unknown is something you know what it is, but you know you don't know how to do it, and then unknown unknowns are you're completely oblivious to. And the internet is really useful for known unknowns because the more specific you can make your search, the more likely you can find something that's tailored for that, like why are my skies blown out? You can search that and they'll be like this is why here are 10 things you can do. Here are five different YouTubers that have covered this. You know, here are 10 different tutorials. Here's this, here's that.
Speaker 1:But when you're just like how do I make this better? That's a hard thing to search for and you could be doing 500 different things. Maybe you're taking a landscape photo and the person whose tutorial you find is doing portraiture. It's harder when you don't have those specifics. So for the unknown unknowns, I I find that the best thing to do is, if you know anybody who is a photographer, just like, hang out with them while they work.
Speaker 1:I have most of the things that I have learned that have really changed my process, or things that I've been doing have been from looking over people's shoulders while they edit, because I I've seen people do stuff and I'm like what, what have you just done there? What happened? I have no idea what happened and everything is better now and like I've learned so many things because I wouldn't have even known to ask that question Right. So I find that's I mean, that's obviously not a resource that's available to anybody, but I would say, if you're going online, try to ask a specific question and if you don't have a specific question, see if there's a photographer who will let you bother them for an afternoon. We'll be right back.
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Speaker 2:And now back to the show. Since each of you have kindly shared a number of great examples about how you can be better prepared to capture amazing images on your next holiday, I would love to talk about some of the trends that you're seeing in 2025 and preparing them with the equipment and some of the initial suggestions, although I'm sure there's lots more that we could cover. It would take multiple hours to give everyone the full one-on-one and run through, but I'd love to hear some of the trends that you're seeing, to the point of my example of what to avoid as well, to not be cringe, but what are you seeing? Good examples of people sharing today and how they're approaching. So I'd love to hear from you, Katarina. First, like some of the trends in photography of 2025. And please, by all means, feel free to mention AI, because that's a topic we have to cover too.
Speaker 4:OK, I also do, you know, as a part of all of this travel, I do quite a bit of food and beverage, and I think the trend that I've noticed over the last year which in part, I imagine is a bit of a Gen X outcome is flash Like. A lot of hospitality photography is using like really fantastic, obvious flash exposure, kind of mimicking all of those early 2000s party shots, I feel like, but doing it in a significantly more well-lit manner with three flashlights. But that still kind of is seen in a lot of people who aren't super into being content creators or anything like that, a lot of the Gen Z. These days they see them using older cameras, just kind of picking up all these old flash cameras, old field cameras and just kind of trying to get these built-in filters and slightly more interesting colors in their photography just by using their parents' equipment or finding it at stores and vintage shops. So definitely some of that.
Speaker 4:And I've seen a lot of creators starting to bring in a lot more kit that isn't your typical kit, um, but in terms of composition, personally, I've noticed over the last couple months and I feel like that might be creeping into the 2025 as well is, uh, stepping away significantly further, like having more of the scene and smaller person within. It has been kind of creeping up on my feed as a new perspective because it shows a bit more, I guess, range, but less focused on an individual that is in the photo, more so to show the contrast of the nature or the architecture to the individual, which personally is something I like as well. Ai honestly, the only thing you can think of AI is all of the cat photos and videos I see just chopping up little sushis and sashimis. That's quite funny.
Speaker 1:One thing I think is a great trend. It's more like a content creator, influencer thing than more of a photography specific thing. But it's finding a really niche specialty with a 360 camera mounted on his face and he just gets really, really excited about really really specific trains. And it's the sort of thing where, like, he's become hugely popular because we like how excited he is about his niche hobby, like it's not because we like trains, it's because he's liking trains in a really endearing way. But it's like that sort of thing where, like I follow a guy who tests public faucets to see if water comes out that's kind of all he does. Like it's bizarre to think of that person as someone with an audience of half a million people, but they've just found this incredibly tiny niche that they're really amazing at. So I think it's like, if you have a very, very specific uh passion, follow that, because everybody wants to be like a big travel uh photographer and photograph, you know, whales and and elephants and that sort of thing. But a lot of people are doing that not. A lot of people are photographing themselves the 360 cameras, they get excited about trains, but and that kind of leads into another trend that I see a lot in the natural history and wildlife space is people are really moving away from hero animals and moving into sort of success stories.
Speaker 1:He photographed a horseshoe crab on the bottom of the sea on a rebreather dive and sort of thing, where people only tend to see horseshoe crabs in zoos or in museums or washed up on the beach. And this was one at, you know, like a hundred meters down, crawling along the bottom and kicking up dust in a way we've never seen it before. But, you know, nobody's favorite animal is the horseshoe crab and it's sort of become center stage. And then one of the people who won another wildlife photography award this year I kind of forget his name and that's upsetting, but he photographed tadpoles spawning like a huge amount of tadpoles spawning in like a sort of green underwater, not a kelp forest, but something like that. And it's again like the tadpole is not what we think of when we think of dramatic wildlife and the image is amazing. And so I think people are really moving away from those sort of hero animals and trying to find stories that are, you know, new and different and novel and maybe relevant to conservation or relevant to how the climate is changing and relevant to you know, sort of different animals are becoming our focus, and so that's one trend that I'm noticing.
Speaker 1:And, in terms of AI, I have mixed feelings about AI, as I'm sure a lot of us do. I think the AI stuff that I like is where I see people using it intentionally to make something you couldn't have made otherwise. When you're using AI to, like, fill in the blanks or to create something that you could have gone out and shot yourself, I'm not a big fan, but if you're using it to make some kind of psychedelic dreamscape, I think that's really interesting because you couldn't do that on your own. So, like, I think, I'm a fan of creators who are really intentionally trying to use AI to do something that wouldn't exist otherwise. But yeah, well, it remains too early to say.
Speaker 3:I'll add to what Katarina said Getting the shot without doing a lot of after work is probably really important. It was very I don't want to say it was very easy when I was shooting film, but when you're shooting film, you slow down, you think about how you're shooting and you get the shot which is one of my favorite shots is from Antarctica that I shot in film. So taking that, the only thing I'm seeing is the overuse of AI in photography. It's what is distinguishing what a photograph is. Now, because people are purposely and I, you know, I'm not saying this as everybody's doing this, but people are are using the I'll fix it in post mentality. It's like, well, I took the shot, but I'm going to, you know, I'm going to take out all that stuff in the background. I'm going to get rid of the glasses on the table. Well, you could have done that before and you could slow down and pay attention to your background, blur it out by altering your f-stops. So AI to me, is getting overused in photography. Not so much, you know, I don't want to say it's all bad. I use the AI tools in Lightroom to help my matting, because in the darkroom, when I was matting photos, it's extremely time consuming. Now it's literally a push of the button and and you can alter it because you know, I know how to paint stuff like that. But shoot, shoot the photo right the first time.
Speaker 3:A raw photograph, or meaning a raw formatted image that you take on your iPhone, whether it's HEIC, or on your Fuji or Canon, which is CR2. I'm not sure what a Fuji, what's a Fuji raw? So you shouldn't JPEGs. Okay, I tend to shoot in raw. You have, if you shoot a raw photo, you have to sharpen it and you have to pump up the colors. But people are doing so much because there's so many tools available and I would say, like, slow down on that, because I have to ask, like what that you do to images?
Speaker 4:Pre-AI, it was people over-editing or double-exposing and composing photos to create something that looks significantly more beautiful. Now we're using AI to edit those images, and so there is often a run with experimenting. I think some of it is just actually misrepresenting destinations, and there have been a few scandals around certain destinations Quite a few of them are in Portugal that don't look like what they actually look like, and so, as viewers see those images, as your followers and so on, they see these destinations and then they become frustrated and disappointed because it isn't actually that. So I think a part of it that I personally think is one of my responsibilities is to show something as accurate as it is, and so that's just kind of like caution to the wind when it comes to AI and travel photography.
Speaker 2:You're absolutely right. I'm glad you mentioned that, because certainly there has been an issue with people posting doctored AI images highlighting places that don't actually exist. People have been hiking to waterfalls that don't actually exist, and I think there's obviously a lot of work that's being put into not only in the social networks but across the industry now to mark images that have been created with AI or even manipulated with AI. The thing I love about AI when it comes to images is just the ability to find them on my phone. Now that's one of the new AI features that Apple's just rolled out, with their new functionality to make it much easier to locate images when you've got 60,000 on your phone by asking for specific, calling out specific things in the photo, that it can then find that specific photo.
Speaker 2:So I used to always use geography, right, or just try and find a date, and then it's just the automatic formatting, which I'm sure you guys are all cringing as I say that, but I'm like that's literally that's my editing tool is the auto-correct feature that makes my images look way better than the one I just took, but just a little bit better and it's still real.
Speaker 2:But one of the things I want to make sure we cover together is what not to do and what you want people to just stop doing when you see it.
Speaker 2:So and a good example of that, of course, is doctoring images, ai and just just stop doing that and just stop manipulating people and making uh destination, because the world is beautiful enough as it is and, um, we don't need to um, um, live in this, uh, um, we don't need to live in the metaverse. We've got this incredible world around us and I think that's why we're all passionate travelers and we want to go and discover these places and we want to capture them and we want to inspire other people to be able to go and experience it for themselves. So, but what are some of the things you see out there that people are doing with photography or video where you just want to say stop. What are some of the things you should tell that you think people should avoid, so that people like me don't have to wait until I get home and look at my kids faces and to know what I should or shouldn't be doing?
Speaker 4:Not necessarily just about you know what your kids are going to say cringe. I think it's just about behavior and being considerate of where you are. Overtourism is a big problem now, but I think a part of it is because of behavior, and so you know getting people's consent when you're photographing them, being very cautious of what is a private space. What immediately came to my head is being in Albedo Bello last year, which is one of the top tourism destinations right now in Italy, and people photographing people in their private moments in their backyards having coffee because it just looks really romantic, because it's Italy and it's Albedo Bello, but it's not a museum. These are real people having their real morning coffee and just being respectful of private spaces, I think.
Speaker 2:I'm really glad you mentioned that. I just came back from Colombia and we did have the most incredible experience and as we were touring a neighborhood that's been had a lot of difficulty with gang violence and we actually were toured by a local gang in their neighborhood to show us and to walk us through the history one of the guys has said to us before don't take a picture of kids. And I was like of course I would. I didn't even cross my mind, but I guess it's an issue that they have.
Speaker 2:And even communa 13 and medellin, a lot of people want around take pictures of, you know, of poor families and, um, and I, it shocked me, but I'm like, of course people do, and I guess that's why I wanted to ask this question about for people listening to this that otherwise may not have taken a moment to think about it and realize that you know it's not a human zoo, and that was always the part for me that was just like I don't. I capture landscapes. I don't often take pictures of people for that reason, um, and certainly never kids, like I never take pictures of of kids. So I'm glad you mentioned a couple of those because if if at least one person listening to this stops doing that, it'll be a success. But yeah, I'd just love to hear any other suggestions you guys have as what you'd encourage people not to do.
Speaker 3:Well, let me build on both of your statements. So if you want to take people photographs when you are traveling, obviously ask permission. But also if you find a nice especially if you're off the beaten track, um, because I've I've traveled extensively in africa if you like a store, if there's something unusual, you can go in, obviously ask if you can take a picture, but buy something and support the local community, right, and that way, um, it's sort of it'll probably become a little bit easier to break a barrier down with the person that's there and they'll say sure, take my photo. That's how I've gotten some of my best images of people. I don't shoot too many images. I prefer penguins because you know they'll stay still. But there is a real problem with this of just putting cameras in people's faces and causing problems, and culturally in some countries it's a big no-no as well. So I'll just throw that in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I'm probably going to touch on the same thing. I mean, when we teach workshops, we talk about this, and one of the things I think that's important to keep in mind that people have a real trouble making a connection with is would you do this at home? Like the idea, because if you say to someone it's like okay, well, a photographer comes into the school that your children go to, doesn't ask any questions and walks up to your child and starts taking a photo, is that appropriate? Like no, that's absurd. And it's like, okay, well, that's what you're doing. You're doing that now. This is a school here in Nicaragua or in Cambodia or wherever, and you've walked in and started photographing kids because it looks idyllic or it looks like unique or interesting, do the thing and I would photograph them.
Speaker 1:And inevitably, eventually there'll be an interesting person or a street performer or somebody like that, and I'll get a photograph of eight people, all cameras up in a ring around this one stranger, and I would show them at that evening and be like this is what you look like.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine you're getting out of the grocery store and this happens to you, where eight strangers, kind of you know all draw the barrel of their camera on you at once and it's like you gotta think about it from from other people's perspective.
Speaker 1:And eight strangers kind of you know all draw the barrel of their camera on you at once and it's like you got to think about it from from other people's perspective and have that kind of empathy. Because I agree with Paul in that you can, most of the time, still get those images, but just take two minutes, talk to this person, try and make a connection. You don't have to speak the same language. Sometimes it's as simple as, like you know, making a camera, shutter with your finger and be like is that okay? Because a lot of people will say yes to you, and if somebody doesn't, then you need to respect that, because, I mean, I don't always want my photo taken. That's why I'm a photographer. I prefer being behind the camera, but if somebody is going to take the time to ask, maybe I'm going to think differently and it's just as simple as doing that.
Speaker 3:In the old days, I'll say mid-90s, so when I was doing real remote travel. There's no social media, there's no internet. It's like dad, I'll see you in six weeks, I'm in the middle of Borneo. I always brought a pack of cigarettes and some photos from home and because there's a big language barrier and we were really remote, um and uh, you're sitting on a cargo boat going down the Mahakam River. I had lovely cigarettes and then what that does is it builds this little community on board, as it did, and the local elder rolled clove cigarettes. I don't smoke, okay, I'll smoke a clove cigarette, but it allowed you to get photos and you know they would sit there and pose for you and you'd get really great images. Now do that nowadays? I'm not sure, but back in the day it's only 30 years ago.
Speaker 2:So to all those communities now that are addicted to nicotine, that's right.
Speaker 3:All the old people in the 90s Wait a second.
Speaker 2:There was a big spike of tobacco smokers. Wait a second. There was a big spike of tobacco smokers. But you're right about connecting with the local community and making sure that all of your only myself that all of our listeners can follow along on your journeys as well, or at least, if it's not real time, at least be able to see where you are posting when you come back. And so let's start with Katarina, and we'll go back around with Paul and Jeffrey as well to hear about your trip plans for 2025 and how people can stay connected with you.
Speaker 4:Well, my next trip is actually next week, which is probably shortly about when this is going to come out by the time I come back, but I am going to Europe and I do mean a continent, because we're going to be making stops in about three or four different places, but it's much easier to do when they are about 40 minutes away from each other by train. Next year, I don't have a ton planned as of just yet. The life of a travel creator and journalist is quite last minute, but from what I do have planned is a travel conference in New York in May and then a trip to London in June, which I'm hoping to really talk on to Ireland, because it's a place that I haven't been yet to and I'm really looking forward to seeing some fjords. And if you're interested in seeing some of these things as they happen, instagram would probably be the best place at Katarina.
Speaker 3:It's a complicated question for me, so I do hope to. The plan is to run my workshop in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and that will be on my Instagram and my website I'm not and that will be in May of 2025. Now, as a travel photographer I just want to bring this point up I'm not traveling right now, and the reason I'm not traveling right now is because I'm a I'm an organ transplant patient and I'm very conscious of having no immune system, traveling on planes, traveling on ships, and I can't do my remote travel anymore. So I'm focusing mostly on teaching and my workshops, and also I have a plethora of images that I have not even touched from Antarctica that I'm working on for shows and exhibitions and whatnot. So I'm in a little bit of a different boat with my current status, but I do hope next year to try to get to Jordan. That will be my plan.
Speaker 1:What do I have coming up? There's a lot of things I'm not allowed to talk about, but next week I go to Iceland, actually for for a music festival, which will be good fun, although that's mostly just recreational. I'll certainly have a camera on board. We're at an 11 year solar maximum and so I'm hoping to catch some northern lights, which will be lovely. I have a project in South Africa in December which I'll be sort of in and out after a couple of days working with Giants of Africa, and then I get back on the same ship. Paul's talking about going to the Antarctic in January and I will be down South January, february, photographing penguins and ice and whales and all that good stuff, and then, beyond that you'll have to see, the best place to follow me is also Instagram. So that's at. Jeffrey, gary and I do my best to post stories and I'll try again to be better at social media, but I'm I always. I'm very good for a few weeks and then I inevitably fall behind.
Speaker 4:Listen, the two or three that you post per month are fantastic.
Speaker 2:Less is more sometimes, for a social for sure. No, that's fantastic. Thanks so much to each of you, thank you to Paul, and obviously I just want to acknowledge, too, that we had this opportunity to reconnect and obviously, learning about the journey you've been on. I'm just so glad that you're on the other side of it, that you're doing so well and that I hope you have many, many healthy years ahead of you and you get to take many more incredible photos. So it's wonderful to reconnect with you, terrific to sit in this room with you and, uh, you kindly spearheaded, uh, bringing this all together. So, uh, special thanks to Paul.
Speaker 2:Thanks as well to Katarina, who I've got to know quite well over the last year and had a number of times to um, uh, at events that we've connected, and I just continue to see how you light up a room and I've always been keen to attend one of your photography sessions. So now I feel like I've partially attended one, but I hope that people follow up with both of you and Jeffrey as well. But, katarina, I know what a passion it is for you and seeing your work. So thank you again for making time for this and I wish you every success in 2025. And, jeffrey, great to finally meet you, despite the fact we passed like ships in the night at G Adventures, a company that clearly the three of us are connected to and had many great experiences with and and probably also owe a lot to each of our careers on the journey that we're now on.
Speaker 2:So, you know, thanks to Bruce and the team for giving us all the opportunities we had and and and being alumni in many ways of of that organization, and so you know some of the best friends and I have so many ways of that organization, and so some of the best friends and I have so many wonderful friends still there, and I just wanted to highlight, too, that I'm very passionate about that style of travel and I'm very bullish on the future of whether you call it adventure or multi-day tours.
Speaker 2:I think it's a very exciting next stage, and so one of the things I want to ask you about that we will highlight in some of the video clips is how one of your images had a big impact on either a business or on yourself, and so I'm just encouraging everyone who's listening to this to make sure you jump over to our Instagram account or YouTube account to see a video of Paul, katarina and Jeffrey highlighting their best image they've taken. But on that note, I just want to say thank you again and I look forward to keeping in touch, and I wish you all your travels in 2025. Thanks.
Speaker 1:Dan Thanks Dan Appreciate you.
Speaker 2:We've got another exciting conversation to bring you now with one of the photographers from our sponsor, Flytographer. She's based in Hawaii. The team, Nicole Smith and the team were like you have to speak to Natalie Hagelin. She is one of our best photographers, and so I was so thrilled that they nominated you and that you've made time to join us, Natalie. So thanks so much for joining us on Travel Trends.
Speaker 5:Yeah, thank you so much. I'm so excited to chat with you.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, let's give everyone, since they've heard a bit about Flytographer from me on this series, but I would love for all of our listeners to hear more about Flytographer from your point of view. So tell all of our listeners what Flytographer is and what you guys do.
Speaker 5:Yeah, what you guys do, yeah, so flytographer is a service that connects travelers with local photographers all over the world. So, whether you are traveling down the road or across the world, we can help connect you with a trusted local photographer in that city to capture incredible photos of you and your loved ones. We have hundreds of photographers on our team and hundreds of cities around the world, and I have personally been with the team for, I believe, over seven years now and I've shot for flightographer in multiple cities around the world. And yeah, flightographer is just an incredible, incredible service because we can capture incredible memories for our customers so that they can have just wonderful, wonderful photos to look back on, as emotional time machines to take them back to those amazing moments that they've experienced in beautiful places around the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's terrific. Thank you, Natalie, and I guess that's where I was so excited to speak to you, because not only had Nicole and the team raved about you, but I think, the world of Nicole and flightographer in the team. Of course, many of the team are based in Canada at least Nicole is in British Columbia, and this company is literally one of the best kept seekers in travel because it's been around for 10 years and you've been there for almost the entire journey, and so I'd love to hear more about your background. Obviously, people have heard you're based in Hawaii, which is clearly a spectacular place to be based as a travel photographer, I'm sure, but tell us a little bit more about your background and how you got into travel photography.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I have been shooting professionally for over 10 years now, and when I graduated from university, where I had already had my business established throughout my time in college, I moved abroad to Prague, czech Republic, and while I was there, I applied to join the flightographer team and they accepted me.
Speaker 5:And so it was incredible. For two years there, they accepted me, and so it was incredible. For two years there, I got to be based as a Prague flightographer, capturing incredible memories for clients traveling in from around the world, and as I transitioned back to the United States, I stayed with the, stayed with flightographer and was able to shoot for them in Houston and Austin. And then, when I moved to Hawaii, I shot for them in Maui when I was based there for a few months, and now I'm on the island of Oahu for the past five years. So it's just been an incredible journey with flightographer so far and, yeah, I just love everything that they're about from the inside out. Yeah, it's been so wonderful. I think I've hit 500 shoots with Flytographer over the past couple of years and so, yeah, lots and lots of memories made.
Speaker 2:That's extraordinary, that's amazing. So tell us actually the fact that you're based in Hawaii, but you've traveled and you've done 500 shoots. What are some of the most amazing places you've traveled to? Because one of our, our colleagues, a guy named uh eugene that works with focus right, he had just was going on a his honeymoon to greece and I said to him oh my god, you have to find out about flight photographer and he contacted the team and he booked his shoot and he messaged me afterwards like it was like the absolute highlight of our honeymoon was the photo shoot and he sent me a bunch of pictures and it was amazing to see um, and he was like I had no idea this company even existed. So, uh, but yeah, tell us some of the amazing places you've been to over the last seven years yeah.
Speaker 5:So it's obviously been amazing shooting in where I've been based for the company, but I've also used flightographer myself for when I've traveled in Miami, kauai, sedona, most recently in Ljubljana, slovenia for my honeymoon, as well as Dublin, ireland, and I've had photos taken of myself in all those places as well, and I think it's just the best way to travel is to book a photo shoot because I get to connect with local photographers there and, of course, as a photographer myself, we're immediately best friends.
Speaker 5:But I love that every photographer or flightographer that I've met around the world on my trips has allowed me to have such great local insight to where I've traveled to, especially because I try to book my shoot at the beginning of the trip so that I can get all their like tidbits and you know local recommendations. And it's so fun because I feel like it gives me this whole new experience in wherever I'm traveling, because I know where the best local coffee shop is or like those hidden gems for me to capture the best photos. You know when I'm not on the shoot and of course, I'm snapping away throughout the entire shoot or throughout the entire trip.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's amazing. Well, tell everyone a little bit about what the experience is like organizing a flightographer experience, because when Nicole had described it to me, because she had highlighted that many women, of course, are making decisions about travel and they go on these trips with their families and then it ends up being their husband and their kids in the photos and it looks like they're a single dad and they're not. Even the moms aren't in the photos at all. So it was clearly a problem that could be solved there that she identified and it's, you know, created this amazing business. But so that's partially my understanding of of why people would engage flightographer. But clearly there's honeymoons, there's so many great examples of where people want to get amazing photography on a trip. So tell us how people actually typically get in touch with you and then how the process actually works for booking a photographer on your trip.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's super easy. When you log on to the flightographer website, you can type in the city that you're traveling to and if we have photographers there which is usually the case because we are all over the world you can see the portfolios of the photographers that we have on our team. And I'll just add a side note that in the recruiting process not anyone could just be a photographer. You go through a pretty intense interview process where we make sure that our photographers, you know, are personalities easy to talk to, easy to love. So as you're looking through these portfolios, you know that they are trusted photographers on our team. You can check out their portfolios, see their reviews, see where their favorite places to shoot are, learn a little bit more about those photographers.
Speaker 5:For example, on my portfolio I mentioned that I am obsessed with dancing to ABBA all the time and I'm always listening to audio books, and so it's fun when I connect with clients who have similar interests as well, because that just it feels like friends from the start. But as you find that photographer you love, you can see their availability, go ahead and submit an inquiry to see you know if they're available and, you know, let them know where you'd like to shoot that kind of thing, and they can give you their recommendations on best lighting, best locations. All of that and then, as you're connected, a couple days before the shoot you reach out so that you can, you know, ask any questions you might have about the shoot or the um local area, local recommendations, um, you have all your information sent to you way ahead of time, so you know exactly where and when to meet and then, within um five days, you are guaranteed your gallery with your beautiful array of photos to look back on for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:That's so awesome. Well, I've seen the results and I'm definitely need to book something for a future trip, because we have otherwise relied on our, our iPhones, and I'm I'm an amateur, very much an amateur photographer.
Speaker 2:I do post all my travels at DC trips on Instagram. I've got a lot of friends and colleagues that follow that account and I, you know, I actively post sunsets and travel pictures, but I and it's exclusively my travel photography, but I'm literally just shooting it with my iPhone. So I'm keen to get lots of tips and I'm sure our listeners are as well from a professional like you. I guess maybe we can start on the question of equipment for people heading on their travel. So if people are looking to you cause I'm sure you get asked this from other friends and family if they're not able to actually do a photo shoot with you, they're probably asking you how best to get the best photos on their trip. So what would be your first recommendation when it comes to equipment? When should you actually have an SLR camera? When is it appropriate to just use your smartphone? You know your smartphone, yeah, what was your initial recommendation for people when it comes to the right photography equipment on their holiday?
Speaker 5:Yeah, as the resident photographer and every friend group and extended family group, people ask me this all the time and my number one tip is always the most important piece of equipment that you can have is the equipment that you're actually going to use. Because I've had so many friends who are like, well, I want to invest in this really expensive camera, but I don't want to lug it around all the time or I don't know how to use it, or, you know, I feel so overwhelmed with trying to learn all this new technology that I just give up and use my phone. So I always say that, like it doesn't matter whether you're spending thousands of dollars on a DSLR camera or you're using the camera in your pocket or you want to go for a disposable camera. You know, and just not worry about it. That's the most important thing, I think, especially with technology these days. Like your phone is great. So if you're feeling overwhelmed with capturing great images, just start with your phone and get used to taking those photos and training your brain to look for those incredible moments and then, from there, see how you want to level up. If it's to get family photos, maybe it's just getting a tripod to carry around with you so that you can set that up easily when you're traveling and take a self timer, you know photo with your family or my I love the OctoBuddy to just have in my purse, that I can just stick my phone to you know a glass window or whatever to get those great photos.
Speaker 5:I also love easy mirrorless. I'm a I'm a Fujifilm girl myself, so I love recommending mirrorless cameras like the Fuji XT 100, I believe, is a really easy kind of mid range kind of point and shoot vibe, but with high quality photos. I also love fun, fun alternatives like camp snap is a really cool camera option that is like a disposable camera but it's digital, so there's no screen, so you can just take a photo. You're not worried about checking all the angles. It allows you to be in the moment and capture those photos, move on and you get to download them and enjoy them later. So there's a lot of different options. Um, there's a lot of different options. I think it depends on what helps you be in the moment when you're traveling, while also um, you know, capturing those memories, which is why I always come back to flightographer being the best hack for photos is that when I was on my honeymoon.
Speaker 5:My husband does not want to be an Instagram husband. He doesn't want to worry about taking all these pictures for me throughout the trip. He wants to, you know, take a couple and move on. And so I love that flightographer allows me to guarantee that I'm getting those great photos with him in the photo and then we're done in 30 minutes to an hour 90 minutes, you know, depending on where we are and how much time we want to shoot. But we check that off the list and then I don't have to worry either about annoying him throughout the trip of like, oh, we didn't get that perfect photo yet.
Speaker 5:And as a photographer I've also seen that from countless moms especially, who are like I have not been in a single photo this trip and I can't get my husband to take a bunch of photos and I don't want to bother him with that. But I want to be in the photos and so it's so nice to be able to take that weight off of mom's shoulders, because she knows that she's going to have beautiful photos and memories to look back on and that's her little emotional time machine where she can look back and remember how it felt to, you know, hold her kiddos on this trip when they were little. Even when she's, you know, looking back on these in 15 years and her kids are like mom, why are you looking at these old photos of me?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so funny and those are great suggestions. I wasn't familiar with either of those specific cameras but, as you're chatting because many of our listeners I always try and call out, because everyone's sitting in front of a computer or has their phone in their hand but I pulled those, but I pulled those both up. Uh, the Fuji XT 100, which, uh, it looks like a fantastic, uh, mid range mirrorless camera.
Speaker 2:That's around that thousand $1,200 price point Um, um, and then the camp snap was uh, it looks very cool as well, Like they're like 80 to a hundred bucks and so it's perfect, Like and I think this is where I actually bought my wife a nice camera when we did our trip to Africa and I thought she'd be super excited. My son ended up using it because he loves photography and my wife used her phone and I use my phone. So this is where your point about just whatever you're comfortable shooting with. So I think those are a few great options. I would love to now know when you're in destination and trying to, as best as possible, create the right environment, like the framing and the lighting.
Speaker 2:You specifically called out the lighting, and that's one thing I have heard from a photographer friend of mine is like it's all about the lighting. You know, especially that golden hour. So tell us a little bit about the factors that you can control or should be aware of controlling to try and get a great image. So you've got whatever equipment you're going with and our earlier conversation with the three photographers that many people will have listened to. Just before our conversation, they were highlighting the number of older passengers that are using their iPads and holding up these massive screens and but that's what works for them. They're like they're traveling with their iPads and they take photos with their iPads, but yeah, so, whatever device you're holding up, what do you want to try to make sure that you are going to be able to control in the scene itself to capture some amazing images?
Speaker 5:Well, I love that you asked me this because a couple of years ago, flightographer actually put together a course on how to take better photos with your iPhone and I was part of that. So I was telling all the tips and tricks for taking better photos with your phone or camera or whatever you have. Obviously, golden hour lighting is just a photographer's favorite words to hear. That hour after sunrise or the hour before sunset. When the sun is low in the sky, you just get that Instagram filter, soft lighting directly to your skin. It's great.
Speaker 5:But I always try to avoid, you know, super harsh light. Where the sun is shining directly into your face it's creating harsh shadows. Sometimes you know that's all you can do is shoot what you've got. But I try to shoot most of my photos early in the day or closer to sunset, when the lighting is just a little more forgiving, especially in the morning when most people are still in bed. I love to get up early, at least once a trip, to be able to take photos of, you know, the city that I'm exploring or wherever I am, because it's just the easiest when you eliminate those distractions. But when you're working with what you've got for example, the sun is high in the sky, I always try to keep it out of the frame. So if you can see the sun in your photo, it's probably going to wreak havoc on your photo because it tends to blow out colors. It's funky lighting so I try to keep the sun just behind. You know, whatever I'm taking photos of and out of the frame, that's always my trick is I like to stick to the shadows because I find that's the easiest to kind of work with in terms of lighting.
Speaker 5:I also always recommend, like, get a little, get funky with the angles.
Speaker 5:You know I try to when I'm shooting professionally, if I have one pose set up, I'll try to shoot it.
Speaker 5:You know, close up, medium, far, far away, shoot it from low, shoot it with something you know in the foreground to try to give some of that visual interest.
Speaker 5:So you know, if you feel like you have this great background and this great pose set up but the photos aren't working, you know, try to mess around with the angle before you change anything else, because it might just be where the camera is in relation to your subject. So I always recommend, you know, try to get creative with shots and you know what if they don't turn out great, they're in the vault, no one's ever going to see them again, and so I think for a lot of people they get so caught up in this fear of taking a bad photo that it prevents them from taking any photos at all. And my camera roll is full of terrible photos. But because I keep shooting, I know that those great photos will also come to me, and so I always tell people don't be afraid of your camera, like it is a tool, but you've got everything within you already to capture those beautiful images, and it just comes with practice and confidence.
Speaker 2:Those are all great suggestions and I would love to get a few more on the iPhone, specifically because it clearly I know I'm going to benefit from this, but I'm sure the majority of our listeners are going to be using their smartphones and most of them are going to be using Apple iPhones. So I'm always amazed because sometimes my son will just take my phone and then adjust the filters or like, and I'm like it's. It doesn't come naturally for me, so I would love for you to be able to share with our listeners some of those additional hacks or tricks to be able to when you don't have the golden hour, you don't have other things going in your favor.
Speaker 2:How can you use some of the software technology on your phone? To make up the difference.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. I. I'm a big fan of portrait mode and I'm speaking off in iPhone terms because that's what I have, so apologies to Android users. Hopefully some of this will still be applicable to you. But portrait mode is fantastic because it's going to give you that depth of field or blurry background, as people love that gives you that high quality look. And one of my tips for shooting in portrait mode is put it instead of the 1X, put it in 2X, so it's going to shoot a little closer up. That's going to give you that greater depth of field look that mimics your professional camera lens. So you'll need more space for these photos because you'll have to be further away from your subject in order to get everything you want in the frame. But if you're shooting at portrait mode and that 2x function, that is going to give you that mimic, that professional photo look. And also a lot of people don't know that when you're shooting in portrait mode, in the top right you'll see a little f icon for your aperture, your depth of field. You can adjust that as well. So higher numbers means that the background will be less blurry. A A lower number, like 1.4, is going to mean that your background is a lot more blurry, and so you can also adjust that. So, for example, you want that portrait mode look, but you still want the background to be visible and not totally blurred out. You can adjust that depth of field as you're shooting, or you can also do it as you're editing on your camera, on your iPhone camera as well. You can edit that depth of field as you're shooting, or you can also do it as you're editing on your camera, on your iPhone camera as well. You can edit that in post as well, which is really cool. So I've used that before.
Speaker 5:And another tip that I have is burst mode, which is especially helpful for if you want your Instagram boyfriend to, you know, get awesome candid photos of you looking around, and my greatest pet peeve is I'm like get awesome candid photos of you looking around, and my greatest pet peeve is I'm like take a candid photo of me and they take one photo. I'm like no, I need you to take 50 photos and then I'm going to choose one. And so if you hold down that camera button and slide it to the left, I believe I'm messing with my phone. Now I think this might just be on regular photo mode and not on portrait mode. Yeah, if you hold down that shutter button and then slide it to the left, you'll see numbers going up.
Speaker 5:That's the number of shots that are being taken, and then you can go in and select your favorites and delete the rest. So your camera roll isn't plugged up with 5 million photos. But that's great for if you want those candid photos or if you have a wiggly toddler that doesn't want to look at the camera, all you need is that 0.1 second of them looking at the camera while you're holding down that burst, and that will get you that picture perfect photo that you've been struggling with by taking one photo every five seconds. Sometimes that's just not going to happen. So burst mode and portrait mode are my favorite ways to level up your iPhone photo game.
Speaker 2:Super easy. All those are fantastic suggestions and I was just playing around with it myself and you've taught me already that I didn't realize it was available to me. So this is cool. But the other thing I wanted to ask you too. Uh, when it comes to editing your photos or you know, the auto, versus making adjustments that I used to do, I used to dial up the warmth. That was like my one. My little hack was that when I was choosing the options to try and I would I would go right to warmth and I just dial up the warmth and it just made the picture feel much more cozy and like um and and added color to people's face. I would just everyone, just everything, and everyone just seemed to look better with a little bit more warmth at it. Um, but I know so many of the settings.
Speaker 2:Settings now you're just like automatic and sometimes I do the automatic and it just it, um it makes it look fake, and I think that's where, like it can make it look great, or so my kids have taken to tell me, like stop doing that, don't pick the auto like option you can. You can tell that it's been so. Yeah, so when it comes to those simple little techniques to enhance the photo, after what would you suggest you should play around with? What would you suggest you avoid?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So I think that using that auto edit function is a great starting off point, because if you don't have any experience with editing photos, you know it's all about practice makes perfect right, and so going through first and just understanding what each of those functionalities do as you play around with, you know, exposure, contrast, warmth on different photos For someone who doesn't have any experience editing photos, that's a great place to start is just sit down, choose a couple different photos and different lighting and backdrop situations and go from there. I personally love adding a bit of contrast to my photos, especially if you're shooting, you know, in really soft, even lighting. Sometimes it can almost wash everything out a little bit, in my experience on the iPhone. So, adding a little bit of contrast. If you're shooting in harsh shadows, where parts of the photo are super dark, some are really bright I like to decrease the shadows. That helps to give you a little more even lighting. I also always love adding a little bit of saturation. I like colorful, bright photos, especially on my iPhone. So that's a great place to start.
Speaker 5:Or if you're wanting to get a little more in-depth and once you're feeling more comfortable with editing, you can play around with Lightroom. Mobile has all those same buzzwords that you'll have learned in your camera roll editing, like exposure, contrast, saturation, warmth, tint and it allows you a little bit more control over those. And if you're wanting something easy, presets are a great thing to try out as well. A lot of people you'll see maybe influencers or, for example, flightographer also sells a preset pack that you can purchase and download onto your Lightroom mobile. That will give your photos, you know, that immediate edited look and you can, you know, go from there.
Speaker 5:I always say a preset is a starting off point. It's not a final product. So if you're playing around with presets or editing tools like that, know that it's not usually a one, one click wonder, but it's a great place to get you 90% of the way there and then you can go and adjust from from that point um to make those little tweaks. So if you're feeling confident in editing and you've started to, you know, get some of those, those editing tricks under your belt. Presets are a great way to go on your iPhone as well.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. Those are some really terrific tips, and I'm I'm sure everyone's taking some notes out of these and I'm is there somewhere that's taking some notes out of these and I'm is there somewhere that, uh, when you mentioned about that course itself, uh, rather than me just asking you another series of questions, which I have many more on this, but, um, for those people who are interested in learning more, even after listening to this, is there some places you would encourage them to go and either check out that course or even just where you would actually direct people to get more information and stay up to speed on how to take better travel photos?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so everything can be accessed through um. The website flightographercom is a great place to start Um. We have an incredible blog series. So if you look up flightographer blog, I've actually um written quite a few blogs as well for flightographer as well as the rest of our amazing team. A lot of blogs with photo editing hacks, photo taking tips. You can find our course there as well, and that is a wealth of knowledge. To find online is through the flightographer blog. I also share some tips on our social media as well. I used to be the social media manager for Flytographer. I've since moved on and we have a new social media manager, but I do still share some tips on there occasionally as well. So our Instagram is a great place for getting travel inspiration and tips as well.
Speaker 2:Cool, that's great. I didn't realize. I don't think I'm following that yet, so I'll I'll be sure to. And um, and the other thing I wanted to get into while, uh, I have you here for this conversation is around the concept of the importance of influencers, and the reality is this is the way I've looked at it in the travel industry for many years is that you know, everyone that's taking a trip has the potential to inspire others, and so trying to harness what we've referred to as user-generated content, getting people to share their pictures and use hashtags that was sort of one of the big initiatives that we had underway for many years across brands is to try and actually just encourage people to post on social, but to be able to do so in a way that was more discoverable and more accessible and which would showcase, because clearly it made a meaningful difference, especially when you took those images and you put them on the brand website to be able to show people traveling with that group of travel brand or that adventure travel company.
Speaker 2:So I know the short answer to the question is are photos and images valuable? It's like they're incredibly valuable, they're so important, which is why we live in this world with influencers that are out there creating amazing shots that are convincing people to go to destinations they may never have thought. So I know the answer, overwhelmingly, is yes, it's valuable, it's important. But I would love to hear from your experience some of the things that you've seen from the photo shoots you've done from your own personal photography photography or, obviously, the work at flightographer about the impact, uh that images actually have had. So is there any sort of uh examples you could share with us that would kind of kind of really bring home that point about the importance of you know creating great images and how they inspire other people to travel yeah.
Speaker 5:So obviously, flightographer is a photo as a photo company, a photo based company, photos are, you know, just absolute gold.
Speaker 5:But I think that what makes photos more valuable is the story that they tell, and so photos with that story, where there's so clearly joy and wonder and excitement, those photos just radiating from them, those are the photos that are going to connect with other people, inspire travelers.
Speaker 5:And so, you know, I think that, with everyone having a camera in their pocket, everyone has the opportunity to take a great photo, and even a meaningful one. But I think that creating space for creating memories together is such a powerful tool and opportunity for us to be able to give to families and couples and people who are traveling is to say, hey, here is space for creating magical memories together. We're taking care of the capturing of it, you just enjoy it. And so, as a flightographer in Hawaii, I've gotten to see, you know, capture moments where parents are dipping their kids toes into the water for the first time, and I think it's so cool that I get to be the one capturing that for them, so that they can just enjoy and be completely immersed in that moment together. And that creates an amazing image because it is full of emotion and love, and so that's what I love most about.
Speaker 5:My job is to be able to take the stress off of people of capture, feeling like they have to capture all those memories, and that allows them to feel free, stress-free, feel completely immersed in those moments, and then that creates those incredible photos and memories that we, as a company, get to share, to inspire other people, and it allows them to think, hey, like these are all just normal families and couples and people on vacation Like that, those amazing moments are totally in reach for me and I can't wait to start experiencing that for myself too, or continue experiencing that hopefully.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's a really good point, because the odd selfie is okay, but the idea of trying to get pictures of yourself and the fact that we all do spend far too much time on our phones, I'm terribly guilty of that.
Speaker 2:It's an addiction for many of us. For a reason, it consumes us and it grabs our attention, but then we also hide behind the camera and so we're not present in the moment because we're too busy filming and we're looking at the screen rather than actually looking at what's happening live in front of us. So that's a really important point. The other thing I'd love for you to share with us is, um and clearly you've captured many amazing photos over your career, especially with 500 shoots Um, if you wouldn't mind sharing one of your favorite travel images that you've ever taken and and how that came about, and so I just and then we can share that with our listeners as well. We can share the uh, the image that that stands out to you as our listeners as well, we can share the uh, the image that that stands out to you as as one of your all-time favorites.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so there's one shoot that always has stuck with me with um Camille and her family, um, who were traveling to Hawaii with their son, and they we just all immediately connected. We were best friends, like we were just chatting the whole time. Her son is just the most bubbly, bubbly kid on the planet and they just really have invested in travel as a family experience throughout their entire lives, and so they booked a shoot with me in Hawaii and I just remember thinking like, wow, what a cool, what a cool family that they have taken the time and investment to create these memories with their son. And at the end of the shoot there was a white feather that drifted onto the sand and she told and we took a photo with it and she said that that was.
Speaker 5:She had always seen that as a sign, I believe, from her dad who had passed on, and so seeing that moment where they could just be together and then that sign from above, it just was a really cool experience to be a part of, to see that I wasn't just taking Instagram worthy pictures, I was really capturing a special and emotionally important moment for them on their trip and I don't know, I just always remember that moment of of her just being so excited and and having that photo, photo to look back on, and so I love that I'm getting to be not only a tool for families who are on vacation, you know capturing great photos, but also getting to be a part of their travels and you know getting to share, share my experience and knowledge to make their trip better and help them create even better memories than before.
Speaker 5:And I've gotten so many kind words and feedback and texts sent to me after just saying how thankful they are to be able to look back at those photos and memories. And I think, especially for me as a former elementary school teacher, I love working with families, with young kids, and I think that, kind of quickly pivoting back to my, one of my tips for taking better photos as well for families is just letting kids be kids and knowing that the best photos are not always the one where they're. You know standing straight and smiling the best and you know doing all the right photo picture things to create a great photo, but just having fun and making memories with each other. The best photos come from just authentic time together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's great. I mean the fact that you get that privilege to be there for those magic moments where people are creating memories that will last a lifetime and you get to capture that in some way that they can. You know, they can put it up in their house, they can keep it in their wallet. There's just like there's it's for, you know, a lifetime of posterity and I guess that's uh, you know, a privileged position to for you to be in. If it's like a, a proposal, or you know that's um, it's uh, it might be one of the greatest moments they experience in their life and you're there. It's kind of like, you know, being a wedding photographer in many ways, provided it's a great wedding and it all works out.
Speaker 2:But in terms of those people who are now intrigued about Flytographer because obviously you know, we've had three great photographers as part of the opening to this session and now they've got a chance to meet you One of the things that stood out to me when I was speaking to Nicole and the rest of the team at Flytographer because Nicole was on the Travel Trends podcast that was actually initially how we met we did a women's series and she was such an amazing guest and we've kept in touch ever since, and that's just the amazing thing about the show.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden, you become friends, you become business partners and she's sponsoring this series, which is just fantastic, and I'm getting to learn more about her business and now getting the chance to meet you. One of the things that she called out is that 40% of the bookings are typically families and nearly 95% of the bookings are women, like either moms or females, that are making the bookings, and so this is a shout out to all the guys out there Uh, it's taught. If you're looking for a great gift, uh, you guys offer gift cards and uh, I think the new tagline was capture the feeling, relive the magic of this whole idea.
Speaker 2:You know, it's more than a photo. It's memories and it's giving the gift of memory. So, uh, yeah, I'd love for you just to finish off by making sure that any of our listeners, uh, can find out more information. I know we've already mentioned the website, but if there's anything else you want to share about flightographer or even actually to book yourself, it's one of the things I was looking on, cause you can see it, I can see how to hire a photographer. I haven't gone through the steps myself. I know you guys have like 350 destinations. I was like more than 4 million images out there and, again, I was amazed how long flightographer had been around before I discovered it. But, yeah, can someone actually book you specifically as part of the flightographer the process?
Speaker 5:Yes, you can book me specifically. So if you head to flightographercom and type in Honolulu as your destination, you will see me pop up, at least for the next couple months, until I make a move to California in the spring, where, wherever I set up, you will be able to find me in that city as well. I'm not leaving flightographer Um and we have incredible, incredible flightographers all over the world and I will shout out all our amazing flightographers, um, on the Island of Oahu as well. They've all become great friends of mine. Laura, another flightographer here on Oahu, actually captured my proposal, so she is a great friend of mine.
Speaker 5:So, yeah, I love that. Our group of photographers around the world really feels like family. I've met so many of them around the world really feels like family. I've met so many of them and every single flightographer on our team has felt immediately like friends and family to me when I meet them online or in person when I travel. So, yeah, that's what I love is that it truly is a community and a worldwide family that is just so excited to share the love of travel and capturing beautiful memories for each other and our incredible customers and, yeah, just having a great time exploring this beautiful world that we live in.
Speaker 2:Well, that's fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much for making this time. It was a real pleasure to speak to you. I'm definitely going to be following along on your journey and learning some more from you on photography, but certainly good luck with the move. I wish you all the best for 2025 and definitely keep in touch with us. But all the best to you and the team at Flightographer.
Speaker 5:Yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for joining us on this latest episode of Travel Trends. I hope you enjoyed this discussion on travel photography with Paul, katerina and Jeff, along with our bonus discussion with Natalie. Don't forget to check out on our social channels to see their favorite travel image, how they captured that moment and the impact that it had. I really enjoyed recording those, so be sure to check those out on our social channels at Instagram, youtube and, of course now TikTok. Special thanks, of course, to Flytographer for sponsoring this influencer series and, as a reminder, we are giving away a free photo shoot to one of our listeners, as well as offering a 10% discount with the promo code TRAVELTRENDS. You can find out more details at flytographercom slash travel dash trends. That's flytographercom slash travel dash trends.
Speaker 2:Now our next episode in this series will feature a travel writer and filmmaker named Ash Bhardwaj, who is based in the UK, and he recently published a book called why we Travel A Journey in Human Motivation. Make sure that you don't miss out on that conversation, because it's truly fascinating. He's had some extraordinary travel experiences that have been featured on the BBC. He's written articles for a number of different publications and he's a really fascinating individual. He's just had his first child and it was perfect timing to catch up with him and get his take on travel.
Speaker 2:Make sure that you're registered to receive all the updates on our new episodes on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your episodes of Travel Trends. Just make sure you are subscribed to be alerted when the next episode goes live. And don't forget. You can also register to receive our monthly newsletter on TravelTrendsPodcastcom, where we send a summary of the latest episodes for the month, some of our partner offers and also our latest travel plans with the conferences we're going to be at. So thank you again for joining us. Really hope you enjoyed this discussion. Until next time, safe travels.
