Nomadic Vision

For the last 17 days, I’ve been living a long time dream – a trip to Iceland. Generally speaking, reality never quite lives up to the expectations of a dream. This was not the case in Iceland. It is a landscape that is impossible to prepare your expectations. There is no other place on earth that I can compare to Iceland. It is a spectacularly beautiful, wild country.

I’m off to Croatia in a few hours, so I don’t have the time to write a trip report, but watch this space, Iceland will be the source of many a post to come.

Here are a few random pictures from Iceland in the interim.

Some of my favourite images are in part to the inspiration I've found browsing through Marc's work.

Being a travel photographer, you would think that I’m never short of inspiration. Truth is, I often come back from a trip feeling completely flat, worn out and uncreative. It took over two months after my trip to Spain to have any interest in travel photography. Luckily, I am able to balance this out by playing in another genre – portrait photography.

As my Iceland, Greece, Croatia and Paris trip approaches far quicker than I can naturally recover, I find myself needing some instant inspiration. What never fails is a trip to the website of landscape photography superhero, Marc Adamus. I call him a superhero, because there is no way any normal person could take the photographs that Marc seems to produce with frequent regularity.

As it turns out, Marc also needs to be inspired and wrote this post about photographers who inspire him. I had never heard of Tristan Cambell, but his work is breathtaking, simply some of the most evocative landscape photography I’ve ever seen.

There is one obstacle that seems to keep almost all photographers from breaking through to that seemingly unattainable next level. The photographers who are thriving today all seem to have overcome it. Fear is that obstacle. It is fear stopping you from approaching that publisher, displaying your work publicly or asking that quirky but cool wedding photographer for a date.

Amongst photography circles, it seems most people fear approaching and shooting strangers. Craig Tanner hosts a workshop for conquering fears and just about all the photographers say shooting strangers on the street is their biggest fear. Now I’m sure most readers will have shot the occasional long lens grab shot or the sneaky wide angle, no look quickie, but the type of photo I’m talking about is getting right in some-one’s face with their full knowledge and permission.

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A fleeting moment of wonder celebrating Patagonia's crowning glory by Ian Plant

Two weeks ago I posted a link to a fantastic article by Ian Plant on Patagonia. Anyone who enjoyed the article will be pleased to see that he has put part 2 of the article online.

If you enjoy the article, be sure to leave Ian a comment. Articles of that quality involve a lot of work and he will appreciate the feedback.

A slow shutter speed conveys a sense of peace in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park in Spain that only the movement in the clouds betrays.

As we travel and photograph different locations around the world, we’re starting to build up a comprehensive photo guide to different locations.

This guide is now available at the following location and will be updated every time we visit a different location.

Please add any suggestions in the comment field of the page – whether it be suggestions for improving the page or suggestions for places to visit.

I love this promo video by Sony – shows how far a little creativity can take you.

Locals scramble to take cover from a crazy bull during a bull run in Vejer de la Frontera in Spain.

If you’re reading this from Brazil, check out the Pangaea project, which aims to unite cultures through artistic expression including photography, poetry, visual arts, music, and theatre.  The project will be exhibiting work from 30 photographers from around the world, including some of our own travel photography. Here is the biography to our section.

Secondly, this blog was featured in an article on top 100 travel blogs by photography-colleges.org. Check out the post, there are some fantastic blogs mentioned that are well worth subscribing to.

Twlight decends over the peaceful fishing village of La Isleta in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park in Spain.

It has taken a week, but I feel that I’ve finally recovered from a 17 day road trip through Spain. As tiring as the trip was, it was the 33 hour trip from Barcelona to London (thanks to the ash) that was the killer.

Of all the places we visited in Spain (and there were many), the Cabo de Gata Natural Park was by far my favorite.

The park is situated about 50 kms from Almeria. This is quite convenient as Almeria has an airport and many car rental companies.

Why should you visit the park? Pick from any of the following reasons:

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