Like so many photographers, I love to travel and to photograph the world around me.  Whether close to home or in distant lands, there’s nearly always something worth gazing at in wonder, just taking it all in.

Staring at things will hopefully give you an eye for what you like in an image – and if you’re like me you will then want to take a great photo as an aide memoire or souvenir of the scene, and how you felt at the time. (I have no idea why English people need to remember everything in French!)

As this blog is generally about making photography cheap, I’m not trying to suggest that to take great photos you need to do lots of expensive travelling.  It’s simply that, if you are travelling, you should take the time to enjoy your photography, no matter how cheap or expensive your gear is.  The photos you take on your travels will naturally feel more interesting and exciting to you than the more everyday shots near your home – and travelling throws up some wonderful opportunities to capture great images.

I thought it might be worth sharing a few ideas for things to try when travelling, which are free, cheap or at least well worth the expense.  They’re all things that work for me, and hopefully might work for you too!

You don’t need to travel far to get some great photos

It’s always struck me as weird that people will take a camera on holiday and take photos of absolutely everything, but when they go on a day trip to fantastic places in their home country with family and friends, and not bother taking a camera at all.  Take a camera with you everywhere – it’s great practice.

Don’t be afraid of including friends and family

Having photos of and with the people closest to you is really important.  Sure – you probably can’t sell them and enter them into competitions, but you can pass them on through the generations and get some great moments. Plus they will actually mean something to you – and you will therefore look back at them again and again.  You can still take some beautiful photos (even with your ugly mates and relatives in!)

Take a boat trip…

There’s so much to see at sea (or on lakes and rivers) and the time you spend sitting and staring means you notice things and take photos that you might otherwise have missed running around.  Nearly everywhere you go on holiday, it’s possible to get a boat, and they hardly ever cost much.  Just be prepared to jostle your way past other tourists!

Learn to stitch a panorama

Lots of phones and some cameras can do this for you in-camera, these days – but to get a truly huge effect (horizontally or vertically) you need to take several stills and combine them: