BEHIND THE LENS INTERVIEW
Drift ice walking, Sea of Okhotsk, Shiretoko Peninsula
An interview with Yvonne vonne Gordon is an award-win- of us can only dream of. She’s gone Sami settlement in Swedish Lapland, Gordon, an adventure travel ning travel writer and packrafting in Italy, explored an ice stayed in a lighthouse on a rock in BEHIND photographer based in Ireland. cave in Alaska, tried drift ice walking the Adriatic Sea and sailed to remote writer and photographer Y She regularly travels the world in Japan and winter snorkelling in archipelagos in Norway and in Burma, who has tried everything on assignments for publications Iceland’s Silfra fissure. She’s recently where she met sea gypsies. THE from desert trekking to such as The Irish Independent, The returned from an assignment building When not abroad, she likes to igloo-building Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The and sleeping in an igloo in the High travel in Ireland, gathering stories Washington Post and AFAR.com. Tatras mountains in Slovakia. and photos about her home country. Writer: Dani Redd Yvonne specialises in adventure She has also trekked in India’s She was recently awarded Adventure LENS Photography: Yvonne Gordon travel and has been on trips the rest Thar desert, camped in a remote Travel Journalist of the Year for
10 | Outlook Travel issue 02 Outlook Travel issue 02 | 11 BEHIND THE LENS INTERVIEW
Fans arranged in a Spanish plaza
2019. Her travel photos regularly more of my photography in my work well known rather than produce more way possible is very satisfying, just different conditions or light. It always accompany her features and have again and more publications are photos and stories about well-known getting a great image you are proud makes me want to try new things and been published everywhere from The commissioning my photos. places. Or if I do go to a familiar place, of. Sometimes you are capturing a to be a better photographer. Sunday Times and The Boston Globe With travel photography, it’s I will look for something unusual there fleeting moment for posterity. OT: On the flip side, what are the to airline inflight magazines. We got amazing to be able to tell stories with and a new way of telling a story of the If you’re focusing on something biggest challenges? in touch with Yvonne to find out more photos as well as words, and it’s fun place. For example, I explored Tus- technical – such as night shots with about her photography practice. to explore somewhere new with a cany by water and adventure sports, stars – it’s rewarding when all the YG: Working with tricky or dull light camera too and see what you can through its rivers, lakes and coastline elements and settings come together or bad weather is a challenge. Or Outlook Travel (OT): What first capture. rather than by road. That turned into to create the perfect image, even if sometimes being the only person in a attracted you to photography? a few different stories including an it takes a lots of bad ones to get one remote area or standing somewhere OT: Travel photography is a saturat- Yvonne Gordon (YG): I’ve always eight-page feature with my photos in good one. like a windy cliff. Carrying heavy and ed market. How do you ensure your loved photography – the challenge teenager and photography has Discovery, the Cathay Pacific inflight I love Instagram too for the great fragile equipment, especially on ad- photos stand out from the crowd? and rewards of capturing beautiful nearly always been a part of my work magazine. camaraderie with other photogra- venture trips, and keeping it charged places and moments. I also love the in some way – in a previous job, my YG: Most of my focus is on telling phers and writers. We follow each can be a challenge too. OT: What’s the most exciting thing creativity of it and how every pho- photos were used in everything from stories about people and places that other’s travels and support each oth- I recently snowshoed up a moun- about being a travel photographer? tographer records the same scene brochures to billboards. have not already been told. There is a er’s work and it can be exciting and tain in Slovakia to build and sleep in differently. For a while I was only focussing on lot of saturation in travel writing too, YG: It is very rewarding – recording inspiring to see how other photogra- an igloo overnight, lugging my full- I got my first SLR camera as a writing, but I have started to include so I tend to go to places that are not moments and scenes in the best phers capture places or work with frame camera and tripod as well as
12 | Outlook Travel issue 02 Outlook Travel issue 02 | 13 BEHIND THE LENS INTERVIEW
camping gear. There was no electric- OT: What’s been the best place a place. As with writing, you can use ity or power, so I had all my camera you’ve travelled to? photography to either provide the big batteries in my sleeping bag to keep picture or else just focus in on a small YG: That’s hard to say as I love them warm so they’d last longer. I was detail. A photo can capture how a everywhere I go, so my favourite is also standing a good distance from place looks but then you can use writ- nearly always the last place I have the campfire to photograph it under ing to add in description of the other been to. For photos I love colourful the stars – that was quite chilly as the senses – the sounds, smells, tastes places like Cuba, where there is so temp was -20°C. – how it feels to be somewhere or to much going on everywhere you look. relate a conversation you had there. OT: What qualities do you need to The nature and wildlife in Alaska succeed as a travel photographer? and British Columbia in Canada are OT: Your photography focusses on also incredible for photos. I might be landscapes more than people. Is this YG: Patience and flexibility. There’s biased but I always find Ireland full of a conscious decision, and if so, why? a lot of hanging around for the right fantastic photo opportunities too. If lighting conditions; getting up at YG: I do sometimes photograph From left to right: Antelope I’m doing a road trip, it takes hours to Canyon in Arizona, Croatia sunrise or spending longer at a loca- people but I don’t post many of get anywhere as there is so much to seascape, Mendenhall Glacier in tion than planned. Sometimes it’s a them on social media, partly for their photograph along the way. Alaska and Hokkaido in Japan choice between having a fancy dinner privacy. Taking a photo of someone somewhere or running outside with has a huge element of trust and OT: You’re a writer as well as a pho- the tripod because it’s ‘blue hour’ and if I photograph someone, I feel a tographer. How do you think these perfect light. You need to be always responsibility over where that final two different artforms relate to each ready to take a photo, as sometimes image will end up. It can also be a photographing animals. It’s fun to try ‘characters’ – in Ireland, it’s sheep, and a llama just staring at each other other? it’s a just a passing moment. Avoid lot of work to build that trust and to get their attention for a photo. I’ve donkeys, horses, especially when on an Irish roadside. The trick was to saying you’ll return later to take YG: I love how they go hand in hand connection before you even take the developed a few ‘animal whispering’ they are out wandering somewhere get near enough to take the photo it – the conditions can have totally – photography is an additional tool photo. secrets to get good poses. Some they shouldn’t be. The best one so but stay far away enough to not scare changed when you get back. to tell a story and to bring a reader to I love landscapes and I also love countries are full of comical far was when I came across a turkey them away.
14 | Outlook Travel issue 02 Outlook Travel issue 02 | 15 BEHIND THE LENS INTERVIEW
Flamenco dancer, Seville
Irrawaddy River, Myanmar
< HOW I GOT THIS PHOTO
This is a photo of an Intha fisherman at dawn on Inle Lake in Myanmar. The fishermen use a special one-legged rowing technique and they fish with the baskets, using an oar for balance. I was backpacking in Burma for a couple of weeks and when we got to Inle, we hired a local boatman to take us out onto the lake. We set out in the dark, just before sunrise, so the dawn light was perfect just as we passed the fisherman in the middle of the lake. It was one of those fleeting moments. The photo went on to win Photo of The Year at the Travel Media Awards, which was a nice bonus.
Follow Yvonne on Instagram @yvonne.gordon