Rural Views/Drive-by Travel Photography

Wales by bus
Southern Spain by train
Southern England by bus
Isle of Wight by car
Scotland by bus

More and more I've been thinking about the kinds of photos that I take. When I travel, photos seem to fall into two categories. There are some photos that I take that will remind me of the character of the place I'm visiting. The countryside, city streets and buildings, marketplaces and cafes, people going about their daily lives or people in costumes for special occasions, animals and plant life typical of the area-all of these capture part of a place's "flavor". The other category of photos is "the unusual"-distressed metal objects, graffiti, a unique sign, poster, or statue, an object see from a different perspective, culturally unique color combinations or patterns, a spontaneous unexpected event (dancers filming a video on the streets of Seville). I guess I'm kind of catholic in the images that I capture, not focusing on or confining myself to a particular genre.

The images in this post were taken while I was in transit and often while I was in motion. No, I'm NOT an irresponsible photographer/traveler, someone else was driving. Each of the photos was taken because it struck me as being somewhat representative of the land and the people. I have something to remember the place by, even though I wasn't able to make a stop and truly experience it. While I prefer to focus my travels in staying in a place and interacting with it for a few days, these "drive-by shots" are also part of the total travel experience. It makes me wonder what life is in that particular place and, just maybe, encourage me to revisit it at a later time. BTW- you'll notice that when traveling from place to place, I am happy to travel the secondary roads and avoid the bland highways.

A couple of thoughts about taking photos as we travel. First of all, you have to be constantly alert and camera-ready. If you're traveling with someone, this may not be the way travel because it certainly makes you less companionable. It also means that, even though my e-reader is nearby, no reading or dozing while in-motion. It really makes a lot of sense to me, I may never travel past this place again and I don't want to miss anything interesting during this one-time chance. Secondly, this type of photography is iffy at best. Part of the iffiness is your travel speed and your ability to catch the image as it is, instead of a blur. Hint: bends in the road/rails or sharp rising/falling elevations take care of this issue for you sometimes. There is also the "window factor" . If on public transportation, has the window been cleaned lately? Another aspect of "window factor is the current weather- rain streaks, dust storms lead to picking up the e-reader or dozing after a couple of thwarted photo attempts. Still, in the age of digital photography, you have nothing to lose by trying. There's always "delete" and there is no monetary cost to a bad photo.

I hope that you have enjoyed your visit. Time was spent writing about the ins and outs of photography rather than the actual places in Britain and Southern Spain. Perhaps you found this interesting. If not, I hope that you at least enjoyed the photos. Please feel free to stop by again. In the meantime, may your travels be intereting and enjoyable.

Kerry

p.s. I always enjoy reading any thoughts that you, the visitor, have as far as your own travel experiences in regard to what I have written. Feel free to post a comment here or e-mail me at kerrybryne@yahoo.com.