Special Features > Sense of Place

 Ask any photo editor at a travel magazine what they look for most in a photograph and the answer will undoubtedly include the phrase, "a sense of place". The idea of making a reader feel what it is like to be in a place seems to be the key ingredient to a winning photograph.
A sense of place photo uses strong graphic composition combined with a fresh visual approach, to inform the readers where they are and set the tone for the rest of a photo coverage. Great travel photo are most often made rather than being serendipitous grab shots, you have first to identify the landmark and then to work in order to get it at his own best.
The basic approach is to try to define the elements of a travel photograph that capture the sense of a place .Besides the quality of special  beauty, it seems that four defining characteristic must be present: interesting composition, great light, a sense of moment and good colors (or range of gray tones for B&W).
This doesn't look to be a particularly difficult combination  to put together on film; but as David Hurn says in the book  On Being a Photographer: "That is the driving, obsessional force behind photography , the fact that although the elements are simple to state they are extremely difficult to integrate. Aiming for your goal is worthwhile as long as you realize it is a constant effort, rarely to be achieved."