Wanderlust, it's a feeling we embrace at the World Photography Organisation as we believe one of the best ways to expand and enrich our lives is to go out there and experience the planet with a camera. When asked 'What top tip would you give someone to improve their photography?' A famous photographer replied: 'Buy a plane ticket.' We highlight 13 of the most intrepid travel photographers on Instagram, who teach us something new about the world and the people who inhabit it.
American photographer Michael Yamashita has been shooting for National Geographic over the past 30 years. After graduating from Wesleyan University with a degree in Asian studies, Yamashita spent seven years in Asia – a region which has become his photographic specialty.
After a few scrolls through Chris Burkard's Instagram feed, it's not hard to see why he's accumulated an impressive 3.4 million followers. Largely focusing on mesmerizing surfscapes and landscapes during his travels across the world, Burkard urges – minus the preacher rhetoric – how humans need to connect with nature for a sustainable world.
Hungarian-born photographer Balazs Gardi devoted over a decade to capturing the landscape of the war in Afghanistan. Using his experience in photojournalism he now travels the globe, to share the world's stories. Gardi was awarded first place in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards' Professional competition's Sport category and was a 2018 Sony Grant winner.
Perhaps the most celebrated travel photographer of our time, Steve McCurry's been producing consistently striking images since he started his career in the mid 1970s. Looking what unites us – such as bread or reading – McCurry reminds us we're not so different from one another.
Encounters some of the world's most fascinating people, Christopher Roche's wonderfully composed images epitomizes great travel photography. Take this picture as an example, which depicts a prostrating pilgrim who sees the final stretch of a Kora (a circumambulation around a sacred site Kailash). The journey has taken her at least three weeks. Roche was a 2016 Sony World Photography Awards National Award winner and shortlisted in the 2017 ZEISS Photography Award.
Twenty-six-year-old photographer Emily Garthwaite focuses on Muslim communities around the world, which was inspired by her project Road to Arba'een, where she walked 100km across Southern Iraq during the Arba'een pilgrimage. As much a writer as she is a photographer, Emily's Instagram gives great insight to a world that might otherwise go unseen.
Winner of the 2017 ZEISS Photography Award, Kevin Faingnaert often explores life on remote and sparsely populated villages across the world, including the Faroe Islands and the Jiu Valley. Exquisitely shot and processed, his portraits will leave you speechless.
Trevor Cole specializes in documenting the world's most vibrant cultures, hoping to create classic images that convey the need for a more sustainable world. Trevor took over our Instagram last month (June 2019), sharing some of his most compelling travel portraits largely taken in South Sudan, Chad and Ethiopia.
Posting images from his archive of particularly memorable encounters throughout his 15-year career, highlights from Matthieu Pale's work include his travels to the basecamp of the highest unclimbed mountain in Buhan to Nauru – the world's smallest republic in the middle of the Pacific ocean. he has also created vast bodies of work during his time spent in Siberia and Mongolia.
The tightly cropped style seen in many of Frédéric Lagrange's work offers an alternative point of view on well-known subjects in travel photography. His feed is a fine example of how photographs might tell a familiar story but his approach is incredibly exciting from his point of view.
Hugely prolific in his output, Jim Richardson has produced more than 50 in-depth photo essays for National Geographic throughout his 35-year career. Followers on his Instagram feed enjoy his most recent work from Scotland.
After graduating with a degree Zoology, Timothy Allen left the UK to spend three years traveling through Indonesia – a decision which catalyzed his lifelong passion for photographing the world. With works published in The Sunday Telegraph and The Independent, Timothy's travel features and portraits are full of compassion, narrative, and respect for those he turns his lens towards.
Tamina-Florentine Zuch won the 2016 ZEISS Photography Award for Indian Train Journey, a series where she traveled through India by train for six weeks – documenting the sights she saw and the people she met. Three years later, the German photographer has worked for international magazines and weekly supplements. Giving insight into her immersive approach to creating bodies of work, her Instagram account sheds light on what it takes to be a young photographer today.
