Your Ultimate Photographic Destination ?

[enigmatic]

I'm still nice and young and have plans to do a fair bit of travel...

But after going to Vietnam at the start of this year, I would love to do a trip encompassing South East Asia and into China! On a motorbike, of course

[Cage]

The outback, particularly the Top End and the Kimberleys.

[rodbam]

Patagonia in Sth America a dream of a place for photographers, Outback Oz & Cuba.

[Rattus79]

If $$ wasn't the issue, then I'd just never stop...

By the time I got back, all my things would be dusty and have spiderwebs on them!!

If you forced me to decide, I'd start with Africa, moving up and through the middle east and into europe from there.

[bushbikie]

Iceland, in their spring. Friends of mine have been there and there was some amazing scenery.

[swifty]

Somewhere completely wild. Antartica would probably be the ultimate!!

[Babu]

I’ve travelled with my wife and cameras to all seven continents, the Arctic and many islands – we don’t plan to stop anytime soon. But the “ultimate photographic destination” is an elusive beast! Perhaps, on one journey, we’ll capture it.
We’ve snapped the usual suspects in Europe: castles, canals cathedrals, art galleries and architecture, monuments and mountains….Mona Lisa, David, Guernica, the Pieta, the Last Supper, the Charioteer of Delphi… even the Berlin Wall while it stood complete…people, places, landscapes, seascapes… plenty of satisfying photos. However, I guess it depends on what floats your boat.
Which of these would you enjoy most as a photographic opportunity?
A wild alpha male Orang Utan in a Sabah rainforest aggressively chases you from his exit path, then stops and poses for your photos.
The oldest silverback mountain gorilla in the Virunga NP in Rwanda brushes against you on his way past, accepts your presence and directs his whole family to feed and play whilst you take photos.
A 15m whale shark (with accompanying colony of attendants) slows while you take underwater photos when snorkelling off Ningaloo Reef (WA).
You shoot, from a hot air balloon a few metres above the Maasai Mara, three hyenas chase off two lionesses from their kill just before your champagne breakfast with a 360 degree panorama of wildebeest and zebra.
A mother leopard in the Serengeti airs her displeasure at you (banging on the outside your safari vehicle door) and then summons her cubs to accompany her across the Kopje. You follow discreetly and capture beautiful shots of her feeding the cubs.
A mother elephant trumpets to her baby while she shakes a tree which she saw a lioness climb.
A cheetah springs from the tawny grass, reaches full tilt and brings down a Tommy G.
A Ranthambhore tiger uses the safari vehicles as a blind, then chases and brings down a chital.
A number of recently deceased people are being cremated publicly on ghats in Kathmandu.
Maybe none of these appeals if you are a surf, food, or fashion photographer. (Try the Maldives, Tahiti or the mouth of the Amazon, Paris, Milan or Rome.)
It’s hard to not be impressed by the majesty of the Andes or the Himalayas whatever your specialty. (I have shots of Titicaca, Everest and Kanchenjunga in different moods.) The treks to photograph the Tiger’s Nest monastery (Bhutan) and dawn over Macchu Picchu (Peru) were majorly rewarding.
Surely, capturing shots of the reptiles and birds in the Galapagos Islands must be many peoples’ ultimate wildlife photography goals… land and marine iguanas, various types of huge tortoises, vampire finches, flamingos… Witnessing the courtship rituals of frigate birds, waved albatross and blue-footed, red-footed & nazsca boobies is special. So, too, is having sea lions playing all around you whilst you’re snorkelling and having the world’s northern-most penguins fly past you underwater.
I agree Roosta and Fess. I’d go back on safari in Africa anytime. However, being in Antarctica felt like being in another world, especially when we camped on the ice. It is truly awesome! Some people make disparaging comments about there being only penguins, penguins and more penguins to shoot in Antarctica, probably because they are ubiquitous down there. But one which posed on an iceberg we passed (when exploring in a zodiac) won my wife a complimentary wildlife photography cruise around Svalbard in the High Arctic. There she captured a full sequence of a polar bear galvanising into action, galloping, smashing headfirst through a breathing hole in the ice, crushing a seal around its neck before hauling it out, dragging it and feeding. (There are plenty of other things to shoot at both destinations.)
I agree with Brian. You don’t have to travel abroad as there is no shortage of inspiring photographic subjects all over Oz. I got better shots of courting Tropic birds on Lord Howe Island than I did in the Galapagos.
Waterfall shooters can go to Wallaman, Wollomombi, Jim Jim, Mitchell or King George Falls to mention but a few. Though all these pale into insignificance for sheer scope compared to Iguasu (Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay borders) which I rate ahead of Victoria (Zambia-Zimbabwe border) and to see many of them in full flow you’ll need to like shooting from helicopters. However, on our own Kimberley coastline lies a waterfall like no other I’ve been to –the Horizontal Waterfall. Try photos from a fast-moving zodiac.
There are reefs, a plethora of islands, tropical beaches and wild coastlines. Then there are the Remarkables, Wilpena, Coober Pedy, Uluru and Kata Tjuta, King’s Canyon & Palm Canyon, Arnhem Land, Katherine Gorge and Kakadu, Lawn Hill and Riversleigh, Lake Eyre, Lake Argyle, the Kimberley (don’t miss the Bungle Bungles), the Pilbara, the Pinnacles…Don’t forget the different deserts, the Nullarbor, the many splendid caves…Unfortunately, there are no real mountains – in Bhutan, anything under 6000 metres doesn’t get a name!
Wayne and Di, I happen to like taking pics around Armidale in autumn – very pretty, especially Gostwyck Chapel (the architecture is a bit different from Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal). Iceland is a spectacular destination too. You can stand astride the parting American and Eurasian tectonic plates, see frozen waterfalls (in winter), geysers and geothermal vents and power stations.
Later this year, we are off to photograph in Mauritius, Madagascar and Reunion, having been inspired by shots taken by wildlife professionals accompanying us in the Arctic.
So what (other than our grandson) will be our ultimate photographic target? Perhaps Earth captured from the Moon. What lens would I need to get a shot of the Terracotta Warriors from there?

[mongo]

The honour roll of National Geographic !! - we all have our absurd fatasies to live on.

[Roosta]

The outback, particularly the Top End and the Kimberleys.

No 'S' in Kimberly Kevin, us WAers don't like that. LOL

[William]

Patagonia Sth America, Great scenery and wild life , This I'd love to see http://video.nationalgeographic.com....hunts_sealion/

[Babu]

The honour roll of National Geographic !! - we all have our absurd fatasies to live on.

Thank you for your useful post.

The "absurd fa(n)tasies" are, in fact, amazing realities - memories that took a great deal of time, effort and money to acquire (over thirty years of travel).
We were really lucky on our polar journeys as the travel company provided us with very accomplished professional photographers who assisted us in capturing better shots under the prevailing conditions.
One of these was an ex war-zone photo-journalist who has since (as part of a group) won a Nobel Peace prize for his contribution to clearing land-mines in Cambodia and is part of a group project to have cluster bombs banned.
Another pro is a consultant to a number of BBC wildlife documentaries and has numerous books published.

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Terrific link William!
I've travelled through Patagonia and found it an amazing place to be.
Our group saw the vast Pampas, lots of lakes and glaciers in the Andes in southern Chile and destructive beavers in Ushuaia.
However, sadly, no performing killer whales.

[meredithb]

I visited Monument Valley last year and it's where I decided to take the leap and study photography! It is an incredible place. I would love to go back and spend more time there and explore around that region too especially Bryce Canyon. Just everywhere in Utah/Arizona really.

[outstar79]

For me a toss up between Iceland and Canada, though I'm planning a trip to the latter to visit the Manitoba region and Hudson Bay (for Polar Bears and Aurora Borealis) planning to meeting up with Federico Buchbinder (Invisible) to visit the old houses in the Canadian prairies. http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...=House+Spirits then I think over to Banff and the British Columbia side of Canada.

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For me a toss up between Iceland and Canada, though I'm planning a trip to the latter to visit the Manitoba region and Hudson Bay (for Polar Bears and Aurora Borealis) planning to meeting up with Federico Buchbinder (Invisible) to visit the old houses in the Canadian prairies. http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...=House+Spirits then I think over to Banff and the British Columbia side of Canada.

[Steve Axford]

I once met a guy once who had been to over 100 different countries. He had been to Antarctica 3 times, climbed volcanoes in Africa, Kamchakta and New Guinea and been to some places I hadn't even heard of. He was surprisingly boring. It's not where you go, it what you manage to absorb while you're there.

[Dylan & Marianne]

Not so much a money issue but if i could acquire skills to live in the wilderness, I would love to go off path such as Torres del Paine and the interior of Iceland south to north coast on some mega treks photographing really pristine wilderness

[Cris]

Africa- for the landscapes, animals and the people.

[Olive]

Tough question.

[outstar79]

Not so much a money issue but if i could acquire skills to live in the wilderness, I would love to go off path such as Torres del Paine and the interior of Iceland south to north coast on some mega treks photographing really pristine wilderness

I'm sure some of the local Icelandic people would be happy to impart some survival knowledge of the Iceland "Back-woods" - just googled Torres Del Paine - man that would be one awesome trip!!!

[Steve Axford]

Not so much a money issue but if i could acquire skills to live in the wilderness, I would love to go off path such as Torres del Paine and the interior of Iceland south to north coast on some mega treks photographing really pristine wilderness

You can do trips like this. It's just a matter of finding the right guides. That can take 2 trips to set up but most areas have their back-woods-men. Try volcanologists (particularly in Iceland), they often travel to seldom visited spots and are usually quite daring about where they will go. In most third world countries it is easy to get porters, so long distance treking is easy (well, easier). In places like Iceland there are huts that you can sleep in though you do have to carry more.

[Dylan & Marianne]

I dream hehe - you know what, if I could just tag along with one of Marc Adamus's crazy backcountry trips, that'd do me !