Finding inspiration from other people’s work can only help to grow. I can assure you that my reference list of travel photography blogs helps me to become a better photographer.

In this post I list some of the best on the web. Moreover, I have decided to include in this article also 5 steps to start your blog.

The best part?

These are all actionable steps, easy to implement, to start your adventure. You do not need technical or programming knowledge.

And even better, if you have already a travel photography blog then I show you my favourite plugins to use, both for a quick loading and a better visitor experience. And you will be in full control of your site too.

Before I start with my list I also want to remember that the complete guide to travel photography is still free, you can read it and download it for your future reference. Yes, again it’s free.

Check the FREE Reference Guide to Travel Photography

But what is a Travel Photography Blog?

Is it a travel blog with a strong emphasis on quality photos or a photography blog with some travel posts?

Probably a bit of both and it really depends on the blogger. In my case, I have decided to build it as a mix, with lots of travel photography tips as well as travel stories with my best photos,

And if you still ask yourself what actually “Travel Photography” means then I suggest to look at this Wiki Page. This is the best answer, which I agree with.

11 Inspiring Travel Photography Blogs

I have been working as a photographer for over 5 years and inspiration is always an important factor. Where do I take it from? There are different sources:

• Paintings, for example, Van Gogh work is a great inspiration for the usage and composition of colours (he did a long study on it which is probably still one of the best ever done)
• Digital and visual art
• Great photographers, from Sebastião Salgado to Henry Cartier-Bresson, from Mark Harris to Elia Locardi, and so many more; all with a different idea and view, everyone with great inspirational work

Travel photography blogs are also part of these inspirational sources. And it’s not just about photography, it’s also about travelling, the two things I am most passionate in my life

I am also sort of addicted to a few YouTube channels, but I will talk later about them.

There is no ranking of any sort. If you are a travel photographer and you believe you should be in, just add your comment below. Please, make sure you actually run a blog beside taking beautiful images. This list can be definitely bigger. I will update this post on a regular basis with the new travel photography blog sites I find along with my internet surfing.

Hand Luggage Only

I start with a travel photography blog which is absolutely different from all of the other.

What does it make it unique?

The format, mostly in portrait mode. In fact, I found it and still love it reading it, with my tablet. It’s like going through a magazine, with obviously outstanding photos.

Their YouTube Channel is also super funny. Can Yaya and Lloyd ever take anything seriously, obviously not. And that’s why I love these guys.

My favourite section is the Photo Diary where they have organised a Photos & Postcards post for every trip they make. A great idea that I will develop on my website too 🙂

It’s nice to have just a purely visual story of the visited place.

Hecktic Travels

Dalene and Pete have really some fantastic captures in their blog.

What I like the most is the way they keep it simple.

The blog layout is an old style 1 column reinvented and refurbished in a way that it’s a pleasure to read it. The choice of the font, again, is as simple as effective.

In my photography workshops, I always say to not overcomplicate the shots. Too much information can only complicate the eye reception. 

The photos on Hektic travels, in this respect, are just perfect. Take the photo above as an example. That moped on the right side is just all you need to make this shot wonderful.

Simplicity is the key to success. This wiki page has a great example if interested.

Ken Kaminesky Blog

I started following Ken 3 years ago. I loved his work however his blog was updated rarely, unfortunately.

It was like when you buy your beloved magazine, you enjoy it but you are a bit sad because you know that you have to wait for a month or more for the new edition.

Luckily things have changed and now Ken is able to update his travel photography blog on a more regular basis

For a quick view of his portfolio have a look at his Instagram feed. Really awesome.

The Journey Era

I met Jackson when travelling in Indonesia in 2016. Really an interesting character gifted with a great sense of photo composition.

Since our trip, his travelling and his hard work have taken his travel photography blog to just another level in popularity and traffic.

His shots are a testament to his great photography skills.

The section I can’t stop myself reading is “The Weekly”, a regular weekly update of his adventure, a great way to update his followers on what’s happening in his life.

Roads & Kingdoms

Definitely one of my favourite. A bit travel photography, a bit photo journalism, basically a travel photo journalism blog.

The way the website is organised is just awesome with posts including full-screen photos. A pleasure to scroll through the images, read the story and enjoy the experience.

It’s not a personal blog, it’s a travel photography ezine run by chief editor Nathan Thornburgh which spent much of the last decade working at TIME Magazine as a foreign correspondent and editor.

Travel photographers can submit the own story but only a few pass the high standard of the website

Notes from the road

This is another one of my favourite blogs. The posts are also in this case organised with screen wide photos that are absolutely a pleasure to scroll through.

It is not only a travel photography blog, it is also a travel sketch blog.

Have a check to the Paris Sketch Journal, just awesome, and the Sicily Moleskine Sketches, literally unique. I love also the watercolour Cuban map, so vintage, so beautiful

The way I see it is that travel and photography inspirations do not necessarily need to come from photo stories, they can come from other forms of art as well.

Erik website is a fantastic example of that!

Beers and Beans

I am not sure what to like more of Beth and Randy, their photo essays or their writing and travel tips?

Probably the photos, but just for my passion for photography 😉

The Venice after dark series is probably my favourite one, however, that could be because it takes me back to my grand parent’s area 😮 Have a look to the others as well

You should also check their Pinterest board, one of the most popular travel photography board.

The Travel Photographer

Tewfic is a photographer based in New York specialised in documenting endangered cultures and traditional life ways of Asia, Latin America and Africa.

It’s not only the images that make this travel photography blog unique, it’s also the writing behind every single article that makes the full website very interesting.

This is not a blog you usually find in any top 10 with the usual suspects.

It’s different. It’s unpretentious. It’s not as captivating and this is probably the best. It’s old school. 

Travel Freak

Jeremy is also a great storyteller that makes some lovely photos on his trip.

Jeremy’s blog is also a good reference for anyone thinking to start a digital nomad life, inspiring travellers to take the first step to a new amazing adventure.

I particularly like the trip in the Balkans, an area which is unknown to the most of the traveller around the world. I was there myself just a few days ago. Definitely an underrated part of the world.

I also suggest following his Facebook page, updated on a regular basis.

Farfelue

Faye is an English girl that moved to Paris and started photo blogging the city, in a marvellous and unique way.

Farfelue should be your main reference if you are planning a visit to the French capital, amazing photos and unique tips.

Her work is not limited to Paris only, her travel photography blog goes beyond, with some beautiful photo guides on the major, and not as popular, cities and countries as Rome, London, Reykjavik, Myanmar and many more.

I particularly like her Instagram feed. She tends to overexpose her photos to create a bit of dreamy effect.

The Wandering Lens

This travel photography blog is one of my new findings. 

My favourite part is the Photography Location Guide which includes a map, a photo walk and some great photos to take inspiration from. If your destination is into her visited list, make sure to have a look through.

She has also an extensive area of tutorials which covers lots of interesting subjects.

I also suggest following her Instagram feed. Her style is quite artistic, just another way to interpret the place she visits, to make it different from the usual photos. Have a look to her shot of the Opera House 😉 .

How to build your travel photography blog

If you have already a travel blog, you can skip all together this section and check out how I have built my website and what plugins I am using in the next chapter (or just click the button below)

Tip: I found the best plugin on the net to simply design the website from a blank canvas. No programming required, very light, just drag & drop. Best of all it’s free!!

Check how to improve your blog – Big time

Here below are the steps I would now follow to open a travel photography blog. 

Why do I say now?

Because when I started my first blog in 2012 I made so many mistakes, which I did not with this blog.

Buy the space from a hosting provider

Simple hey?

Not really. I guess the question is here: do you want to monetize it?

If you do not want then I suggest to just get some space from wix.com or other similar websites. The interface is almost done automatically for you. Easy and quick to set up and go.

If you want to monetize and get traffic, expand it in future, then I suggest buying the space from a hosting provider and build your site. This will make you so flexible in the future.

I started with Bluehost and it was a mistake. It’s cheap, but there is no support. If the site is down, well wait till it comes back. I tried to call or message them, it would take hours and lots of frustration.

I am now on SiteGround and my experience is really great. Support is so quick to answer and make things happening. Unbelievable. It’s obviously slightly more expensive.

I find that these hosting sites have a limit of 50K-150k monthly pageviews. After that, you probably need a dedicated server (nice problem to have by the way)

Select your domain

The domain should give an idea of your website. The obvious ones are of course already used but be creative and you will find one.

Do not do like me LOL. I selected MEL365 because I started my blog from Melbourne. The name made sense but now not anymore. But that’s ok, what can I do.

Install WordPress

WordPress is the most famous platform for websites. I read once that 90% of the websites in the world are based on WordPress.

The success comes from the easy to digest and use interface. YouTube has plenty of information on setting up a WordPress wesite, too. 

It’s free too and it’s provided by these basic hosting servers as SiteGround and the likes. The installation takes 10 seconds, literally

Add a WordPress theme

Just Google “Travel Photography Blogs WordPress theme” and you will get a ton of information like the 25 best etc.

I suggest selecting a free theme to start with. The layout that you like the most.

Download it and upload it to your WordPress platform. Add some photos and posts.

Make some practice.  Play with it.

Commit to one

Work on it and add the plugins as you go

The best tip I can give here is to keep the website to the bare minimum. Do not make it heavy to load.

It’s easy to load it up with lots of nice plugins, however, you will make the website so heavy that nobody will wait for it. Lesson learnt on my side.

Spend 2-3 months on it and see how it goes.

You can change the theme later, that’s not a problem. The content will stay with you.

With 60-90 days of experience, you can really do a lot and see the limits of what you are implementing and what you would like to have.

I would not suggest paying someone to customize your blog at this stage. It’s too early

A good source of information is this Facebook group: WordPress for photographers.

Improving your travel photography blog

So your WordPress website is up and running. How can I improve it?

Interface

Here is the reality of a WordPress theme. You need to trust the source. I have used a few beautiful and lovely themes that were, however,  so heavy. I was inexperienced and eventually, I understood the problem.

Personally, I am using a totally blank theme (the lightest on the market). From there I have built the blog on it with Live Composer, a free plugin with the easiest interface I have ever experienced. It took me a couple of YouTube videos.

The free part of Live Composer will help you to do the most of your website, however, if you need to implement special parts (e-commerce and others) then you will have to pay a different license.

Few drag & drops and here it is done (just go through the website and please leave your feedback in my comment section below 😉 ).

Speed

As a rule of thumb, the more you pay your provider the quicker it is (but not always). I already said I use SiteGround and I am happy with the speed.

Use small size photos. If you have a post with 10 photos, 5M each, well good luck with the loading time. I personally squeeze mine to 150-250K

Use a caching plugin. I am using WP SuperCache, but others are available as W3 Total Cache.

I also use AutoOptimize to concatenate the CSS and JavaScript code and compress it

CDN may be another solution.

I will extend this section soon. There is much more

---

And this is closing my post. Please do leave a comment if you have any question, or just to talk about your experience. Be sure I answer all the comments, I love the interaction with my readers.

I like to mention also the website Travel Photographer of the Year. Besides browsing through the different categories with a selection of the best photos of the last years you can also submit your entries for the coming year, usually within September.