It is at this time of year when the snow is on the ground and skies are dark and grey that we dream of better weather as the year matures. During the months from January to March a good percentage of travel plans are booked. This gives people something to plan and look forward to but more importantly, the earlier in the year you book, the better chance of getting the flights/destination/accomodation of your choosing.

So you may have booked your trip and you are just now impatiently awaiting for the time to come. True you probably still need to arrange many things and possibly purchase a few supplies for your journey such as clothing, etc. but there is plenty of time. This time allows for even more preparation for your trip.

One aspect of travelling we think of is taking photos. They may be just quick snaps to show where you have been, who you were with or who you have met. Or maybe you are hoping to capture some real top quality images, possibly to show publicly? Getting these photos may even be the reason for taking this trip. Whatever the reason, a bit more thought and preparation will yield much better images for you to show whether it is to friends and family or even for publication purposes, and will look even better in years to come.

Our Travel Photography Course is the ideal way to prepare for your trip. Not just in strict photographic terms but will also give you an insight in planning a trip, particularly for those who are not very experienced in planning a trip. In fact even before you book anything, this course will give insight into the best ways of going about it.

For those who are just interested in taking quick snaps, this course will be of benefit. Most of us now display are photos publicly on the Internet in social networking websites such as Facebook. We all know how poor some of the images we come across can be. With a bit of knowledge and training your photos will stand out on these websites. Simple things like understanding the lighting conditions can improve your photography immensely.

For the enthusiast photographer who wants to improve their skills, this course is ideal. It will take the quality of your work to the next level. This isn’t just about technical issues such as exposure, it is also about understanding the lighting, weather and getting to know the people and locality you are in. The course shows how best to immerse yourself into the surroundings of your destination.

So if you’re planning or have already booked that trip, whether it is an hour away or 24 hours away, give yourself that extra knowledge and preparation to not only improve your photography but to make that trip a much better experience.

Join our Travel Photography Course today – Enroll!

One of our courses could be the perfect gift.
See details of our full range of courses on our website.  

Gift Certificates are now available for all of our courses. Enroll your gift recipient and you will receive a certificate by email which you can print out yourself. No worry about postal delays and getting it on time for Christmas. You can then present the gift personally.

Christmas Gift Certificates can be ordered up to 12 noon 24th December 2011.

So don’t delay, enroll your loved one today!

See enrolment details on our Fees Page.

I had roughly planned a route beforehand and I pretty much covered it in the end and then some. I started in Las Vegas and then on to Grand Canyon (with a bit of Route 66 along the way), through Monument Valley, Mesa Verde and Durango, Colorado and up through the Million Dollar Highway in the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction, Colorado. Up through Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park and back down through Idaho and Utah, passing Salt Lake City and Bonneville Salt Flats. I continued south through Great Basin, Nevada and east into Utah to Bryce Canyon and then back to Las Vegas.

The Grand Canyon and Monument Valley did not disappoint. I found myself constantly taking photos. No sooner did I take the camera from my eye when something else caught it. Naturally these places are best photographed early and late in the day but even when lighting isn’t the most flattering, you just can’t help but take photos anyway.

Colorado and the Rocky Mountains offers a feast for the photographer. Not only is there outstanding and dramatic natural beauty, there is also the human element. There is a historical interest from the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde to the pretty much preserved mining towns like Silverton high in the Rocky Mountains.

Yellowstone National Park is a great place for photographing the slightly more unusual. The geysers here are probably the main attraction and rightly so. The eruptions of Old Faithful go off every 93 minutes so you would be very unfortunate to miss one if you visited there. However it is the colours of many of these geysers that attract the photographers eye. Wildlife is also usually plentiful in Yellowstone National Park, though on my too short a visit, all I saw was Buffalo.

There are landmarks of American history all over this area of the country, mainly representing the movement of people to the west. North of Salt Lake City is one of these more famous historical points known as the Golden Spike. Here the final spike was laid in the first railway linking East to West or coast to coast. The well preserved steam locomotives are attractive but so is the people who perform the reinactment of the ceremony of placing the Golden Spike back in the late 1860′s.

My journey then took me to the Bonneville Salt Flats, which was a bit disappointing as there were no speed tests the day I was there. However it was well worth seeing. Next was the Great Basin in Nevada. I took Highway 93 from Windover south as far as Panaca. This was 300 miles of little or nothing to see. Only one or two small towns along the way and very little sign of human habitation in between. Probably one of the loniest areas in the world.

I headed east to Utah for what was to be the highlight of the trip in photographic terms, this was Bryce Canyon. Some may refer to it as a mini Grand Canyon but it offers something very different. At certain times of day, mainly in the late afternoon, the sun hits the rock formations and they appear to glow. The rock formations, some known as “Hoo-doos” are much more dramatic looking then what you would find in Grand Canyon. It amazed me how you just walk a few feet along the rim of the canyon and the rocks appearance changes completely.

Although I started my trip in Las Vegas, I only spent one night there on my arrival. At the end of my trip I spent three days before going home. This city doesn’t need any introduction as it is one of the most well known in the world for what it is about, and it is all of that. The hotels along the strip are simply massive, you could spend most of a day in each exploring, eating and of course, gambling. Most of the hotels have a theme, mainly cities like Paris, New York, Venice etc. But they are all very attractive despite their theme park style of architecture. One attraction in Las Vegas doesn’t get the notoriety it deserves, this is Fremont St, which is now pedestrianised. It is the original gambling strip in the city with the original casinos like the Golden Nugget. The real attraction is the “roof” over the street which is the worlds biggest video screen, it extends for three blocks. At night on the hour all the lights go out on the street except for the screen and a set of songs from a famous band or music artist is played.

As a photographer and a biker, this trip was fantastic and everything that I had hoped and then some. I hope you enjoy just a very few of the images from my trip. Just click on the image to get a larger image.

Diarmuid Moriarty
School of Photography.com

If you would like to learn how to take great Travel images, join our Travel Photography Course.

Our new course has everything you may have already experienced from the School of Photography:
- Comprehensive instruction -
- Hundreds of example images -
- A fully documented Travel shoot -
- The ins and outs of travel photography as a business -
- Projects -
- Tutor Feedback -
- A Graded Certificate for Framing -

In short everything you need to know to improve your own travel photography images.

The course is in 3 modules, the first module will show you what equipment you really need and how to put your own personal travel kit together. Learn what goes into planning a travel photography shoot. Module 2 will take you further by showing you how to cope with the various terrains and climates you may experience no matter where you are going. Module 3 introduces how to process all those images you capture and weed out only the best. We show you how to digitally enhance your images using RAW files. If you are interested in running your own travel photography business, we show you how to get started and where to sell your images. Finally, we show you a day by day account of a travel shoot to Rome, documented from preparation to the finished images!

You CAN learn how to capture stunning images on your travels. Each lesson is designed to improve your photography techniques so you can get more creative and don’t miss out on an important shot just because you don’t know how to capture it.

Just like all of our courses, this Tutor assisted course encourages you to do practical projects and gives feedback on your own work. If, after reading each Travel Photography Course lesson, you would like additional information on the lesson’s content, just ask!. Your personal tutor is ready to hear from you.

Start learning Travel photography at home or the office in your own time today.

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Course Fees

We are pleased to announce our newly updated Freelance Photography Course for 2011. Freelance photography has moved on quite a lot since the previous update  and these changes are all covered in the new online course. The course has also been added to our e-learning environment for easier contact with your personal tutor and uploading and marking of projects.

If you are considering taking your photography to the next level and make money on a part time or full time basis, the Freelance Photography course 2011 is for YOU!

For full details see our Freelance Photography Tour Page.

Enroll today by going to our Fees Page.

I spent one day in Central Park. It was a Saturday in June so it was very busy. It is an amazing place with every sort of man, woman and child imaginable doing anything and everything imaginable you could do in a park, and most of it was legal!

It is probably one of the most comfortable places to take candids and portraits of people. Those who generally make a spectacle of themselves (and there are quite a few that do) would nearly expect you to take their photo. The image of the roller skater is a typical example. Those skating where there to put on a show as was the case with this fellow. The more bottles you could balance on your head, the more your life was complete! So for those who are not generally comfortable shooting candids, me included, Central Park is a relaxed place to do it.

The amenities in Central Park include boating, baseball, Crochet, cycling, skating, to name just a few. There are also plenty of buskers and street entertainers there, particularly at the weekends, to keep you entertained.

The gymnastic group pictured here is a typical scene. A group of people who put on a short show usually performing tricks or stunts. Of course the hat is always passed around before the show is over.

There are also plenty of places, both open and hidden away, for a person to sit and relax. All these activities can give plenty of opportunity for candid images.

Central Park is really just one example I am using of places where an opportunity for candid images is great. In most cities and even towns around the world, there are parks that have similar amenities and attractions. Any given weekend you can go for a stroll through your local park and possibly find something worth shooting with your camera.