Worth It

Travel photography is most often people photography.

Of course, people don’t have to be in every travel oriented image, but people make the world go round. At least, that’s what I think.

Take a look at these pictures.

There are crowds, Young, old, friends, shoppers, workers and portraits.

They were made all over the world, in Bangkok, New Orleans, Ohio, Copenhagen and beyond.

They are happy, watchful and mostly just doing their thing. We learn something about some of the people in my work.

In the top picture all those people and more, rolled for a local character New Orleans called Uncle Lionel. We learn the Buddhist monks like technology.

Way down, in the last row of little pictures, there is a woman in a window smoking a cigar. Today she is a district judge. And, next to her are two Black Masking Indians (Mardi Gras Indians) who are big chiefs. They weren’t suited up on the day I made the picture — The Tenth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall,

There are stories in every one of these pictures. Stories about the people in the pictures and stories about their places, places that we visit.

When I’m on the road I try to take my time, hang out and talk to the locals. I think everybody should. That’s how we come to know the world.

One more thing, since this is blog about photography, a little photography advice.

When you photograph people on your travels, don’t photograph them from behind or from across the street unless that’s appropriate.

Talk to them a little bit, get to know as best you can in a few minutes.

How else would I know that the Thai farmer, the guy in the yellow straw hat, from way upcountry, was more worldly than you would know.

When I made a series of portraits he looked at me and in very broken English asked, “Digital?”