As a travel photography instructor, author and international tour guide (see PhotoWalkingTours.com), my main goal is to help photographers of all skill levels - from beginner to advanced amateurs - to recognize and successfully capture more and better photo opportunities on their travels, whether venturing around the world or around the corner.  

In 2010 I was part of a humanitarian trip to Cuba, and I'll be returning in April 2011 and hopefully at least once a year indefinitely (ask me how to join future trips).  Having photographed in over 40 countries on 6 continents, Cuba is now my favorite destination to photograph, so I thought I'd use it as the backdrop for this article about bringing back a well-rounded portfolio of images that truly gives your viewers a sense of the destination you're shooting.  It's based on a class I teach called Capturing the Essence of a Place.

Any comments or questions would be welcomed.



Yep, 8000 air miles on less than two dollars.

It was the morning I was to leave Kolkata, West Bengal, after 3½ weeks in North-east India. I took a rickshaw a few blocks to a bank for cash to pay hotel expenses and have a little for the taxi to the airport. I didn’t want to return with foreign currency, so I withdrew the minimum necessary. 

Snake!

But this wasn’t the slithery, scaly variety we’d seen nearby. Ancient hands had pecked it deeply into the black desert varnish of a boulder. And it seemed to point straight into the narrow canyon slicing the cliff in front of us.

What born-and-bred desert rat, much less devoted photographer, could resist following a pointer like that?