Justin Guariglia – Ten Tips on how to photograph a foreign place from the inside

Justin Guariglia offers his tips on taking culturally accurate travel images.

To me, most of these tips are common sense. Some just crack me up. Par exemple, tip #1: "Have an interest in the culture you're photographing". Well duh, you made the effort to get all the way out there so I assume the traveler/photographer has some sort of interest. But I can see this being applicable to a fotog who has to come up with a story on small town-nowhere.

Buuuut, the more I read these, the more I feel that they are valid and good advice for all travelers, not just ones with cameras in hand.

The one I am most impressed by is #6, See movies or work of photographers from the region to get to know culture’s visual aesthetic. I simply hadn’t thought about this before, and I think its great research to do before traveling somewhere.

For techy people, refer to #s 4 and 5. Some people think that the more equipment they have the better the shot, and this (to a degree) is just not true. Photography is an aesthetic perception of one’s surroundings or ideas. One thing I didn’t like about the Karnow lecture was her comment that she is good at manipulating a situation to make it look real. Yuck, I hate the very idea of it. I love natural lighting and have only started using flashes November of last year. I love my SB-800, but you won’t see me trekking around Peru with 5 additional artificial light sources.

Tip #3 is vital in order to get a good local sense of the place. For example, the Lonely Planet guide was my father’s bible when we traveled to Vietnam. We hit all the restaurants it recommended and I really wasn’t impressed at all. About a week into the trip I caught a terrible cold in Hoi An and craved nothing but pho (beef noodle soup). We made our way to a local noodle stand where no tourists were seen. To the amusement and amazement of the shop owner, I devoured three bowls. That was the best damn soup I’ve ever had, and we wouldn’t have found it in Lonely Planet. Lesson of the story: you can use guidebooks to a certain point, but talk to the people there if you want a true experience.

Along with that is #8. At the Nat Geo lecture with Catherine Karnow back in February, she suggested walking around for the first few days with camera in tow but not shooting. This helps to slowly integrate you and not come off as the asshole travel-paparazzi (my interpretation of her words) to the locals.

#9 also stands true. Landscapes are beautiful, but that’s because you are experiencing it. Show people experiencing the beauty (or ugliness) of a place. It can only make your image stronger.

(P.s. I left out #10 because although I am guilty of this, I also feel that as a photographer you should be mindful and selective of the images you capture, and shooting on auto-mass mode doesn’t necessarily a good photo make).

Guariglia will be presenting a lecture at National Geographic on his experience photographing inside a Shaolin temple, whose monks rarely allow cameras into their environment. Let's see how he's incorporated his travel shooting tips.