Lesson Info
32. End of the Road
Lessons
Class Introduction
11:45 2Travel Photography: The Challenges
09:49 3Travel Photography: The Rewards
07:03 4Setting Expectations & Research
21:48 5Travel Gear
19:13 6Health, Safety & Security
11:09 7Gear: General Advice
06:20 8Gear: Cameras
15:56Gear: Lenses
12:48 10Gear: Tripods
15:44 11Gear: Filters
04:08 12Gear: Camera Accessories
13:33 13Gear: Final Thoughts
03:55 14Camera Checks
04:20 15Technique: Camera Settings
13:30 16Advanced Techniques
13:00 17Workflow & Composition Ideas
07:42 18Scouting
17:33 19Locations: Blue Mosque & Charles Bridge
06:08 20Locations: Opera House & Dumbo
05:12 21Locations: Ait Ben Haddu & Taksang Monastery
04:51 22Details: Buildings
05:15 23Details: Pattern
14:51 24Details: Collections, Vignette & Close Up
09:20 25People: Street & Candid
08:46 26People: Telephoto & Chaos Theory
07:08 27People: The Walk Away & The T-Shot
08:38 28People: Environmental Portrait
15:37 29People: Building Trust & Classic Portrait
07:05 30Wildlife
08:44 31Events
08:19 32End of the Road
09:35Lesson Info
End of the Road
Well, we have come to almost the end of the class, the End of the Road, which just means we'll have to choose a new road to go on. So I wanted to give you some final thoughts, kinda get you out there and go out there to shoot the best pictures you've ever taken. So, my formula for taking great photos, is you need four things. Number one, you need a camera. Any camera will do. Certain cameras I like a little bit more than others, but that's like everyone. You need a little bit of time, so schedule time in for creativity, cause you need that time. It takes time to work out these problems that we've been talking about. If you're unwilling to roll down the car window, you may not make it as a travel photographer. (laughter) If you're unwilling to get up before 8am, you may not make it as a travel photographer. And so, sometimes getting up early and walking that final flight of stairs to the top of the hill has its pay off in some way or another. And you're doing this right now, increasing ...
your knowledge of photography, of locations, of working with people. Anything you can do that improves your knowledge level is going to improve your photography, in my thinking. So, when I think of what is a great travel photograph. It starts with an interesting subject, but we're not just snapping a photo like we talked about at the beginning of the class. We're working it. We're getting the right exposure, the right focus. We're trying to shoot it under the best light. We're figuring out what's the best timing for that shot and we're trying to work it into a pleasing composition. And so, it starts with an interesting subject. But there's a lot of work that you have yet to do to turn it into a great photograph. Now we come back to that question that we asked about earlier. What are you gonna do with your photos? Why are you taking all of these photos? I'm sure some of your friends might ask you that question. What are you gonna do with all those photos? Well, there's a couple of things. First, you can do nothing and be absolutely proud of it, because I love the process of taking photos. Even if I never got to use them, I would still go out and use photos. If for, somehow, digital media just dissolved after 12 months, I would still be going out shooting photos cause I enjoy looking and experiencing the world doing that. But that is a bit of a waste, cause you went through a lot of hard work and you've probably got something really good to share with it. So you can use it for personal reasons. It's gonna be your screen top, desktop. It's gonna be a photo album that you jump into every once in a while just to remember that one great trip that you took. You can print things in a lot of different ways. You can obviously make books very easily on that these days. I made a calendar for my family with all my family holidays. Not the Fourth of July and New Years, Brian's birthday, and Jennifer's birthday, their anniversary, so that people knew all these things. And so that's a nice way to share your photos with your family. And there's many different other ways that you can print things in your living room from your great trip. I get one good photo from every trip and put it up. That's a good idea. You can share things online, like Instagram, and Facebook, and so forth. We did talk about selling things. There is that option. That'll drive you down a different path. But the one thing that I would think about, and I've talked about this before is, creating stories with your photographs. Random, interesting photographs are a place to start, but if they're connected to something larger it makes it a lot more engaging because people love stories. These photographs connected to these. Maybe you're gonna take a whole collection of photographs that are very similar, in different parts of the world, and then putting them all together really opens up people's eyes to seeing things in a new way. So think about all the different ways you can tell your own stories, of your own experiences and your things that you experience and see traveling. What can you do with them? I tend not to like rules in many cases, but I have come across a few rules that I live by. You can choose to live by these or not, but I think these are good rules for a travel photographer to abide by. I've mentioned this before, but it's very important. You gotta feel well to shoot well. And so, staying hydrated, eating food, getting enough sleep, skipping events so you don't miss an entire day, skipping a day so you don't miss the entire vacation. Keep yourself feeling healthy. How much ever time you need, you can probably always use another 30 minutes. So if it's really important, schedule in that extra time. When you meet somebody and you wanna send them a photograph follow up on that. That's gonna help everybody, all around. It's just doing your part, following through on your promises. I watched a lot of information about this class. I wanna do a lot of research. I ran across a photographer who came across, or wanted to come across, that he would go to any lengths to take a photograph. Security guard asked me to leave, but I said no! And then I hid around the back side, and then I was running over here, and I snuck in over at the last minute, and I'm like, you are making things worse for everybody! Don't do that! And I will be careful here, I will say, I'm not saying that you can never break the rules. Just don't make it worse for everybody else. And so, don't be the one person that goes, okay, nobody does that anymore because we had one person who trampled over all the flowers. Don't be that person. This is a little pet peeve of mine. Oh, one more shot! Oh! That was great! One more shot! Oh! That was great! One more shot! Oh, that was great! Stop saying one more shot! (laughter) Unless you are absolutely sure that that is your one shot. Use some other phrase other than that one. (laughter) Mentioned this before, we're not paparazzi-ing on our subjects. One photographer per time. When they're done, the next person can step in. If everybody wants to continue on, everybody gets better shots. My number one rule of travel photography is just don't try to shoot everything. There's a lot of things. You're there to travel. Take photos and experience. Just enjoy things with your own eyes. There are many times I see people snapping photos, and I'm just like, this really isn't the right time to be taking photos. I'm just gonna enjoy this experience and look at it with my own eyes. It's okay to put the camera down cause some situations just don't need to be recorded with a camera, And so, enjoy yourselves out there. Incorporate photography as much as you want to. I'll leave you with this final, little bit here. A lot of people wonder because I have had the opportunity to travel to a lot of locations, Where do you like to travel, John? Where is a good spot that you think is great for photography? And so I'm gonna give you my top 10 travel destinations. And these will likely change every month, or every year. Alaska Mountainous Massive Magnificent. Iceland Ideal Intense Independent Classic Colorful And sometimes kooky! (laughter) New York City Of course, big. Bold Beautiful This is kind of a big one. Europe (laughter) Tasteful Timeless And I love the texture. An even bigger one. Extreme Evocative Engaging This is like the wild party in the group. Incredible Inspiring Intense My favorite road trip area. Unbelievable Unusual Unique I'm looking forward to the next one! Spiritual Sensational Serene Five times and counting. Affable Accessible Active So those are my, ten favorite. And I'll leave you with a classic quote that you can now begin with now.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
TOnya
As usual John has been an awesome instructor. He is so energetic and fun. I love taking his courses and this was no different. I absolutely loved it. I have learned so much by taking his courses. Thanks John for all you do to help us beginners out.
Melissa Maxwell
So inspiring! This class is so comprehensive and I look forward to applying all of Greengo's tips. He is a wonderful instructor and the example photos are breathtaking.
a Creativelive Student
John Greengo was fresh, exciting and entertaining. He was extremely well prepared for this class, and I loved hearing little nuggets from such a seasoned travel photographer. The course provided great content and ideas I can take with me on my next trip!