Top Travel Photos
Good news to all travel photographers! TPOTY 2012 is now officially open for entries! Be you shutterbugs for hobby or earning a living, this is your great opportunity to take part in this year 2012 Travel Photographer Of The Year contest to expose yourself to the world! Past winners from each year’s contest had always received overwhelming attentions from major medias around the world and being featured in most highly acclaimed photography magazines.
This year TPOTY is going to be more attractive as rewards and sponsorships are among the best ever since its introduction in the year 2003. Among the prizes include:
- New Cutty Sark Award for overall winner, with £5,000 prizes and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
- The very latest Fujifilm cameras: XPro 1, FinePix X100, FinePix X10, the X-S1 bridge camera and XP150 weatherproof camera
- Prize trips – 5-star luxury in Greece, a Kenyan safari, and Morocco’s Essaouira Music Festival
- Paid commission for Condé Nast Traveller magazine
- Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio cases and iFolios
- New HD video category with £1,000 prizes
- Winning images exhibited at Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
The dateline for last entry submission is on 17th September 2012. So there are still another 5 months for you to go traveling and shoot some good travel photos!
Below is the email I received the other day, and being enclosed here for you guys to read through about TPOTY 2012:
The 2012 Travel Photographer of the Year awards are now open for entry. Whether you’re an amateur or professional photographer, young or old and wherever you live in the world, you are eligible to enter TPOTY 2012. We have some challenging new categories and some fantastic rewards.
Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky, Plastic Sandwich, Photo Iconic, Young Photographers Alliance, Genesis Digital and the travel specialists Explore, Tribes Travel, and Tselana Travel are all sponsoring the awards again this year. Condé Nast Traveller magazine, Radisson Blu Edwardian, London, The May Fair Hotel and Digimarc have joined the line-up, while founding sponsor Fujifilm has returned to support TPOTY once more. We would like to thank all our sponsors, without whom the awards could not exist, and we would like to thank the May Fair Hotel for hosting a wonderful launch event for the awards.
The Cutty Sark Award
This year’s overall winner – the Travel Photographer of the Year 2012 – will be the first-ever recipient of the Cutty Sark Award, presented by Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky. This very special prize consists of two elements: firstly, the winner will receive £5,000 – £2,500 as cash, plus an expenses-paid international photography commission to shoot images for Cutty Sark with a further £2,500 commission fee. And secondly, a unique, ‘money-can’t-buy’, opportunity! With the guidance of Master Blender, Kirsteen Campbell, the Cutty Sark Award winner will blend their own whisky. They will also design their own label, and bottle up to 50 bottles of what will be a truly unique blended Scotch whisky.Three portfolio categories:
Submit a portfolios of four images that meet the category theme. To be eligible for the title of Travel Photographer of the Year – and a chance to win The Cutty Sark Award – you need to enter two different portfolio categorires.
- People Watching: Luxury travel experts Tselana Travel will take the winner of the People Watching portfolio category to the Greek Islands, where they and a guest will stay in the stunning, award-winning 5-star Grace Mykonos and Grace Santorini boutique hotels.
- Wild Planet: (wildlife, landscapes, nature and adventure) The winner will take a nine-day, tailor-made tour of Kenya with adventure travel specialists Explore. Their trip will include visits to two of the country’s most famous game parks, the Masai Mara and Amboseli.
- Journeys: is our first-ever open category, for photographers to submit their personal take on travel. The winner will receive a magnificent Fujifilm XPro 1 kit. Complete with revolutionary XPro 1 body, camera case and 18mm, 35mm and 60mm lenses, this is the perfect tool for travel, street and documentary photography.
The Judges’ Best Single Image winner in each of the portfolio categories wins 24” exhibition print from Genesis Digital plus an archive print from the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). And the runner-up in each portfolio category wins a leather portfolio case or iFolio (iPad case) from Plastic Sandwich. In addition, they’ll be able to track and monitor their images online with a Digimarc for Images Professional Edition.
Condé Nast Traveller Award
To mark Condé Nast Traveller magazine’s 15th anniversary, the magazine is inviting photographers to submit a portfolio of six photographs illustrating the theme ‘Celebration’. The winner will receive a paid commission to go on assignment with the magazine.New Talent – Another World
This category is for photographic students and amateur or semi-professional photographers who want to turn pro. The winner will experience the vibrant Gnaoua and World Music Festival in Essaouira, Morocco, with sustainable travel specialists Tribes Travel. And they’ll be able to photograph it on their new Fujifilm FinePix X100, which, inspired by the beauty and form of classic cameras from the past, combines all the latest technical digital innovations in a beautiful, traditional chassis. They also receive a personalised Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio book or iFolio, plus a Digimarc for Images Professional Edition.HD Video category – Travel Shorts
Our first-ever HD video category! Create a 60-second film covering any aspect of travel, and you could receive £1,000 from Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky.Two single image categories:
The theme of the One Shot category this year is Water. The winner will receive a Fujifilm X10, a highly advanced compact camera with a nostalgic, analogue-camera look and cutting-edge technology.And Fujifilm is also supporting First Shot – Big City, the beginners’ category, with a prize of a FinePix XP150 – the camera that redefines the new standard for all-weather digital compacts – plus the winner also receives a place on a Photo Iconic photography course.
Young Travel Photographer of the Year
The theme of this year’s Young Travel Photographer of the Year award is Places & Faces. The winners of the two age groups (14 and under, 15-18) each receive a FinePix XP150. Fujifilm’s toughest FinePix to date can survive a drop from up to 2m and is waterproof up to 10m, so the young winners can really let their creativity run wild! And the overall young winner – the Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2012 – receives a Fujifilm X-S1 premium bridge camera. With 26 x optical zoom, and super macro mode to 1cm, this is a fantastic piece of kit that will really help the young winner develop their skills.Young TPOTY entrants will also compete with New Talent entrants aged 25 or under for the Young Photographers Alliance Emerging Talent award, with a prize of a place on the YPA mentoring scheme, or a YPA portfolio review.
The judges
TPOTY is hugely respected for the calibre of its judging panels, and the 2012 judges will include photographers Eamonn McCabe, Jason Hawkes, Ami Vitale, Steve Bloom, Nick Meers and Chris Weston, and the editors of Hotshoe International, FOTOmagazin (Germany), Outdoor Photography, and the photography director of Condé Nast Traveller.The exhibition
The winning images and short film from the 2012 awards will be exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in 2013. Winning images from the 2011 awards can be seen at the Society this summer, in a major exhibition running from June 22nd to August 19th – giving visitors to London over the Olympic period a chance to take some time out from all the sporting action and enjoy a glorious selection of world-class travel images. This exhibition will include two special showcases.And in October we return to the Royal Geographical Society for TPOTY Live!, our Festival of Photography.
How to enter
Entries for the 2012 awards are now open. Images can be submitted as prints or uploaded online, and HD video entries submitted on DVD by post. Entries close on September 17th. Entry fees start at £10 and Young TPOTY is free to enter. Full details of how to enter can be found on www.tpoty.com.
Hope I would have some good photos captured on my upcoming trip to Japan end of this month. Do you have any travel photography plan in mind? Share with me in the comment box below… 
– Travel Feeder, your ultimate guide to travel photography
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If you are an avid traveler wishing to explore Florence with limited budget, overnight in one of the camp sites perhaps is your best choice of accommodation in Florence. Camp sites are quite popular in Florence as backpackers, campers or caravan can stay within the compound while enjoying various facilities provided which includes shared toilets, bahroom, cafes, mini markets, laundry services and others. Travelers could also experience a different environment while staying in a tent and mix around with other travelers.
Among those many camp sites found in Florence, PLUS Camping Michelangelo camp site is one of the best located. I spent 2 nights there on my previous travel to Florence which cost us only €38 for a private tent as shown below.
These are the camping tent with either 2 beds private or 3 beds dorm, with lockable doors for security. Facilities in-tent are very basic with beds, blanket, pillow, a couple of power point and light switch and that’s all. With one operable canvas window at the back, the tent is limited size to fit in 2 or 3 persons with luggage and it could be freezing cold at night though. What could you expect from €13 per bed?
The best part of PLUS Camping Michelangelo is its location. It is located on top of a hill at south bank of River Arno and the tourist destination Piazzale Michelangelo is just next door. You can have a fantastic panorama view over the historic city of Florence! It is still within reasonable reach of the main attractions such as the Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, Piazza Signoria, Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, either on foot or using the local transport system.
The easiest way to get there from SMN central train station of Florence is to catch a bus No.12 which will take you right to the Piazza Michelangelo stop for only €1.20. For opposite direction, bus No.13 will stop at the SMN station. If you are light footed without luggage, walking up or down the hill could be fun. Ponte Vecchio is 20 minutes away.
Here are some of the photos of PLUS Camping Michelangelo camp site…
Main entrance. No curfew at night with 24 hour surveillance cameras and guides. Travelers must carry along a campsite pass for access at night.
Reception counter and office to handle travelers’ check in’s check out’s and other arrangement during their stays. You can arrange some discounted day trips at the counter as well. We booked a wine tasting tour to Chianti region from here.
An overview of some of the facilities found within the compound.
Markets, cafes, shared bathrooms are all at 1 location.
Coin lockers can also be found, if you are planning to leave your luggage temporarily after checking out.
Click HERE to view all my travel photos in full resolution via my flickr album. If you need more information, log on to their official website.
There are many types of accommodation found in Florence and other European cities and each one of them got their pro’s and con’s. I can’t say camping site is the best option for FIT and budget travelers but they are definitely a different type of economic accommodation which provide lockable private tent for privacy and hostel like shared facilities for making friends with others, and the best part is their good value. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Europe
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If you haven’t submitted your favourite Food or Fashion travel photos to Airasia’s Travel 360° onboard magazine, hurry up! Today is the last day for submission to the first of 3 rounds of photo contest which runs from January until March to be in the running to win free Airasia flights and accommodations to Hong [...]
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This is another example on how to capture great colours in your travel photo. The easiest way to do that is to take photo under good lighting. Yes. It may sounds meaningless but it’s true. You know where I’m coming from. Great travel photos are all about great lighting. If you wish to capture great [...]
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