Calling all photographers: Best road trips to practice your craft

These days just about everyone is a photographer – or, at least, we more or less all have access to a high quality camera on our mobile phones. Taking pictures is now a really widespread pleasure, whether the pictures are for private use, posting on social media, or for commercial use. Venturing off on a motorhome or campervan holiday is the perfect way to explore new landscapes, cultures, and experiences. Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or a ‘love it’ snapper, you will be sure to encounter some extremely ‘picture-worthy’ places, people and moments when you go. Road trip photography is within everyone’s grasp!

In this edition of our blog, we’ll offer a few tips and click on a few places in the UK that will present you with the perfect opportunity to put your photography skills to the test – or, at the very least, provide you with some lasting memories.

Tips for road trip photography

1. Be ready

Luckily, your mobile phone is a relatively small device, making it practical and manageable when taking photographs spontaneously. Try and keep it ready for those unexpected moments, perhaps keeping it on your lap, in your pocket or in hand.

2. Capture the candid

Often the most memorable photographs are taken in spontaneous, candid moments. On holiday that could be a joy-filled evening gathered around the table inside the motorhome, or a roadside picnic or a group photo amidst some stunning scenery. Candid shots offer your photography an authenticity that posed shots don’t have, no matter how good they look.

3. Composition

Experiment with composition to add visual interest to your photographs. This means toying about with the framing and angles, finding different perspectives to create dynamic or attractive shots.

4. Golden hour

Photography enthusiasts love the golden hour, so be aware of it. This is the short period of time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the sunlight is warm and soft, and casts long shadows. Mobile phone cameras particularly seem to love the light at these points in the day, and photos taken at these times are usually always ‘better.’

4. Include your vehicle

You’re on holiday and those stunning landscape shots will look so much better with your motorhome or campervan in them. It’s a clever way of adding character and ‘putting yourself’ into the scenery, even if you don’t personally appear in the photos. It adds some context, in other words, and tells a more complete story of your travels. Try out different angles and perspectives to highlight your vehicle’s ‘best look’ against diverse landscapes.

5. Culture

If you are travelling to, say, a remote Scottish fishing village, try and translate that culture into your photographs. Use the camera as a ‘documentary device’ to record the unique aspects of the places you visit – the boats coming in, the fisherman offloading their catch, the characters and so on. These photographs will enrich your memories.

Great UK road trips for photographers

Here are three great areas in the UK which you can investigate, and which have plenty to photograph.

1. Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

There are many potential styles of photograph you could take on a trip around Dumfries & Galloway, in the west of Scotland. This is a beautiful and often ‘unspoiled’ area so there is plenty of wildlife and nature to engage your lens, as well as megalithic standing stones, hills, cute towns and several terrific coastal locations which offer a mix of rugged shoreline (dramatic imagery) and harbour villages (quaint ‘life’ pictures). There are also plenty of towns and villages which offer something special.

Kirkcudbright, Scotland’s ‘art town’, is a lovely example of Scotland going about its business in a very modest but brilliant way. Much of the culture here is to do with crafts and the visual arts and there are several small galleries or shops with local works on display, as well as a large art gallery which often features touring exhibitions from established artists. Kirkcudbright’s culture, then, should serve as quite the inspiration for you – and, luckily, it is also a very visually attractive place. There are harbour cottages, castle ruins, churches, bridges and more – all just waiting to be photographed.

Interestingly, if you are a film buff, this is the town where parts of the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man was filmed – so you could even set yourself the challenge of finding the locations and photographing them as they stand today.

2. Cardiff and surrounding area, Wales

The vibrant capital city of Wales seamlessly combines modernity with historical charm, offering photographic opportunities to captivate enthusiasts and professionals alike.

Perhaps the most iconic landmark is Cardiff Castle, which dates back over 2,000 years. Its impressive architecture, blending Roman, Norman, Gothic revival and Victorian influences, is irresistible for photographers. Bute Park, surrounding the castle, provides a lush backdrop for photos capturing the changing seasons – the vibrant colours of blooming flowers in the summer and the serene beauty of autumn leaves.

Cardiff Bay is a modern city waterfront area that showcases the city’s spirit. The Millennium Centre, an architectural masterpiece with an imposing bronze facade and inspirational words carved in, is a striking centre point amidst the hustle and bustle of tourists and nightlife, and always makes for stunning photographs. Cardiff’s Victorian and Edwardian arcades are terrific places to capture photographs which juxtapose nostalgic architecture and modern life.

Interestingly, if you are a TV buff, Cardiff is the location for the production of long-running BBC science-fantasy series Doctor Who. There are hundreds of locations around the city which have been used for filming in the series, and you could set yourself the challenge of finding the spots where your favourite episode happened!

3. Belfast, Northern Ireland

The capital city of Northern Ireland boasts architecture, culture and stunning landscapes – making it perfect for photographers. There is an undercurrent of history about the place, too, which is not surprising bearing in mind its sometimes troubled social and political history. This can make for some dramatic photographs.

One of the most recognisable landmarks of Belfast is Titanic. The city’s maritime heritage is celebrated by this museum and tourist attraction which stands on the very shipyards and docks where the ill-fated RMS Titanic was built and launched from. The surrounding Titanic Quarter features original shipyard cranes and dock buildings, so photographers will be able to construct a great social narrative here.

The murals around Belfast’s streets tell the story of the city’s history in a powerful way, and are really worth photographing. Political and cultural murals (Falls Road and Shankill Road) are quite raw with emotion and are amazing visual testimonials to the turbulent past. The city’s Botanic Gardens and Palm House are much more serene, providing an abundance of lush greenery and flowerbeds, great for nature photographers.

Of course, the secret to road trip photography is that absolutely everywhere is a potentially great location for photographs – no matter how seemingly mundane it is – and everything you see is a great subject for photographs – no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. Photography, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So, now you have our tips and our handful of suggestions for a few places to road trip around, why not venture off and get snapping?! Here at Spinney we stock a fantastic range of new and used leisure vehicles which can be your comfortable and convenient home from home when you’re on the road.