Dear Reader,

Bonnie, here, coming to you again from our Travel Writing and Photography expedition in Cotacachi, Ecuador.

If you missed yesterday’s video dispatch, with some quick tips from professional photographer Rich Wagner, you’ll find it here: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/photography_tips_and_tricks/key_shooting_tips

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned so far here in Ecuador is how to take photos that illustrate a travel article, or that tell a story you could write an article around. Then, you can sell them as an article/photo package.

Rich gave us three different shots you should always be on the look-out for when using your images to tell a story:

** 1. Establishing Shots: These are the wide open, spanning shots. They set the scene by showing the reader the whole picture. For example, if you’re writing about a restaurant, museum, or artisan shop, before you take pictures of the food or products, get some shots of the building -- inside and out.

** 2. Close-ups: Get the details. Take close-up shots of anything interesting, colorful, or unusual that you see around you, so long as it’s related to your story. Again, magazine editors and designers like to have the choice of close-ups and wide-open shots.

** 3. People: Who runs the place you’re photographing? What do they do there? Who eats there, goes there, or buys there? Answer these questions with photos. Capture people as they work... or customers buying... diners eating... etc.

Yesterday, attendee Florence Devermann followed Rich’s advice when we visited Peguche (the Village of the Weavers), so I thought you might like to see the pictures she got there.

Florence photographed the exterior and interior of one of the weaving shops. She got a great action shot of an indigenous woman at work behind a blurred spinning wheel.  And she got a few close-ups of the products and yarn up for sale in their store.

I’ll include her pictures in our video interview below…

TIP: Another thing that will help you get on an editor’s good side when is taking both portrait and landscape shots (that is, horizontal and vertical).

Editors like options. We typically raise the camera to our eye and take mostly horizontal shots, but most magazines are vertical.  Cover shots, for instance, are almost always vertical.

Whenever you take a shot, just turn the camera, re-compose, and take it again the other way.

You can watch Florence’s video here:

Next week I’m going to ask freelance travel writer Jenifer Stevens to show us how she goes about building an article out of photos like these. 

Stay tuned.

-- Bonnie

Bonnie Caton
Staff Writer, AWAI Travel Division

P.S. Join us next February 13-20 in Cotacachi, Ecuador and get inspired by the warm, friendly people... the fresh fruits and flowers... the centuries-old traditions and crafts... while you learn how to fund your vacations by selling travel stories and photos. Plus you’ll get to participate in a rare, powerful “SuperThinking” Spanish course. We don’t have all the details up online yet, but you’ll find early registration prices here:
http://www.thephotographerslife.com/phw/ecuador10

And pictures from last year’s event, here: http://www.lorisentmeecuador.com/Destinations.php

P.P.S. It's true that photos help you sell your articles. And it's also true that you don't need lots of experience or expensive equipment to take the kinds of shots that can illustrate your stories beautifully. Learn from successful writers, editors, and photographers how to combine your articles and photos to sell more, here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/trc/website

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