While most people gather around a warm fireplace on Thanksgiving, sharing delicious food and laughter, I embarked on a vacation trip, carrying the dream of becoming a traveling photographer and seeking the beauty in every corner of the world through my lens. During this journey full of adventures and challenges, I have come to understand more deeply the profound meaning of Thanksgiving and its perfect integration with the art of travel photography.
Becoming a traveling photographer is like embarking on an endless pursuit. Excellent photographic skills are the stepping stone to enter this field. During my vacation trips, I have been constantly exploring every button on my camera, as if having an in-depth conversation with a close friend. From adjusting the aperture to create a dreamy depth of field, to precisely grasping the shutter speed to freeze those fleeting moments, and then to skillfully adjusting the ISO to adapt to shooting needs under different lighting conditions, every step embodies my persistent pursuit of the art of photography. Meanwhile, proficiently using various lenses also gives me an edge in my creative journey. The ultra-wide-angle lens can capture the magnificent seascapes and grand architectures, the telephoto lens can catch the lively wild animals on the distant mountains, and the macro lens can focus on the delicate details of the flower stamens in the flower beds at the vacation destinations. And post-processing software has become my magic wand. Through meticulous color adjustments and flaw corrections, I can turn the raw materials shot during my vacations into exquisite visual artworks.
However, skills are just the outer shell. What truly gives life to photos is the photographer’s unique perspective and keen observation. During my vacation time, I always maintain a high level of sensitivity to my surroundings, like a sharp explorer. When strolling through an ancient vacation town, the winding stone paths, the mottled walls, and the blooming flowers on the window sills, these seemingly ordinary elements combine into a picture full of stories in my eyes. I will patiently wait for the best light to come, capturing the warm golden light shining on the ancient buildings, or recording the silhouette of the boats returning to the shore at sunset, which is a wonderful moment of the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. Every unique perspective and every precise capture of details make my photos stand out among numerous works and tell the stories that belong only to this vacation destination.
Rich travel experiences are the very source of the soul of travel photography. Every vacation is an exploration journey deep into different cultures and landscapes. I once danced with the hospitable locals in a tropical island resort, feeling their love and openness towards life and integrating this joy and vitality into my photographic works. I also listened to the elders telling ancient legends and the inheritance of traditional handicrafts in a quiet mountain cottage during my vacation and recorded those cultural treasures that are on the verge of disappearing with my camera. These diverse cultural collisions and unique experiences of natural landscapes are like countless stars, gathering together to form a vast galaxy of my photographic creations, making my works not only a portrayal of landscapes but also a vivid witness to the harmonious coexistence of human civilization and nature.
On this path of chasing dreams, the meaning of Thanksgiving has become even deeper. I am grateful for every vacation opportunity that allows me to get away from the hustle and bustle and immerse myself in the embrace of nature and culture. I am grateful to those strangers who have given me help and inspiration during my travels. It is their smiles and stories that have added a warm touch to my photos. I am grateful that I have a healthy body and a firm belief that support me to persevere in difficult shooting environments, whether it is in the scorching desert vacation destinations or during the freezing polar trips.
Although I don’t have time to update other affairs during my vacations, I know deeply that I am using my own way, on the stage of this vast world, with my lens as the pen and my grateful heart as the ink, to draw my own travel photography picture scroll. Each photo is an expression of my love and gratitude for the world and also a solid footprint on my way to becoming an excellent traveling photographer.
