Customer Reviews

Spirit of Place: The Art of the Traveling Photographer

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love travel and I love cameras. Unfortunately, as many of us often discover, my photos don't always capture the essence of my travel experience. I know I've been frustrated many times that some quixotic quality of my travels is missing from my photo album.

Bob Krist's book has helped me to see that what I am missing is the spirit of place, which of course is different for every location and every traveler. While the book covers the basics of equipment management, shooting decisions and the like, it is less a technical guide and more of a philosophy of travel. His approach to travel informs his approach to travel photography. He seeks to be a "traveler," not a "sightseer," wanting to engage with the culture in which he finds himself. I find this concept to be especially helpful in pinpointing my own disappointment with my photos. While I follow his approach of being a traveler, I have hesitated to capture the people I meet along the way. It's that element I always feel I am missing in my work.

He gives some tips and insight into how to begin to approach people to get those great people shots, how to get past the initial fear of offending, and how to handle a situation where you might be refused.

Above all, the examples and photoessays speak volumes about how to approach such work. It is clear that Bob Krist is a master in his approach to capturing the essence of a place, whether it be the Jazz Quarter in New Orleans or a blinding snowstorm in Hokkaido. If you are looking for ideas and inspiration to improve the photos you bring back from your next adventure, I'd highly recommend Spirit of Place.

(Gwyn is an enthusiastic photographer who, among other things, travels overseas each summer with teenagers as a People to People delegation leader. Yes, teenagers!)

If you want to learn how to capture meaningful images when you travel, this is the book to read. The book explains in clear simple language how to go about making great travel pictures. The process involves a lot more than the technical details. You must be at the right place at the right time to make a great picture. This book will help you undertand how to that and help with the technical part as well. The photographs in the book are absolutely stunning and a great source of inspiration. This is absolutely my favorite travel photography book.

As one who has written numerous Book Reviews for photo magazines, I have read all the books on travel photography. This one stands head-and-shoulders above the others.

It is the definitive work on this topic by a top pro who makes travel images that are intimate, sensitive to the culture, informed and well-executed: capturing the spirit of the location instead of replicating the postcard views.

Highly recommended for photographers of all levels - particularly those who want to make images as a traveler and not merely as a tourist.

Spirit of Place provides an excellent overview of travel photography. It is well organized, written clearly and concisely, and is filled with beautiful photos to help illustrate the points made in the text. The author discusses techniques to help you deal with various difficulties from how to find the best vantage point when shooting tall buildings to dealing with people that you may want to photograph. One thing that I really appreciated was that he also gave advice on which equipment to use in various settings and situations.

For travel photographers, the topics covered are pretty comprehensive. The author walks through some basics of composition. There is a full chapter devoted to working with various light sources and using filters to enhance that light. There are sections on skylines, architecture, shooting in the tropics, wildlife, and more. Each section is fairly brief. This book is more about giving general direction and ideas then trying to offer a detailed approach to all possible shooting possibilities. I found the level of coverage just about right. No one can provide detailed direction for every possible consideration for travel photographers so the author wisely offers some general advice to start you thinking and leaves it at that.

If the book has a weakness it is that it was written back in 2000 by a photographer who obviously didn't so much as scan his slides for further editing. This is strictly centered around film photography and that definitely limits the usefulness of the material focusing on film selection if you use a digital camera. Forturnately, most of his advice is sound regardless of whether you use film or digital so I would still highly recommend the book.

Spirit of Place, The Art of the Traveling Photographer, is outstanding, full of superb photos accompanied by captions that not only say where the image was taken but also include pertinent details regarding the moment and/or circumstances involved. The text is clear and easily understood, with lots of tips, plus glimpses into Krist's personal philosophy on photography. Travelers, writers, and novice-to-experienced photographers seeking to improve their photo skills will find the book to be a tremendous tool. Krist's distinguished photo career, including publication of his worldwide travel photos in books, major newspapers and the top travel magazines, gives unquestionable credibility to his expertise.

This book more than adequately covers what a beginning travel photographer or a novice photographer interested in travel photography should know. Concise and to the point it focuses on exactly what it set out to do - make the photographer become a traveller with respect and love of his surroundings, strange they might initially be and not the boorish tourist! The book is in no way misleading as other books of this nature can be. Great as a stand alone or with Susan B Mcartney's Book

This book may be to simple for some of those "pro" photographers, but it was just what I needed. Usually I buy books like this and read them like a magazine, looking at the pictures, and sometimes reading a caption or two. Well, I decided to actually "read" this one, like a "real book," and I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot! Some of the simple ideas for capturing the "essence" of a city were tips I certainly could have used on my trip to Europe last summer. I think what I like best about this book however, is how Bob Krist turns typically boring technical tips into easily understood ideas that I can "use." Of course the photo's are beautiful too. I highly suggest reading this book before you go anywhere with your camera!

"Spirit of Place" is an OUTSTANDING course on the tools and techniques of travel photography, from one of the most distinguished leaders in the field. Coupled with the Nikon videotape of the same title (available separately), Bob takes the reader into the life, challanges and SOLUTIONS of the difficult craft of photographing the landscapes, culture, architecture and events encountered in travel. I just finished attending Bob's outstanding workshop at the Sante Fe Workshop and this book is true to the class material - an outstanding reference for those of us who were lucky enough to attend, and an excellent substitute for those who cannot. Don't travel with your camera equipment without reading and digesting the pearls that Bob has to offer in "Spirit of Place".

Good book

I got this book in anticipation of an upcoming vacation and it was worth the money. I think it serves the target market (amateur photographers on vacation) pretty well. It makes a few references to stock photography but doesn't dwell on shooting for it, doesn't mention selling it except in passing.

It starts out with a basic overview of composition (rule of thirds, Depth of Field, directional light, patterns etc). Other books cover this in greater detail, it is only an overview after all. The author does include a few tips on how each might apply to travel photography. After photo 101 it goes on to cover specific environments/situations. Cityscapes, tropics, winter etc. This was the meat of the book, each subject was given and adequate overview with a few specific examples to illustrate. There are also chapters on underwater and Ariel photography. Good intros but if your going to be plunking out the bucks for that I'd look for more specialized instruction.

He finished the book with some travel tips that may not apply to the non-professional (especially about packing in the post 9-11 travel climate) and on gear selection.

There are plenty of example photos that more or less illustrate the point he was talking about. Most of his shots seem to come from the Caribbean or North America, a few from Europe. Preferences to the Caribbean. On the plus most of them seem to be something that a person with normal means might replicate using moderately expensive gear. He did most of his work in the 20-35mm and 80-200mm focal ranges with full 35mm film. The cameras he used were by no means top of the line. He also addresses what is realistic to expect from the traveling photographer vs the pro who has been on location dozens of times.

The biggest shortcoming of this book is that it is film-centric (35mm). It was published in 2000 which was really before the digital age really took off. Most of the tips and techniques (The real meat of the book) are universal regardless of what kind of camera you use. But he does spend some time on film selection, care and feeding (especially filters and white balance) that are very different in the digital. Of course there is no information on digital care and feeding as a consequence.

I'm interested to see how well this book holds up over time. Years ago when I was starting out with photography I got a book on composition. At the time I felt it was an "overview" and probably lacking something. Now after years of experience I see that book really had it all, all the subjects were there, what was lacking was my experience to implement them. I suspect in time I will come to see this book the same way.

Pros-
Good book on the subject written to the beginner-intermediate level
Good pictures to illustrate the subjects
Focuses on "achievable" pictures rather than the extreme works of art
Covers all the bases
Great advice on film (if your using it)

Cons-
Needs updating. Lots of good film info but nothing on digital and the new capabilities (and liabilities) that it provides.
Some may want more in depth instruction on specific areas.

Conclusion
A great resource for travel/location photography. If you already have the basics down (Fstops and exposure and whatnot) then this is a good next step. I'd recommend it for anyone looking to make their vacation photos better.

This book is for amateurs who want to "bring back vacation pictures that you'll enjoy looking at again and again and again" according to the back cover; and this book does and excellent job of telling/showing one just how to do that. The text style is very good, really teaches in an easy, insightful way. The photos used for examples are superb. At the end of a chapter you can sense that you are now better than you were before. Well worth the money.