I have always envied travel photographers – the professionals who are able to combine a passion for travel with creativity and call it their job. They get to see the most amazing places on earth and capture them in ways that leave us breathless. Here are some of my favorite travel photographers whose pictures are jaw-droppingly awesome.
1 Sheila K McIntyre
Sheila is one of my favorite travel photographers because she’s very engaging. She loves to share her passion and is a prolific tweeter. She likes to take beautiful bird pictures but it is her landscapes that attract me, as she has an incredible eye for color and perspective. Sheila is only 27 and lives in New York (although she was an army brat born in Germany).
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2 Peter Lik
Surely one of the greatest travel photographers of all time! Self taught, Peter is one of those annoyingly but enviable self confident people that Australia spews out in the thousands. Although an Aussie, it was in the US that Peter really honed his craft and actually makes his home. From his initial humble efforts with his first Box Brownie camera, his first major project was Spirit of America – a five year trip photographing all 50 states. A winner of many major awards, some of Peter’s work is in the Smithsonian.
3 Beers and Beans
If you spend time on Pinterest, your eye may have already been caught by the travel photography of Beers and Beans. Beers and Beans are also known as couple Randy and Beth. This wayfaring twosome, together with their faithful pooch Chachy, are on the slow road to everywhere, and their stunning pictures are a chronicle of their travels. I like their pictures because they seem to be taken from the view of a simple tourist rather than for art’s sake.
4 Alberto Molero
I’ve been a fan of Alberto for quite some time now. Alberto, along with Nellie Huang, as well as them both being brilliant travel photographers, also founded and run the website WildJunket.com. With an emphasis on extraordinary journeys and sustainable travel, Alberto has captured some of the most incredible places.
5 Chris McLennan
If you are born on the South Island of New Zealand, you are blessed with a mass of amazing travel photography opportunities. Chris’s passion for travel, however, has taken him to over 40 countries, picking out the most incredible landscapes, people and wildlife. He has a way of juxtaposing a subject in a landscape that is totally breathtaking and rightly so, and he has a clutch of awards for his work as well as being an ambassador for top camera firm, Nikon.
6 Neerav Bhatt
Neerav is an Australian journalist and blogger who started taking photographs to accompany his travel writing. He has developed into a master of capturing wildlife and wilderness environments and loves to share his work on his blogs and through presentations that tourist organizations around the world invite him to.
7 Kah Kit Yoong
One of the most important aspects of any picture is the light, and one of the travel photographers who is a master of capturing that perfect moment when light makes the ordinary become extraordinary is Melbourne based Kah Kit Yoong. (Have you noticed how most of my fave travel photographers are from Down Under?)
8 Meleah Reardon
One of the reasons I love Meleah Reardon is that she is so sharing of her work – much of it is published under creative commons license so people all over the world can get to use it on their websites and blogs. And who wouldn’t want to use it? The travel photography of this UK-based, Seattle-born photographic artist is truly stunning. She has a fabulous eye for architecture.
9 Russ Barnes
Of all the top travel photographers, Russ Barnes is one of my absolute favorites. As well as capturing the world around us in glorious color, Russ is a craftsman of the black and white photograph. I love to literally fall into one of his pictures, capture the image and then close my eyes and imagine it in its colors and the sounds and smells associated with it.
I’m sure the debate will always rage as to who the best travel photographers are. Anyone with a love of travel genuinely appreciates the skill of someone who can capture a stunning image that is truly evocative of a location. Do you have any favorite travel photographers or do you just love travel photos, whoever took them?
