Nomadic Vision

Archive for the ‘Sources of Inspiration’ Category

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.

"Icebergs float on Laguna Torre as sunrise light graces Cerro Torre in the distance, Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia, Argentina" - Ian Plant

When I started photography – I lapped up every bit of information I could find on the subject. Anything photo related interested me. These days, I rarely read something that stirs and inspires me as much as I used to get when I started. Occasionally however, one pops up that leaves me feeling just like I’m starting out again – motivated, inspired and awestruck.

Ian Plant has just returned from an epic trip to Patagonia. He is a massively talented photographer and writer and his most recent article definately motivates and inspires – even after a nightmare journey home from Spain.

Please note – the above photo by Ian Plant, taken from his article.

Life by the BBC is one the best natural history documentaries I’ve ever seen. The camera work is phenomenal.

One thing I’ve never been able to work out is how they get their dynamic time lapse sequences. Time lapse photography is straight forward enough, but the shots in life include actually moving through a scene that takes place over a few seasons.

After been blown away by the time lapse sequence in the Plants episode, I was stoked to find out that they included a behind the scenes section to show how they made it.

For your benefit, here is the behind the scenes section:

A diver sells his catch along the Wild Coast of South Africa

I read a forum post on a travel site recently on which country had the friendliest locals. I was quite surprised to see that six of the eight people who responded said Turkey. Turkish locals must be super friendly to get such an overwhelming vote (I’ll confirm this when I visit in August).

What was also quite surprising is that no one voted for South Africa. It was then that I realized that many people who travel to South Africa would count Johannesburg as part of South Africa. If you want to get technical, it is, but the Johannesburg locals are definitely not representative of the average South African.

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With so much information readily available on the internet and increasingly less spare time, I’m always looking for the most efficient and friendly way to process that information.

I’ve settled on Google Reader, an online RSS reader.  With Google Reader, I’m able to browse through 200+ blog posts a day in under 30 minutes.

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Portrait of a Nompumulelo child dreaming of being a star.

I had one goal for our three week trip to South Africa – a township shoot. I’ve realized that township may be a word only recognized in South Africa, so here is my own interpretation of what a township is:

In South Africa, there is a large gap between the rich and the poor (the second largest in the world). Generally, the poor end up working for the rich as cleaners, gardeners and so on. Outside of every major affluent area, there is an area where the “poor” set up a temporary home. Initially, they look like slums (squatter camps), but once permanent residents begin to settle, houses are built (by the government) and the squatter camp gets referred to as a township

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Kilchurn Castle by Lewis Golbourn - www.lewisgolbourn.com

I draw a lot of inspiration from the work of other artists. Sometimes, viewing great work will inspire me to travel. Other times, it will be the source of a new shoot idea.

I’ve created a gallery with a few of my favorite images from the Nomadic Vision flickr group. Be sure to check it out and hopefully, be inspired.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow, Russia - Michael Kenna

I may have a new favourite photographer, Michael Kenna. Just too good…

This video gives some insight into the world of Michael Kenna and what he goes through to capture his vision.