Toba Batak House, Sumatra, Indonesia

If you want to add a little extra to your next vacation, consider assigning yourself a travel story. Something along the lines of what you see in a magazine or newspaper would make for a useful project. You can even practice at home by creating a travel story about your local area.

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First of all, you need to come up with an idea or theme. Take a look at some travel magazines to get an idea of the general approach, style and layout. Once you have an idea or two, spend some time researching the location to give yourself some more detailed information. Decide what equipment you are likely to need and make sure you are familiar with it. A once in a lifetime trip is not the best place to use a new item of gear for the first time.

Narrow your idea down to the very essentials. What are the key images that you need to shoot for this story? If you’re concentrating on a normal and popular travel destination, you’ll need to include a mixture of the features that people except to see (Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal etc) along with a few lesser known discoveries that you make. Try to shoot the more common scenes in both regular postcard ways as well as more creative ways. Publishers often prefer to lead with standard type images and not the more “arty” ones, so make sure you get both.

Once on location you want to capture the essence of the place. Look for what makes the location unique, what it is that keeps travelers coming back. Think of this as your “cover” shot, the type of image you might see on a magazine cover or opening page of an article.

While shooting this cover image, pay attention to the surrounding details. These strengthen and help tell the story of the place. Include elements of human interest. People relate to other people, and a travel story without them just doesn’t stand up. Show the local people in the area, as well as other tourists. Don’t forget modes of transport, food and markets, flowers and local wildlife.

Take notes. A notepad and pen and/or digital voice recorder is handy in the field. You never know what you may need to remember later, so keeping some kind of record is highly recommended.

Once you return from the trip the editing begins. Remember, you are shooting this like a magazine story, so you need to tightly edit it down to the very best shots only. Be ruthless in your selection – if anything gives you cause for concern or doubts, leave it out.

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