We started photography five years ago so we know how hard it is to learn and it's our passion to help others learn more and feel inspired to take amazing photos!
For February, I bring you one of the most talented photographer, blogger duo who runs the "In Wanderment" travel photography website. Over 1+ years I have known them through Instagram, I have learned so much about ethical photography, sustainable travel, photography technicalities and so much more.
So spend the next few minutes knowing about them, learning from them and getting inspired by them.
Let’s get started with the basics - What is inwanderment? And tell me about you guys?
Inwanderment is a Travel Photography website focused on photography, how-to guides and photography spots worldwide. Destination guides tell you where to go to take awesome photos and how to get there, and also more technical blogs covering things like aperture or shutter speed.
We are a husband-wife duo currently based in the UK but looking to jet off traveling again later this year. We started photography five years ago so we know how hard it is to learn and it's our passion to help others learn more and feel inspired to take amazing photos!
How did your love for travel and photography start? What was the trip that was a turning point?
On our first holiday together, we both decided that we really wanted to travel as much as we could in life. So, we figured the best way to do this would be to have a travel blog. We started taking photos because we needed them for our blog. It all started from there.
FUN FACT: Emma was going to be the photographer when we first decided to have the blog. The turning point for us was our trip to Bali and Kuala Lumpur. We recently bought our first proper camera and lenses and started taking some great photos.
What particularly inspires me and love is your volunteering work through photography. What has been your favorite work so far and why? Can you walk through how that picture was captured?
Our favourite volunteer experience, photography-wise, was working with Somboon Legacy Foundation in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. We created lots of content for them and photographed the volunteers on the tour for their marketing.
We also got to take lots of photos of the elephants at times that wouldn’t have been possible for a visitor. At around 7 a.m., we walked around the sanctuary to find the elephants grazing in the forest and on the bamboo plantation. The light was perfect, and we captured some amazing images.
What are four important lessons you’ve learned along your personal and professional photography journey?
We prioritize lightweight gear. The lighter and smaller your camera is, the more likely you are to want to carry it with you at all times. My Sony A7R3 with the old-style 24-70Gmaster lens is really heavy,, so I only take it out purposefully for photos. This means I miss a lot of things that happen in between. Emma now has an RX100 that we can use to capture those in-between moments that help build a story.
Planning is everything - We’ve ended up in countries in the wrong season where all the foliage is dead, and we’ve gotten to monuments when they’ve been under construction. These things could have been avoided with better planning. When you travel for photography you have to look into every detail of the photos you plan to take, is it the right season, can I get in at a golden hour, what day is it not busy, and where will the light be? You need to adapt when things go wrong. For instance, if it's raining the day you plan to shoot its better sometimes to just take a rest that day and shoot tomorrow.
People skills are really important. You have to be able to overcome the awkwardness of approaching someone to ask to take their photo. You also have to be confident enough to WhatsApp a person you’ve never met before using Google Translate to try to arrange photo shoots (although most of the time, they do speak English). We always learn some local phrases to communicate with people, and they always appreciate the effort.
We always burn ourselves out, and we are slowly but surely realizing that we can’t do it all in one year. Building our business will take time. We’ve now committed to doing it full-time for a year, which has a financial impact on us, but there is no reward without risk.
Through your blog and photography business and brand what would you like to achieve and give to the travel photography community?
When we first started we barely had an idea of what travel photography was. We saw photos of people traveling on Instagram and we tried to replicate what we saw. Now we know that’s not the type of photography we appreciate or enjoy making. So we want our website to be a resource of information for people who would like to improve their travel photography and even become professional travel photographers and have all that info in one place.
You guys inspire me and many more who follow your journey. But who do you get inspired from? Who are your favourite photographers?
I remember when I was a kid my parents used to get the National Geographic magazine. Being dyslexic and having ADHD meant I didn't read any of it. But I remember looking at the photos for hours. I particularly remember a photo by Steve McCurry - The Afghan Girl. At the time I was around her age and I sat there looking at the photo so captivated by the idea of how different her life was to mine. One regret I have is not realising how passionate I was about travel photography at a younger age. It took me until I met Emma at the age of 30 to rediscover it.
The photographer who initially inspired my work now is Jord Hammond. I remember seeing photos he posted from China and how epic they were. At the time he was constantly posting amazingly vibrant photos of places I had never seen. Another one of my favourite photographers is Daniel Kordan. I’m a big lover of the artistic look he gives his travel photos.
Your absolute favorite country to travel and photograph and why?
To date, Java has to be the one place that stands out from the rest. Landscape photography is very popular there, and you can easily meet locals who will take you to amazing places. The locals are just so friendly; they’re happy to meet you. The landscapes are also next-level. There are not many places where you can photograph a waterfall with a smoking volcano in the background. And in Java, there is more than one!
Your top 3 technical tips for beginner photographers
My top three technical tips have to be
DO NOT believe anything you read on the internet about ISO. The information is outdated and doesn’t apply to modern cameras. Focus on exposing your image correctly no matter what ISO you have to use. Nowadays, you can use AI Denoise to give you high-ISO images with more detail
Learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO. The sooner you grasp these concepts the sooner you will be able to use your camera to replicate your creative vision.
When I first started, I had no idea how to use the various focus modes on my camera. You really need to sit down and figure it all out. Then, go out and take photos and see if you are successful. If I had done this, I would have had a lot more good photos from when I started.
My heartfelt thank you to Inwanderment for taking the time to give me this inspiring interview!
You can find them here -
Blog - www.inwanderment.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/inwanderment
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