The Peter Adams Collection

Memorable trips include an occasion in Peru where Adams hired a driver for the day to take him around a series of markets in local towns, and who fuelled up on booze while Adams was snapping away. "His driving became very erratic — very fast, then very slow — and it was scary as there were all these sheer drops because we were up in the Andes," he recalls. "I didn't know how to handle it! Driving on snow with snow tyres in Norway was also good fun, but I had one experience when 'the car went into a slide and I thought I was going to drop into the cold waters of the sea."

Along with capturing some fantastic shots, Adams has caught some nasty diseases on his travels. "I've had malaria," he shrugs. "And dysentery - that's the worst I've ever been. I did get an infected wound in Zanzibar after coming off a moped on a gravel road — and the next thing I knew I had this huge horrible growth under my arm. You want to make sure that you keep any wounds clean - especially in a Third World country where you can easily pick things up."

In terms of which images sell, Adams concurs with Julian Love that travel shots involving people do well for him, if only because they tend to be more unique than an icon like the Eiffel Tower or Taj Mahal. "They're one-offs that are not going to be imitated," he reasons.

Memorable trips include an occasion in Peru where Adams hired a driver for the day to take him around a series of markets in local towns, and who fuelled up on booze while Adams was snapping away. "His driving became very erratic — very fast, then very slow — and it was scary as there were all these sheer drops because we were up in the Andes," he recalls. "I didn't know how to handle it! Driving on snow with snow tyres in Norway was also good fun, but I had one experience when 'the car went into a slide and I thought I was going to drop into the cold waters of the sea." Along with capturing some fantastic shots, Adams has caught some nasty diseases on his travels. "I've had malaria," he shrugs. "And dysentery - that's the worst I've ever been. I did get an infected wound in Zanzibar after coming off a moped on a gravel road — and the next thing I knew I had this huge horrible growth under my arm. You want to make sure that you keep any wounds clean - especially in a Third World country where you can easily pick things up." In terms of which images sell, Adams concurs with Julian Love that travel shots involving people do well for him, if only because they tend to be more unique than an icon like the Eiffel Tower or Taj Mahal. "They're one-offs that are not going to be imitated," he reasons.
"WEATHER IS A BIG CONSIDERATION. SOME OF THE BEST PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES HAPPEN WHEN CONDITIONS COULD SPELL DISASTER FOR YOUR GEAR"

	" THOUSANDS ASPIRE TO MAKING A DECENT LIVING AND MANY TRY, BUT ONLY A TINY MINORITY ACTUALLY SUCCEED"
" I LOVE THE IDEA OF JUST GOING FOR A WANDER, BUT I'M PARANOID THAT I'LL MISS AN AMAZING SHOT"
Pete Adams - " I love the idea of leaving my cameras behind in the hotel and just going for a wander," he says " but I'm paranoid that if I do there will be an amazing shot just round the corner that I'll miss. Also, your first impressions are the strongest so you need to capture the things that are different straightaway, before it becomes familiar". As well as covering specific scenes and subjects that are likely to be the core stock sellers, look for more unusual subjects - details, patterns, abstracts and so on; things that have visual appeal as well as being symbolic of a place. More and more picture buyers look for less obvious images. "There are no real rules," says Pete. "I don't believe in overly examining past sales lists as many photographers do, because I feel I'd just end up repeating myself. Iconic images can sell well, but there are lots of good ones out there already. "I think the key is to get a breadth of images. I like to take generic images that sum up a place, but I also try and shoot people because those pictures are individual and can't be easily copied. I can't really tell what will sell. Maybe there is one thing on a trip that you know is going to be successful, but I just go along looking for good pictures; for images that please me." Given that Pete Adams is one of the most successful and experienced travel photographers in the UK today, maybe we could all take a leaf out of his book?

CASE STUDY
PETER ADAMS
	A 2003 winner of Travel Photographer of the Year, and a 2004 judge, Peter Adams claims to spend much of the year travelling. The majority of his images are used across calendars, books and websites and he's also found time to author Start Taking Great Holiday Photographs, which is available via Amazon.