Photographing remarkable landscapes, extraordinary cultures, and exotic animals in foreign locations is a dream for many, and the good news is that you don’t have to travel to find scenes and subjects that are worthwhile. By being creative and planning ahead, you can capture captivating photos no matter where you live.
You can try out new photography skills like forced perspective, push yourself to document local cultural events, and test your patience at the local zoo. Here are a few ways you can begin taking dream photos without hopping on an international flight.
You don’t have to fly to China to capture a stunning lantern festival: many major cities in the U.S. have their own, including Philadelphia, DC, San Antonio, and San Francisco. There are also traveling exhibits that visit different locations across the country to showcase this cultural phenomenon. Don’t live near a major metropolitan city? Still not a problem!
You can order the supplies online (think Amazon and Etsy) to build the lanterns yourself and set up your own version of the festival at home. Gather some friends and head out to a nearby lake or field to release the lanterns and take photos. If you want to practice your skills with composite photography and editing, stage shots that will work well together, like the city landscape at night with lanterns floating above, or the lanterns in the sky with a reflection in the lake below.
It might be worth reaching out to a local school or cultural organization that is already interested in this subject matter. You can join forces to make it a bigger event, meaning more lanterns and more varied subjects for you – not to mention great images for the organization or school.
Interested in other cultural touchstones? Check out local museums to see what exhibits are coming through. There might be traveling exhibits featuring Mayan ruins or Egyptian tombs, and sometimes they style an entire room or wing to create a life-size diorama. Plan a trip to visit during non-peak hours and you’ll literally have the world coming to you! But make sure to get permission to shoot photos, as many museums have rules against or limiting photography.
Forced perspective is a powerful tool photographers can use to create wild and wonderful shots from the comfort of home. By angling a toy car just right, or setting action figures close to your lens, you can make them look life-size. By setting the angle of your camera perfectly, modern buildings can seem set in another time period, and cropped images of local landscapes can look like a scene you’d see in a foreign country.
Visit a local gardening center to find non-native plants like ferns and palm trees. Use these to create a photography set that resembles the destination you’ve always wanted to photograph. It can help to find specific inspiration images online, paying attention to the plants, animals, and colors of the areas. Build the scene and have fun incorporating figurines of various exotic (even mythical!) creatures or castles and other fantasy props. By playing with angles, spacing, and depth of field, you can make them look real!
There are an estimated 400+ zoos and animal parks in the U.S. and 251 are currently accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This means you’re closer to exotic animals than you think, and many of these establishments allow photography. It might not provide the same sense of adventure as an African safari, but you may be able to get behind the scenes by bartering services for access.
Some zoos offer tours for photographers during off and morning hours, so look at their website and check special events pages. If your local animal park doesn’t have them, see if you can negotiate a special visit—feeding hours can be especially exciting! You can always offer the images for use in their advertising and marketing materials in exchange for the trip. You never know, they might turn into a regular client.
If you find the right person and they like your work, there’s a chance they will let you come in with a guide. You’ll be able to capture print-worthy shots of the animals without having to travel to their native lands, and the animal park will get access to pro-level photos they can use to help bring awareness and customers to their parks. It’s a win-win situation.
We can’t always travel to dream destinations for our photography, but that doesn’t mean we can’t create dream photos. By using the resources and locations where you live, you can create similar scenes and capture the magic until you're able to visit the real deal.
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